Tuesday, February 5, 2019

For the Love of Old Books....

I love books!  But I especially love old books.  I currently am collecting versions of The Wizard of Oz, Heidi and The Five Little Peppers.  But trust me, I also latch on to any old readers and a whole host of other old books. 
Most recently I searched the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores in the area for any selections I needed for my collection.  Here is what I walked away with on this adventure.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri, copyrighted version dated 1948.  It was a part of a school library.  On the inside front cover, someone pasted this information about the author. and illustrator.



Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, paperback edition copyrighted 1973.  I love the movie, have never actually read the book but how could I pass this up when I looked inside and found this handwritten note from Barb to Kathy.

Then I found these two books by Louis May Alcott.  Gotta love Little Women.  Here is Little Men and Eight Cousins.  Both dated 1940.  However the thing that sucked me in is the note inside the front cover of both of these books.

Eight Cousins was for Barbara from Momie and Daddy in 1950.  Little Men was for Juanita from Momie and Daddy in 1950.  Do you suppose the family had already read and enjoyed Little Women?

Last but not least was this Websters Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary from 1969.  I am not in the habit of collecting dictionaries but I brought this jewel home because of the secrets it held inside.  Take a look.


Here is what I found on the inside cover pages.  Read it carefully...still good advice today.

Further into the book I found these secrets hiding.  This picture was found on page 353 and has a handwritten date of 1968 on the back of the clipping.  The other clipping was found stuck on page 385.

Then there was this beauty on page 439.  If you can read it you will see that it portrays a pretty accurate picture of humans even now in 2019.  This whimsical item was on page 673.



And last but not least, this page intrigued me as it was the only page where the top corner had been folded down.  Had the owner of this dictionary been reading each page and only gotten this far before putting it down?  Or did something strike the reader as especially interesting on this page?  I will never know.

Anyone else interested in old books?  Or different versions of the same story?  Or am I just crazy?