Notes In Old Books

[Stompie]

I enjoy getting old books and I rummage through books at Charity shops and second hand dealers.

 

My favourites are books that have a notation of sorts inside the cover especially when it has been written a long time ago and with a fountain or dip pen.

 

Some of the handwriting notes I find are simply beautiful examples of how folk used to write and, to me, give the book an added attraction.

 

A few days ago I was looking at a book of Longfellows poetry and it had an inscription in the front dated 1895. It was awarded to a child for an achievement at high school!

 

Does anyone else look for this type of thing?

[Fermata]

Thats an interesting idea Stompie, we collect books in this home, father goes for early Jane Austen, my practice is just anything and everything.

 

I looked for what is written in some of our books and found a bookplate from Doris Stokes who was a famous Spiritualist Medium in a book by JB Priestley.

 

The Rubaaiyat of Omar Khayyam dated 1922 with an inscription dated All Saints Day 1922, a gift to KM Lea. An Oxford Professor of English Literature.

 

A signed edition from John Mortimer, a great story teller.

 

I will look out for other book notations as you suggest.

[Runnin_Ute]

This is Volume II Business Psychology from a set of books I have that belonged to my grandfather. The books were printed in 1923. The set is about 15-20 volumes in total. LaSalle Extension University. All on different business topics. Two or three have his signature, including this one. He passed away April 15, 1959, and the books came to me after my grandmothers passing in October 1994. They were in her possession in the intervening years. The business he started a plumbing and heating company is now in its third generation of family ownership.

 

Chas. W. Thornton

East Midvale, Utah

Edited April 10, 2018 by Runnin_Ute

[Stompie]

 

Very interesting Parkette! I have a friend who is nuts about Penguins and that plate would thrill her to bits!

She went on an Antartic adventure recently and I swear, she took a picture of every single penguin!!

[Stompie]

 

 

Nice! Your grandmother outlived your grandfather by 45 years??? Wow!

[mwpannell]

For a while I had my hands on a book that belonged to JRR Tolkien. It had some interesting notes in it, him being an academic and it be used for research. Even better, it had some lay-ins, scraps of paper in it with notes, etc. His sig, a shopping list, some professory notes and more. In fact, my avatar is from a note of his from the book -- his handwriting.

[Stompie]

For a while I had my hands on a book that belonged to JRR Tolkien. It had some interesting notes in it, him being an academic and it be used for research. Even better, it had some lay-ins, scraps of paper in it with notes, etc. His sig, a shopping list, some professory notes and more. In fact, my avatar is from a note of his from the book -- his handwriting.

 

That's a great one MW. If I may ask, why do you not have it now?

[mwpannell]

It belongs to a family member and I hung on to it for a while "on loan." Made a lot of scans for them at the time.

[Stompie]

It belongs to a family member and I hung on to it for a while "on loan." Made a lot of scans for them at the time.

[Runnin_Ute]

 

Nice! Your grandmother outlived your grandfather by 45 years??? Wow!

She was 93 when she died in 1994. (Jan 1901-Oct 1994) He was 61 he passed in 1959 (Sep 1897-Apr 1959) So 35 years. Either way, that is a long time.

[Stompie]

In a 1937 edition of Longfellow that I bought, a lot of the pages have not been trimmed properly and so are joined together! That means no one has read through large sections of the book, including the Song of Haiwatha!! How sad is that!

[Fermata]

In a similar vein.

 

A very early edition of Study in Scarlet by Conan Doyle, inside the book is a recreation of the study of sherlock Holmes as imagined by the writer.

[kazoolaw]

There are autograph books, often written on the occasion of graduation, or close friendship. They will sometimes include poetry of the home-made type. The attention to penmanship is fun to see.

 

gary

[Bookman]

I bought this years ago at a garage sale. With this one exception, I have never bought a book with a stain on the cover or on any of the pages. The binding was, and still is, in remarkably good condition, perfectly intact everywhere. But normally a coffee stain like that would be a deal-breaker for me. I bought the work because I wanted to read it. I bought the book for the inscription on the flyleaf which, among other things, dates the purchase in the year the book was published.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stompie]

I was browsing books today in a 2nd hand bookshop. One book had

"Merry Christmas Mother

From ..... couldn't make out the names

1904"

 

Was very tempted to buy that just for that inscription!

[Studio97]

I wish I could post pics of this. A good many years ago I picked up an old book for .75 at a flea market. The book was in poor condition. It belonged to a young girl named Elizabeth as she wrote her name inside the cover, and a stick figure girl wearing a gown drawn inside the cover. Inside the back cover she practiced one line of the alphabet and some numbers which are a mystery as to what they represent. The cover was crudely hand repaired with some leather and crudely stitch on. It is so old and fragile extreme care has to be taken to handle it.

Based on the type font and verses about witchcraft and the power of magistrates, and olde English style, I could estimate this Catechism to have been printed at about the year 1700. The language looks like ORIGINAL kings language of a 1611 bible. It is very fragile.Elizabeth is remembered today by the printing and drawing by her own hand.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Studio97

[nigelg]

Just be careful when you open old books .

(You'll get the gist from the bit you can read)

[Stompie]

I wish I could post pics of this. A good many years ago I picked up an old book for .75 at a flea market. The book was in poor condition. It belonged to a young girl named Elizabeth as she wrote her name inside the cover, and a stick figure girl wearing a gown drawn inside the cover. Inside the back cover she practiced one line of the alphabet and some numbers which are a mystery as to what they represent. The cover was crudely hand repaired with some leather and crudely stitch on. It is so old and fragile extreme care has to be taken to handle it.

Based on the type font and verses about witchcraft and the power of magistrates, and olde English style, I could estimate this Catechism to have been printed at about the year 1700. The language looks like ORIGINAL kings language of a 1611 bible. It is very fragile.Elizabeth is remembered today by the printing and drawing by her own hand.

Wow, that would be nice to see. Why can you not post pics?

 

Actually, the shop had a first edition Dickens but, as the spine was damaged I didn’t take it.

[Studio97]

I only have cell phone photos and nothing else unless someone knows of a way to do it from my phone only and follow forum rules. Anybody...pm me.

[Stompie]

Ah, ok. I can't help you there