Random the Book

As a child there were two types of “book” that fascinated me at the library.

The cartoon books of the stories of Asterix the Gaul captivated me. I haven’t seen one of those for years, and fear that like many things from the 1960s and 70s they won’t have stood the test of time.

Jackdaw folders were the other thing that I loved. They consisted of an A4-ish folder filled with facsimile copies of primary and secondary source documents related to the topic of the edition. 1066, The Abolition of Slavery, The American War of Independence – in the end over 200 Jackdaws were published about various historical subjects.

Nick and I have used the Jackdaw model as inspiration behind how Random the Book might work. We are even contemplating making something much more akin to a Jackdaw Folder than a book…

In the meantime, here is a curious history.

https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/article/pubid/Hist_Educ_Res_J-22-3/