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I have been devoted to your podcast for over a year; it could be improved only by being more frequent. Every book I have ordered from you has been a delight; nothing disappoints. I receive your emails with pleasure, and that’s saying a lot. Slightly Foxed is a source of content . . . ’
K. Nichols, Washington, USA

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Last orders, please | Seasonal reading from Slightly Foxed

Last orders, please | Seasonal reading from Slightly Foxed

Warm wishes from Slightly Foxed where wrapping paper is running off rolls, ribbon is spiralling from bobbins and the final post bags are filling up as we ready ourselves to close the office for Christmas on Wednesday afternoon. Tomorrow (Tuesday 21 December) is the last advised posting date for First Class mail to arrive at destinations in the UK by Christmas, and Wednesday 22 December is the last day for Special Delivery. Please do place any last orders for Christmas as soon as possible, making sure to select First Class or Next Day Delivery as your postal option on the website or over the phone. We’ll send out some cheerful missives to keep you all fully foxed while we’re away but otherwise we look forward to catching up with you when we’re back at our desks on Wednesday 5 January. Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm throughout the year.
The Empress of Ireland | Noël Coward visited Tangier

The Empress of Ireland | Noël Coward visited Tangier

My routine was to stay in the house and write most days, and then go out with Brian for dinner, either to a restaurant or the home of one of his friends. La Belle Hélène was the bar and res­taurant we most frequented, owned by a strangely glamorous, middle-aged French lesbian with a face of elephant hide. She was said to have bought the establishment with money earned during a long circus career as a motorcyclist on the flaming wall of death. We ate elaborately at La Belle Hélène and drank copi­ously, and Brian indulged us extravagantly at lunch and dinner.
‘An exquisite book’ | Letters to Michael

‘An exquisite book’ | Letters to Michael

An antidote to troubled times and a perfect Christmas present. ‘Between early 1945 and autumn 1947, Charles Phillipson, an illustrator in the publicity department of an electrical company, wrote 150 letters to his young son, Michael – amusing drawings of daily life accompanied by a few cheerful words . . . His wife, Marjorie, kept them all and they have been gathered into an exquisite book, Letters to Michael, published by Slightly Foxed.’ Country Life, 2021 advent calendar issue
Episode 39: Idle Moments: Literary Loafers through the Ages and Pages

Episode 39: Idle Moments: Literary Loafers through the Ages and Pages

In the spirit of Plato’s Symposium, the Slightly Foxed team enter into lively dialogue with Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler and Harry Mount of the Oldie, and learn lessons from notable loafers in literature. We begin with Doctor Johnson, an icon of indolence who wrote an essay called ‘The Idler’ and liked time to ponder; this lazy lexicographer claimed his dictionary would take three years to write when in fact it would take nine . . . We enjoy a leisurely spell with loungers in fiction, visiting Lady Bertram and her pug in Mansfield Park, taking to Lady Diana Cooper’s bed in A Handful of Dust, retreating to Aunt Ada Doom’s room in Cold Comfort Farm, settling into the quiet comfort of Mycroft Holmes’s Diogenes Club and meeting Thomas Love Peacock’s Honourable Mr Listless along the way. And, to finish, there are the usual wide-ranging reading recommendations for when you have an idle moment.
47 minutes
By people who love books, for people who love books | Slightly Foxed Editions

By people who love books, for people who love books | Slightly Foxed Editions

‘Smashing little hardbacks, the way hardbacks used to be . . . produced by people who love books, for people who love books.’ Belgravia Books There’s still time for us to help with gifts for booklovers before the year is out, and we’d like to draw your attention to our Slightly Foxed Editions – beautifully produced pocket hardbacks, just the right size to hold in the hand and with a ribbon marker to keep your place. Perfectly designed to curl up with, these reissues of classic memoirs are highly individual and absorbing reads. So whether you’re in need of a good book or a present for someone you’re fond of, do seize the chance to stock up now.
‘A subscription would make an inspired gift for a hungry reader.’

‘A subscription would make an inspired gift for a hungry reader.’

Greetings from Hoxton Square where we’re busy wrapping and packing great piles of subscriptions and books and sending them out to readers near and far for Christmas (and many other occasions besides). A subscription to Slightly Foxed magazine opens up a whole world of good reading. Companionable, entertaining and elegantly produced, it’s more like a well-read friend than a literary review. So whether you’re in search of stimulation, consolation or diversion, a treat for yourself or a present for a bookish loved one, we recommend taking out a subscription to Slightly Foxed or giving a single issue or one of our books a try. For all gift subscriptions, we can send out the first issue with a handsome card bearing your gift message. We can send it directly to the recipient or to you to hand over in person, and, if you like, we can wrap the first issue in good brown paper and tie it with our smart foxed ribbon too. 
Beautiful books for the young at heart | Slightly Foxed Cubs

Beautiful books for the young at heart | Slightly Foxed Cubs

‘Thank you very much for publishing Ronald Welch, Rosemary Sutcliff and BB sets. Your editions are a joy to handle and have given me many happy hours.’ W. Smith Reading recommendations and present ideas are in plentiful supply at Slightly Foxed. Today we’re shining the spotlight on our Foxed Cubs series. These beautifully produced collectable children’s books strike a nostalgic chord with many older readers and introduce a younger generation to writers whose marvellous books have, unaccountably, been allowed to slip out of print. Bound in coloured cloth, with printed endpapers and original illustrations, the Cubs make ideal presents, as stand-alone titles or in sets. We have books, bundles and offers to satisfy all readers and occasions.
A Calendar of Covers for 2022

A Calendar of Covers for 2022

‘I love it! I intend to have some of the images framed as I did with the last calendar that I bought from you.’ S. Jackson We’re delighted with the response to our latest calendar – a special celebratory one to mark our 70th issue earlier this year. We’ve just cracked open the last few boxes so if you’ve been thinking about ordering one, you might like to do so fairly soon. It would make a charming present for anyone who loves Slightly Foxed, or indeed for anyone who hasn’t yet come across the magazine. It’s a handsome, spiral-bound decorative wall calendar printed on sturdy paper with a board backing, and features some more of the seasonal Slightly Foxed covers that readers enjoy so much. We feel it will raise the spirits and look good in any room.
Literary Gifts & Seasonal Treats | Slightly Foxed Readers’ Catalogue

Literary Gifts & Seasonal Treats | Slightly Foxed Readers’ Catalogue

Warm wishes from SF HQ. Parcels and packages are flying out from Hoxton Square to readers at a great pace and, whether they are literary gifts for a fellow bibliophile or seasonal treats that have caught your eye, we do hope they bring much cheer. Gift ideas for booklovers are abundant here at Slightly Foxed, and we hope that our online Winter Readers’ Catalogue (which includes our pick of books from other publishers’ bookshelves) provides some interesting and unusual present solutions. Or perhaps you may be tempted to stock up on some reading for yourself.
Episode 38: Literary Drinking: Alcohol in the Lives and Work of Writers

Episode 38: Literary Drinking: Alcohol in the Lives and Work of Writers

Booze as muse or a sure road to ruin? In this month’s episode, William Palmer – author of In Love with Hell: Drink in the Lives and Work of Eleven Writers – and Henry Jeffreys – author of Empire of Booze and The Cocktail Dictionary – join the Slightly Foxed team to mull over why alcohol is such an enduring feature in literature. From the omnipresence of cocktails in John Cheever’s short stories and ritual aperitifs in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels to Mr Picksniff falling into Mrs Todger’s fireplace in Martin Chuzzlewit and P. G. Wodehouse’s hangover remedies for booze-soaked Bertie Wooster, drinks are social signifiers in fiction. Charles Dickens was fond of sherry cobblers and Jean Rhys knocked back Pernod in Paris, while Malcolm Lowry was a dipsomaniac and Flann O’Brien dreamed up alcoholic ink for the Irish Times, rendering readers drunk from fumes. We ask why gin denotes despair and port is always jovial, and question whether hitting the bottle helps or hinders the creative process in writers.
41 minutes

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