Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop

The Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop, whose logo is shown here, was primarily a mobile retail service for books and other Bahá’í materials, but now also produces its own teaching and deepening materials. Shipping out its own publications now takes far more of the Bookshop's time than does the generalised mobile business. It is non profit-making, based in a private house in Southam, Warwickshire, England, and was formed in 1975 by the Bahá’ís of Warwick. Book displays are taken to regional conferences, as well as to Feasts, Cluster Reflection Meetings and Unit Conventions. The West Oxfordshire Bahá’í Bookshop is an extension of the Warwick Bookshop, and also supplies bookstalls to summer schools. Bahá'í books published by Intellect Books can also be obtained through the West Oxfordshire Bookshop (see "The Team", below).

Leaflets for Teaching[edit]

In 1989, in response to the lack of availability of leaflets, the Bookshop began to publish teaching materials of its own, using money built up during the preceding years of selling books from other sources. The first leaflet was actually “Health and Healing - A Bahá’í View”, but the most well-known and biggest-selling title (over 300,000 copies so far) is “The Bahá’í Faith – What Is It?”. Over 60 titles have now been published, including such varied titles as “Bahá’u’lláh”, “After Communism – What Next?” and “Space – The Final Frontier?” Many of these leaflets have been available in the United States of America (the “Star” series) and other countries at various times, with local printings of them in the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Each leaflet is now automatically updated when it needs reprinting – for example, “core activities” are now mentioned and explained where relevant, and the text of most of these leaflets is available for single copy download on both the Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop website and on the Bahá’í Library Online. A website address for seekers to contact the Bahá'ís is to be found on the back of the more recent versions of most of these leaflets.

In 2015, two completely new leaflets appeared. The very popular "World Peace" was replaced by a simpler leaflet entitled "The Way to World Peace", and a new leaflet entitled "The Importance of Religion - A Bahá'í View" was brought out, refuting the idea that religion is the cause of trouble, is irrelevant and disempowering.

During October, 2016, a milestone was passed when the millionth Warwick leaflet printed in England was sold. Below is a photograph of Alison Baxter, a Bahá'í in the Republic of Ireland, holding the millionth leaflet, which she has just bought.

The millionth leaflet arrives at its destination

A list of most of the leaflets available can also be found at Warwick Leaflets.

In November, 2019, a new leaflet, "Education: A Bahá'í View" was introduced, with a four-colour cover.

A discussion of the successful use of leaflets can be found at Use of Leaflets, which also provides certain pointers to be considered if a community wishes to produce its own leaflets.

Bicentenary Plans[edit]

As 2017 was the Bicentenary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh, the Bookshop featured the three leaflets "Bahá'u'lláh", "Bahá'u'lláh - The Promised One" and "Bahá'u'lláh - The Messenger of God". In addition, a fourth leaflet, specifically about the Bicentenary, was produced. The short biography, "The Life of Bahá'u'lláh" was also more prominently advertised. Permission was given to the National Spiritual Assemblies of both Namibia and Uganda to produce a local version of this leaflet, and also to the Brisbane Bahá'í Bookshop to produce a version with an Australian address or website. The Brisbane printing of the leaflet erroneously claimed copyright for this leaflet, which remains under the copyright of Warwick Bahá'í Bookshop. Permission for printing was also given to Singapore, and to Special Ideas in the United States. The leaflet was also available to download from the Bicentenary Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States of America.

Ann Vickers, of the Bookshop, produced a series of three posters for the Bicentenary, in pdf format, which can be downloaded and printed in A2, A3 or A4 sizes.

Bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb[edit]

A similar leaflet for the Bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb was produced in May, 2018, ready for the celebration of the Bicentenary in October, 2019. It was felt that this would give communities a longer lead time to become aware of the leaflet and acquire it. Further, the process of considering exactly what the leaflet should say should have resulted in a sample approach which others may wish to consider. Permission to reproduce this leaflet has been given to Special Ideas, to the Brisbane Bahá'í Bookshop and other institutions around the world.

Centenary of the Passing of Abdu'l-Bahá[edit]

A leaflet was produced ready for the Centenary of the Passing of Abdu'l-Bahá, and was published in February, 2021. Its full title is "The Story of Abdu'l-Bahá, the 'Master'". Permission to reproduce this leaflet was given to Special Ideas and to the Bahá'ís in Namibia. A second leaflet, entitled "A Life of Service - Following the example of Abdu'l-Bahá" has also been produced. Both of these leaflets were written in such a way that they will continue to have a shelf life after the centenary. A small prayer book, consisting of the twenty-six Prayers of Abdu'l-Bahá recently translated into English, was also produced.

Spiritual Pursuit[edit]

The game (click for close-up)
Spiritual Pursuit board (click for close-up)
Questions (and answers) are on sets of cards
The cat joining in a game of Spiritual Pursuit
The game being played in Hong Kong (click for close-up)
The game being played in Scotland (click for close-up)

In 1997, Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop produced a game entitled Spiritual Pursuit. This is essentially a game involving movement around a board, but progress depends on answering quiz questions at various levels. For beginners, multiple choice answers are offered. The game provides approximately 900 Bahá’í-related questions. It was reprinted, with improvements, in 2008. The game is designed to be played by mixed age groups, and the rules allow for variations which enable veteran Bahá’ís to play alongside complete beginners. A major purpose of the game is to increase everyone's thirst for knowledge about the Faith. Much learning takes place through the process of listening to the other players' answers, and to the subsequent discussion. By 2019, approximately 1,000 copies of the game had been sold.

Updates and Developments[edit]

In July, 2014, the Universal House of Justice announced further implementation of the Badi calendar. This affected a tiny handful of questions and answers. A sheet of updates can be obtained from the Bookshop, or can be downloaded from the Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop website (see below).

In January, 2015 a new set of question cards, known as "Starter" cards, was produced. These are designed to enable children of perhaps six to twelve years to play the game by themselves. Two answers only are offered for each question, and it is frequently obvious which one is false. A simpler set of rules accompanies this set. These questions can also be used by children or Friends of the Faith during a full game. Early indications are that this set of questions achieves its purpose. These Starter cards were henceforth added into the remaining boxes of games as they were sold.

By November, 2015, it was clear that well under 100 copies of the game remained, but that a large proportion of these had boxes which had deteriorated due to dampness in the storage unit. This unfortunate circumstance was announced publicly, so that it would be understood that the supply of games which were in a suitable condition for presentation as a gift was almost exhausted. However, a stock check in early 2016, suggested that around fifty games were still available in a presentation condition.

By mid 2018, there were no games left with boxes in a good condition, so the games that remained are being remaindered at a lower price. By 2022, all the damaged boxes had been used up. People asking for a game are being offered complete sets of questions, board and playing pieces, but in improvised containers.

Materials for Teachers of Religious Education[edit]

The situation of Religious Education in British schools often allows individual schools or teachers to present their pupils with an introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, but such teachers will not necessarily have easy access to suitable materials. In early 2015, the Bookshop introduced complete packs of materials for teachers, including the sets of worksheets which had been available since 2008. The pack for Key Stage 2 (7-11 year-olds) contains more items provoking creative work than does the pack for Key Stage 3. The KS3 pack gives a wider range of URLs for videos, songs and Power Point Presentations.

Worksheets for R.E. Teachers[edit]

See also the article Worksheets for Teachers of R.E.

The Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop produces sets of worksheets which can be used or adapted by schoolteachers or indeed by Bahá’ís for other purposes. Line illustrations were provided by Elena Miller. These worksheets can also be accessed online. The format consists of loose pages held together in a binder, so that each page can be separated out and photocopied at will. The worksheets were originally designed to cover a wide age range, from approximately eight to fourteen years. In July, 2013, the earlier set was replaced by two sets, one designed for 7-11 year-olds ("Key Stage 2"), and the other for 11-14 year-olds ("Key Stage 3"). A number of copies of the original set, for 8-14 year-olds, are still available. The KS3 worksheets are also included in a "pack" of materials available for lower secondary school teachers (see immediately above).

In 2014, the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter to the Bahá’ís of the world, instituting further details of the Badi calendar. In response to this, certain pages of the worksheets have been rewritten, to bring them up to date. A new printing of both sets of worksheets now exists, and the existing stock of the Key Stage One and Key Stage Two versions has been updated.

The published title of these worksheets is: "The Bahá’í Faith - Photocopiable Worksheets for Teachers of R.E."

Material suitable for younger children in schools ("Key Stage 1") is greatly needed. Warwick Bahá'í Bookshop would welcome offers of help from people with experience of teaching this age group, and who would be able to work on this project.

Other Uses of the Worksheets[edit]

Bahá’ís seeing these worksheets for sale have purchased them for a number of purposes. The pages on Bahá’í history can be photocopied for teaching use with small groups of young Bahá’ís, as can many of the specific topic pages. Some of these pages are designed for colouring activities, and so can be used with children during generalised Bahá’í meetings. Because of this, Bahá’ís from overseas have also asked for copies to be posted to them for their own use.

Short Selections from the Bahá'í Writings[edit]

In April, 2018, Short selections from the Bahá'í Writings was published. This is an A6-sized booklet intended to make it easy to put the Word of God directly into the hands of people. It should give the reader some idea of the range of subjects covered in the Bahá'í Writings, from spiritual to practical subjects, from personal spiritual development to how the world should be run. The intention was to make this booklet as inexpensive as possible, so that the Bahá'ís would regard this as an item they buy in multiple copies and then give to enquirers.

Short Selections from the Bahá'í Writings, Inspiring Words for Daily Life and Prayers and Writings of the Báb are collectively referred to as the "Water of Life" series.

Inspiring Words for Daily Life[edit]

Inspiring Words for Daily Life is an A6-sized volume of Bahá'í quotations intended to make it easy to put the Word of God directly into the hands of people. It should give the reader some comfort, due to the selection of

quotations made, on topics such as "Love", "Unity", "Harmony", "Beauty" and the like. Published in 2020. There are 48 pages, and the quotations are divided in 22 sections. There is a contents page, to enable the reader to see the contents of the book at a glance. Each section comprises a double page. The quotations are from both Bahá’u’lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá.

Although intended as a booklet for the enquirer or the new Bahá'í, it has quickly became obvious that this booklet is suitable as a bedside companion, for reading the Writings morning and evening.

Prayers and Writings of the Báb[edit]

In September, 2018, "Prayers and Writings of the Báb" was published. This is another A6 booklet for the Bahá'ís to use during and after the bicentenary of the birth of the Báb. Again, this is an inexpensive item, to encourage the Bahá'ís to buy the book in bulk, for ready distribution to the public. The quotations chosen deliberately include some of those which clearly indicate the special role of Bahá’u’lláh.

Books for Teaching [edit]

In 2012, the Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop began to produce booklets useful for teaching and deepening. The first booklet is an illustrated introductory book explaining the Bahá’í Faith to children and youth from the age of approximately 8 years upwards. This has also proved very popular with adults. It has been followed with a series of short life histories of the Central Figures of the Faith, intended for adult readers, but also accessible to older teenagers. Other items are in the course of preparation. Three Heroic Followers is of the same size as the short life histories, and is attended as a companion to them. Titles published to date are:

sample pages from the book (click for close-up)

Other Booklets[edit]

My Book of Prayers

The two publications, My Book of Prayers and My Book of Readings, both new in 2013, were designed to make prayers and readings more accessible to children of primary school age, and they have proved to be very popular. Each page has a line drawing which a child can colour in, thereby personalising their book. However, it has become increasingly clear that they can be used for adults as an inexpensive and accessible prayer book or book of readings.

In 2019, Warwick Bookshop produced reprints of Christine Abbas's two booklets for children, The Báb (Abbas) and Bahá'u'lláh (Abbas). These were first printed in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and were intended for schoolteachers working with 5 to 7-year-olds. The new editions are intended for all young children, in many different situations. In 2021, Ann Vickers produced a companion book Abdu'l-Baha (Vickers), including photographs on the later pages, and this was followed in early 2023 by a book on Shoghi Effendi and another on Bahíyyih Khánum.

The Team[edit]

Ann Vickers - writing, publication, editing, policy, sales
Patrick Vickers - writing, distribution, sales
Stephen Vickers and Rebecca Vickers operate the West Oxfordshire Bahá'í Bookshop - sales, service, books in other languages, and Corinne Randall artbooks published under the mark Intellect Books.
Rocky Grove - storage, transport, obtaining materials, etc.

Website[edit]

The website for Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop is informative, rather than interactive. While it shows the Bookshop's own publications, it does not list the books from other publishers which are in stock, and there is no shopping trolley/cart. There is a section mentioning that items in other languages are held, but these items are actually kept in West Oxfordshire, and are therefore not instantly available. The Bookshop has a Quick Response symbol, but it has not yet proved possible to convert the website to be compatible with mobile phone screens.

Practical difficulties have meant that the website is not always up to date.

It is worth being aware that a moribund, former website is still accessible on the internet, under a different arrangement of the Bookshop's name. This no longer connects with the Bookshop.

Visits to Warwick Bookshop[edit]

As the Bookshop is based in a private home, visits for the purpose of browsing the shelves or for the purchase of specific items are usually arranged beforehand by telephone. The website gives a contact email.

Availability of Warwick Bookshop publications[edit]

Warwick Baha'i Bookshop website [1]
Purchase of worksheets or leaflets [2]
Spiritual Pursuit in North America [3]
To read the text of the leaflets at Bahá'i Library Online [4]
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories in North America [5]
Obtaining "The Baha'i Faith" in America [6]
R.E. worksheets for download [7]
Short life histories, Book of Prayers, Book of Readings - South Africa [8]
Prayer and Readings books in Canada: bahaicentre@bahaitoronto.org
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories, "The Bahá'í Faith", "Short Selections" - Dublin Bahá'í Centre
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories - Singapore Bahá'í Centre
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories - Book Centre, Haifa
Short Life Histories - Bahá'í Verlag, Germany
Short Life Histories - Brisbane Bahá'í Bookshop
Short Life Histories, Prayers and Writings of the Báb - Bahá'í Distribution Service, United States
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories, "The Bahá'í Faith", Short Selections - Bahá'í Distribution Services, Australia
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories, "The Bahá'í Faith", Short Selections - Eesar, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.
Prayers, Readings, Short Life Histories, "The Bahá'í Faith", Short Selections - Brisbane Bahá'í Bookshop, Queensland