PG Wodehouse in Libraries: Casa Rocca Piccolo, Valetta, Malta

Books of PG Wodehouse often bring in castles and great houses as a background to the story, and the slightly eccentric aristocrat is a figure that keeps on coming back. We sometimes forget that the books were in the 20ies and 30ies very popular in all circles, including these of the owners of these places themselves. And so it is not more than logical that they can be found in the library of many noble families, and often in old editions. The libraries of these families are trans-generational, and books have been purchased by the family as investments or collectors items, but often just to read them. And then they stay there until language has evolved in such a way they become unreadable. This is however definitely not so for the books of the master !

Last year I started looking around for Wodehouse in some stately homes, and this was my first discovery.

6 Wodehouse titles, with 5 in an interbellum edition by Herbert Jenkins: If I were you (1931), Mullner Nights (1933), Frozen Assets (1964), Eggs Beans and Crumpets (1940), Enter Psmith (1935) & Piccadilly Jim (1918)

In the centre of Valetta on the beautiful isle of Malta you can visit the Casa Rocca Piccola. home of the de Piro family. Head of the family is Nicholas de Piro, the 9th Baron of Budach and the 9th Marquis de Piro. He lived for fifteen years in Painswick House in Gloucestershire but in 1990 the famile returned to Malta to open the house to the public. It is absolutely worth a visit. The library is a place where I would definitely see myself cuddled away with a nice book when the winter storms come to the Island.