Rurik's Shed

Old, Interesting & Unusual Books

plus a Viking's hoard of collectibles, old wares & household goods

Index page

Penshurst * Victoria * Australia

Rurik (d. 879) was known as  the leader of Varangian (Scandinavian) warriors, and as Prince of Novgorod.  We are using his name as a composite of Ruth , who is a freelance writer, and Erik who provides the illustrations, the "webmaster" technology and the compositions . 

 The background/"watermark" picture is of a "generic" Viking. 

Site contents: 

Index (this page), 

1. Top Shelf  ... Selected, old, unusual & interesting books

Our recent choices are:

           1. "Fairy Tales" by Hans Christian Andersen - $150 (published by Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co; there is no date of publication, but the biographical introduction dates back to October 1875. In spite of its age, the book is in rather good condition.

2. "Historic Places of Australia" - $80 (published by the Australian Council of National Trusts in 1993)

3. "The Banjo's Best-Loved Poems" chosen by his grand-daughters - $50 ( published by Landsdowne, 1985). The title is self-explanatory. Illustrations in color face each poem page. Banjo's most famous poem, "Waltzing Matilda" is included (right).

In addition, this section also includes the following volumes, entitled "Tichborne Trial", "The Anatomy of a Saint", "The Hunters", and "The Imperial Dictionary", resp.:

"Click on thumbnail" image for description and pricing.

2. Artworks, prints etc

27/2/2004: We have a series of Victorian prints and are asking $85 for the framed, and   $25 for the mounted prints.

3. Collectables 

4. Household items  

We have many household items, occasionally also furniture pieces  made of recycled timber and horse and wagon implements. 

We have available our secondhand book stock in  30 categories, including fiction (too numerous to list). "Click" on the table headings to bring up available books and prices. We will do our best to update our inventory but can not guarantee that any listed book is available between upgrades. Feel free to enquire (remove the x in our email address; we are trying to avoid automatically generated spam) about books not listed and we will search for them.   Or, better still, come and browse if you want to buy any of our books, since we cannot guarantee availability of all books at all times. 

In addition to our stock of thousands of books, , we have old prints, paintings, photography, household goods, antiques, collectibles and much more.  Images of the latter  show what we had in stock at the time and were chosen for illustration purposes only. Please 'click' on the hyperlinks in the site contents above.

Ruriks Shed is a registered business in the State of Victoria and Ruth, as proprietor, is a Licensed Secondhand Dealer.

Far from Australia's cities and regional towns, we are rurally based in the lovely pastoral district of Western Victoria.   Penshurst is a small township of around 500 people based at the foothills of an old dormant volcano, Mt. Rouse.    The tourist potential of Penshurst is enhanced by the now open "Volcanoes Discovery Centre" - an innovative multi-media experience for all the family. It is run by a small number of dedicated volunteers and is  integrated with our modest IT-Centre, where visitors have access to an on-line computer (Ubuntu or Linux Puppy "multisession") for a nominal charge ($3/half hour).

Rurik's Shed's address is 36 Martin Street, Penshurst, 3289.   It is opposite the Post Office on the main Warrnambool-Hamilton Road.  Our phone number is 03 55765499.

Listed Book Categories   

The html files linked below are updated whenever a significant number in a category have been sold or new books have arrived, i.e. generally weekly. We can not guarantee availability of any particular book, and also have numerous books not listed (embarrassing "false positives and false negatives" in laboratory terminology).

* Including craft.

7/10/2006:We have made a promotional mini-CD (8cm), which will be upgraded at irregular intervals (we are aiming at monthly) of our rarest and/or in our own opinion important books. Some of them are antiquarian and expensive. The CD has a similar layout to that in our "top shelf" section, and in addition includes current website files and policies.

We will  accept mail order purchases of at least ten dollars (Australia) per shipment, to which will be added the cost of Australia Post  (book packaging) postage.  Starting out in a small way, we have  no credit card facilities at this stage, but will accept direct transfer into our designated bank account. Place your order by e-mail ( we have had to change our e-mail address recently, having been inundated with malevolent coded files) , since we are at present only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  Please remember to include your postal address. Shipping overseas is impractical, since  freight and money transfer costs would often exceed the value of the book(s).

Privacy policy: We will not reveal the buyer's identity, e-mail address, telephone number, or bank account number to any third party.

We update our listed book category files at least weekly even though the date at the bottom of this page remains unchanged.

Proprietor: Ruth Pihl  , 19/8/2008

26/1/2006; Australia Day. We have had several days with temperatures around 40 C. A major fire is raging in the Grampians to the north. There is heavy smoke over Mount Rouse (right), which eased an hour later. The situation was critical, since most of the Grampians National Park was burnt out. However, we escaped this time too, the wind changed, and the following days saw much rain and much lower temperatures.

28/5/2006:  Late autumn. The swamp cypresses display their glorious autumnal colors.

2/3/2007: Early autumn. 'Click on' the image of the rose picked from the garden at Rurik's Shed. A tiny unexpected 'visitor' will become visible.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2008 

"Viticultural"

  What do you do when the bookshop's closed?   You go help with the local grape harvest, that's what.    Bill and Vivienne Bradley's Stonefield Vineyard,  just west of Penshurst was alive with activity as pickers (including Rurik's Shed booksellers, Erik and Ruth) got to work on the chardonnay grapes, 27/4/2004.   This year's crop is a bumper one, the grapes to be transported to Best's Winery up in Great Western.   News is that the end product is for export.    Well most of it.  No doubt a few bottles will eventually  be opened in a toast to a new and prosperous industry in the district.

Tuesday, 19 August 2008