Monday, August 2, 2010

Old Books....

Plain old Me.... spent the day, on the business end of a weed eater, and push mower... It rained, but, the weed whip didn't seem to mind... And if I waited to do this, when it isn't raining, well, it wouldn't get done...John thought I was crazy... but, the week is piled up, with so much to do... there was no choice... Had some nice Gals, pop in, and do a little shoppin'... they didn't care, that I looked like a drowned rat... I had some of my Mother's business, to attend to, this afternoon, didn't get any antiquing done... So, I thought I'd share two of my favorite old books...
This book, dates from 1825... It's actually an arithmetic study book... George Washington carried one just like it, when he was young... There are study problems, about riding horseback so many miles, in a day... and how long it would take, to get from point 'a', to 'b', 'c' and 'd'... It's all beautifully written, by the student... I have always treasured it... The book was a gift, from a dear friend, when I first opened the Shop...She had bought it at an auction, for a few dollars... amazing....
This book, is from 1849, and I adore it... It's on Horticulture... it has the most beautiful homes, and gardens, of the day, as well as diagrams of gardens, and conservatories.... oh my... I bought this, in Newton, Iowa, while meeting Pal, Jo, from Carlisle, Iowa... We had such a wonderful time, that day... I almost put the old book in the shop... and, maybe, I will, someday... Just... not today... I have cupboards full of old books... several old copies of Gone With The Wind.... The Great Rebellion... A 1912, Handwritten Diary, of a young farm girl, in northern Iowa...a book on Potions, and Perfumes...several old, Victorian Scrapbooks... Just all sorts, of mostly mid 1800's books... The cupboards are overflowing... I never have much time to read them, but, on occasion, one will call out, and we'll spend an evening, together...
I'm helping friends move, tomorrow... Then, back on the road, Wednesday and Thursday...
I visited with Peg, today... she says she's doing fine.... Still no answers...The Boys are back, from England {Leftovers Antiques}... Looks like they had a wonderful time....Brought back some really cool Garden Stuff! I'm pooped... It was a long day....
Hope Everyone, has the most Amazing Tuesday...

3 comments:

Gracie's Cottage said...

I share your love of old books and yours are beautiful. I buy many just for the covers - the marbled paper makes me swoon.

Jan

P.S. "Gnarly"...the word pops into my head all of the time now when I find a great piece of battered junk. I think of you each time! :)

WW said...

I love old books. I work at a library and we have a semi-annual book sale, and people donate all kinds of stuff to us.
I picked up a book from the 1930's or 40's called something about every day living (I'll have to go home and look at the cover). Anyways, it's really cool, it's got all these remedies to do things at home, and a whole bunch about what women are supposed to do at home, and as a bonus I found about 20 small 4-leaf clovers and about 10 large 4-leaf clovers flattened within it's pages.
I also picked up an American Heritage dictionary from about the 1950's, I love the huge old versions, they're typing is so cool. I have unfortunately started taking out pages to use in my artwork, before I realized how cool the book is.
I don't have anything from the 1800's, but I do have a few early 1900's books, one about Iowa is pretty cool, has neat pictures of a few schools and university buildings. I'm always on the look out for old books for cheap prices.

WW said...

I looked it up, it's The Everyday Reference Library from 1948 and 1951. I have The American Dictionary of the English Language from 1910, The Story of America in Pictures from 1953, and The Oxford Universal Dictionary from 1955.
I love old books and the agedness of their papers.