Black Country T Shirts- The Book Shop

A few years  have passed since we started selling Black Country related books.
We thought it would be a great idea to write a blog about our books and what we offer our community of writers and customers.

It all started when one day a bunch of wise cracking Americans came into the store and inspired us with their big ideas of selling more merchandise,
at first we were under the impression that we knew it all and cracked it with our huge range of Black Country
and custom garments but as it turned out there was more to sell.

We eventually came to the conclusion that our new Black Country T-Shirt business was to become a Black Country gift shop too.
It would become a place where not only our customers could buy custom and Black Country based garments but they could also buy smaller gifts such as
mugs, bags, car stickers and of course books.

Wonderful idea! Where to start!?
The Black Country Society was our first protocol and they were very encouraging,
with their help we were able to obtain a number of Black Country based books as seen in The Black Country Bugle and The Black Country Museum.

Here is a rundown of our first catalogue of books

Black Country Humour / More Black Country Tales & Verse

Both books are a collection of jokes, cartoons, sayings and verse that make our much-loved community loff!

The Gospels in Black Country / the Old Testament in The Dialect Of The Black Country (Parts 1 & 2)

A superb collection of scripture from the Bible translated into Black Country dialect.

Bostin Fittle

A number of Black Country recipes to try, not for everyone but most folk in the community love this book

Black Country Stories

This book is based on the original Black Country Stories published by T.H Gough, with a few more stories added. A great read for any Black Country resident.

White Shirt, Black Country

This book is a history of Black Country-born footballers who played for England and some point in their careers. Marvellous read for any football fan.

Having made a start selling the above books both online and in our Dudley shop, local writers began coming out of the brickwork.

It all started when a gentleman came into the shop named Steve Bartley who had one of his books entitled ‘The Ascent Of Sedgley Beacon’ with him to show us.
The book had material on a level par with our already available books we were selling.
The Ascent of Sedgley Beacon contains humorous short stories with Black Country themes based on real Black Country events, places and people.
Since putting the book on our website and on display in the shop we have sold quite a few,
meaning not only have we been able to help Steve out selling his book but we’ve also been able to make a little bit extra for our business also.

Recently we’ve had an influx of local independent writers wanting to sell their books with us.
by Andrew Mark Rudall like Steve Bartley came to visit us with his book Neat Little Rows- The Black Country Grenadier which again had its own Black Country themes.
The book is about a local First World War soldier but its Andy’s obsession to uncover the whole story that makes this book truly Bostin!
We’ve recently sold a fair amount of Neat Little Rows making both the author and ourselves extremely happy.

Pre-Christmas 2012 Steve Bartley approached us with his second book Don’t Spook The Bonk Oss
which is a book of short stories inspired by a sense of place and belonging to the Black Country.
The stories are fictional but based on real people, places and events.
The book sold out just before Christmas and we had to order emergency stock due to its demand.

At around the same time (pre-Christmas) another writer named Madge Gilbey contacted us as she was due to be on the Carl Chinn show on the radio.
She was after a shop to stock her books of poems and stories entitled Ar’m a Black Country Wench
and Moowa Poems un Stories, we agreed it was a great idea.
These books are hilarious, very Black Country based and worth a read! Our sales online illustrate the need for such humorous books.

In conclusion, if you are a writer and have Black Country themed books that you’d like to sell then please don’t hesitate to contact us!
It’s important for us as we are part of The Black Country community to help the folk in it get further with their creative being.
Consider us a possible stepping stone for greater things.