Rostron & Edwards 20 Years on by Alison Edwards

Rostron & Edwards turns twenty years old this week. Sadly, in January Trevor Rostron passed away and I write this whilst still grieving the loss of not only my business partner of fifteen years but of a very dear friend and mentor. 

In 1997, Trevor introduced me to the world of antique books, particularly fine colour plate books and rare antique prints that he was passionate about. We traveled the world, buying at auction houses, Sotheby's, Christies, Bloomsbury and many more alike. I soaked it up like a sponge, I was hooked. In the early years of our partnership I was certainly the youngest book dealer bidding in most of the salerooms in London. At times I would find this was quite daunting, my heart would often start racing ten lots before the item we were to bid on came up! I was introduced to many book dealers and collectors and faces became familiar in the auction houses, I learnt about competitors, what others specialised in and my passion and knowledge for architectual books and prints grew.   

Trevor was a dealer of antique books, not a collector, which he often told me, yet throughout the partnership we seemed to have endless conversations regarding struggles parting with acquisitions that he considered extremely fine and rare and pieces for ones own wall or bookshelf. This, I feel was always going to be part of our business, for dealing in such beautiful works of art, no matter how professional, at times it was difficult not to get attached to a particular piece of artwork or a book and want it for yourself! 

Now, twenty years on, I have a deep-seated passion for what I do and of course I am guilty of collecting myself. Rostron & Edwards continues to grow, specialising in architectural books and prints and early issues of Country Life magazine. We continue to search for rare and interesting items on historic and listed buildings and its a pleasure to regularly supply superb institutions such as The National Trust, English Heritage and museums worldwide.