a history of portugal, and to my delight, someone's appointment calendar from 1969 that fell out of the book. (if you look closely, you can see where the page yellowed against the calendar. it was obviously there a long time).
one of the many colorful maps illustrating portugal's maritime prowess.
an english grammar book with an excellent section on "faulty diction" and "gross violations". i can almost feel the schoolmarm rapping my knuckles with a ruler.
a beautiful arithmetic book in russian...
...and these delightful postcards tumbled out the front cover of the russian book. from the 50s? or maybe the 60s?
one of my best friends lives in fort smith so this one will be going to her. i wonder if that motel is still there!
the other postcard nearly put me on the floor when i recognized it: in 2001 i stayed in this hotel for nearly six months! i was working on a consulting project in pittsburgh. here it is today, beautifully restored. it makes my day when life dishes up odd coincidences like this.
18 comments:
What fun!
(i didn't know people abbreviated Arkansas with ARK :)
so interesting with older books; where they've been and how they look different (layout and typography). You just need the space to store them. My father told me his father bought a new house just to be able to keep buying new books!
You've read Ibsen's "the doll house"? Gooood
Wow, some great finds! We found some treasures there, too. One is a well-loved volume of Edward Lear limericks. Such fun to hunt through those boxes.
sounds like you had a great time. getting new books is always fun :)
Oh don't you just love it when this happens?! You open an old book (full of treasures in itself) and then you find other treasures you didn't expect, like the postcards, or dried flowers, newspapers clippings, etc.
krissy: i think the longer abbreviations were common until the 50s or 60s or whenever the post office officially changed it to the two letter abbreviations. but i remember getting letters in IND from older relatives in PENN/PENNA well into the 1980s because they couldn't shake the habit!
alexandra: yes, the layouts and typography are wonderful in those older books. we have no space, yet i keep accumulating more books. and 'a doll house' is wonderful!
christy - wow, a limerick book? you must have gotten there much earlier than i did!
shani - you're right, the surprises inside the old books were the biggest delights of all - they make me wonder who owned them, what kind of lives they led, whether they're still around or not - all mysteries...
Oh, WAHOOOO! I think these books were absolutely waiting for you. They made themselves so heavy that other people just could not lift them off the table. Until you came along. Look at these treasures! And some books in Japanese, too! I can only recognize a few of the kanji, darnit.
Yay, hooray, I am doing a little jig for your fabulous finds. :)
i like those russian postcards
:)
Absolutely lovely!
I love to look/touch/smell old books. I love to feel the history in my hands. :)
Enjoy your week my dear <3
wow. you found some great books! and the extras within are so cool. what will you do with the books? i'd be tempted to work some of the pages into collages...
Good finds. I see lots of collage materials there but you may have different things in mind. Like maybe reading, hahaha.
Darla
what an interesting post...and some good reads.
yummy books :)
great finds!
ps: i should be working but all these distractions...hummmm
fabulous finds--- that map is sweeet!
Wow, what finds you made! You need to keep me far away from these types of sales, seriously. More of my money will quickly disappear as with more of my living space!!
lucky ducky .... i love used books ... what a treasure trove you found!
oh my goodness, i'm SO JEALOUS about your loot! What great buys! (thank you, btw, for your order-- I'm sending it out today!) xoxo
Lucky you - looks like you found a great stash of finds!
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