Greetings from the water-logged Northeast. The rain keeps on coming. I do spy a bit of sun at the moment, so fingers are crossed. It’s been so bad here for the past 2 months that there is a patch of our front lawn that I still haven’t been able to mow. Because it is at the bottom of our little hill, all the moisture seems to collect there. It has yet to dry out from the hurricane, much less our most recent rains.
I seem to be featuring the den lately. This little vignette sits atop my music cabinet just to the left of the stairs. Before we go any further, say hello to Monty:
How could you not love that face?
But this post is about books. To the left, you will see some vintage books.
I’ve found a few well-loved vintage books that I treasure. I don’t buy them just to buy them. I know many of you buy them for crafting purposes or for display. Try as I might, I simply cannot take a book apart and use it’s pages for something else. I’ve done it with sheet music, but that’s as far as I can go. Books are living things to me and I just can’t do it. Must be genetic.
If I buy a vintage book, it is because I love the author and it has meaning to me. That book on the left, Lyrics and Love, is full of beautiful poetry about house and home and is in near perfect condition. A Girl of the Limberlost is a favorite from childhood; I have two copies and this particular one is the oldest. Claudia has obvious meaning and was given to me by my friend Spencer. And the Jeeves books are favorites of ours – Don has played Jeeves onstage. If you have never read Wodehouse, you are missing out on some of the funniest characters ever written. You will laugh out loud.
This vintage book is priceless to me because my grandmother gave it to my great-aunt Rhoda for Christmas in 1912. Rhoda died a few short years later, a victim of the flu epidemic. The pages are so fragile that I rarely open this book. This is the color illustration inside the front cover:
And this book, equally dear, was presented to my grandmother in 1904 as a prize. She had memorized the most bible verses of anyone in her class.
I have some first editions that I love, a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that I keep in a safe place and others that are dear because I’ve read and re-read them so many times.
Oh, and I have this book:
We bought it on our honeymoon. It’s been well-thumbed because it was formerly the property of Grass Valley High School
I pressed some wedding flowers in it.
And a four-leaf clover or two.
And it has some beautiful illustrations:
But I do accumulate more books than I have room for in our tiny cottage. The other day, I was in purge mode. I attacked the bookshelves that are on my side of the bed, ruthlessly pulling out books I knew I would never read and/or consult again.
Our little library has need of books for its shelves and also has a book sale every year. I will be donating these to the cause so that someone else will have the pleasure of reading them.
Long live books! And by that I mean the 3 dimensional kind.
For those of you who participated in my modest little meme, Reality Shot Thursday, my thanks. I loved your posts. I’d like to keep this going for a while and I’d be most appreciative if you’d spread the word. I don’t know about you, but I love shooting a no-pressure-real-life photo. It’s refreshing!
Beverly suggested I link with Pink Saturday since the cover of Alice in Wonderland is pink!
