Sunday, July 6, 2008

Peculiar Shelving

I have my hands on a copy of The Singing Sands. The chances are it was in the library the last time I was there looking for it.

What neither the reference librarian or I noticed at the time was that it is shelved under "Mackintosh."

Elizabeth Mackintosh happens to be Josephine Tey's real name, but it is not the name she wrote under, and it is not the name on the book cover.

Even more confusing: Several of Tey's mysteries are shelved under Tey in the mystery section and at least one is under "Tey" in the fiction section (I did a lot of hunting before I went back to the catalog and noticed the "Mackintosh").

I suppose this does mean that people not looking for her are more likely to stumble across her unexpectedly, thus brightening their lives, but it still seems odd.

Anyway, I have a copy now, and I'm going to curly up and read for a while.

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