Do you buy your books used or new?
- klwoodford
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Re: Do you buy your books used or new?
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Beyond that, though, I love love LOVE old and used books, particularly when there's a note in the front cover. Sometimes it's just an old name and address, but sometimes the book was given as a prize, and there's a note of that.
One of mine reads, "Awarded to XX in 19XX for excellent behavior at school" (can't remember the name or year and I'm in the middle of moving house, so I can't unpack the books just to check! I'm pretty sure it was the 1910s or 20s though).
My pride and joy, though, is a first edition of Jane the Popular by Evadne Price, and on the first page is written "To Harris + Con
with love Christmas 1939
(and what a Christmas, just full of peace & goodwill, and how!)
Evadne"
(Yes, that's the same Evadne Price who wrote the book! 1st edition, signed by the author, can't ask for more than that!)
But it makes me wonder, who were Harris and Con? How did they know the author? Same goes for the girl who received one of my books as a prize; did she have children? Grandchildren? What was she like? There's someone with a whole life and story who lived and died and who I'd never even have known about if it hadn't been for that one book (Okay, being a bit dramatic now, I admit It's still true!)
- DATo
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This is a repost of something I wrote a long time ago in an OBC thread regarding inscriptions in books.JudasFm wrote: ↑19 Aug 2018, 01:20 If there's a new copy available or it's a fairly new book, I'd like to get it new as a gift unless the person giving it doesn't have a lot of money (Books were a serious luxury for me at one point; if I bought more than one 4.99 Kindle book a month, that was splurging!)
Beyond that, though, I love love LOVE old and used books, particularly when there's a note in the front cover. Sometimes it's just an old name and address, but sometimes the book was given as a prize, and there's a note of that.
One of mine reads, "Awarded to XX in 19XX for excellent behavior at school" (can't remember the name or year and I'm in the middle of moving house, so I can't unpack the books just to check! I'm pretty sure it was the 1910s or 20s though).
My pride and joy, though, is a first edition of Jane the Popular by Evadne Price, and on the first page is written "To Harris + Con
with love Christmas 1939
(and what a Christmas, just full of peace & goodwill, and how!)
Evadne"
(Yes, that's the same Evadne Price who wrote the book! 1st edition, signed by the author, can't ask for more than that!)
But it makes me wonder, who were Harris and Con? How did they know the author? Same goes for the girl who received one of my books as a prize; did she have children? Grandchildren? What was she like? There's someone with a whole life and story who lived and died and who I'd never even have known about if it hadn't been for that one book (Okay, being a bit dramatic now, I admit It's still true!)
Last Christmas an internet friend sent me a very old copy of Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. On the inside front cover is the inscription, To Margaret with love from Grace - Oct. 17, 1900. The book is in very good shape but does show signs of wear so I know it has definitely been read many times. It is small, hard-bound, and has a cloth cover with a beige and gold background pattern and small roses on it. It must have been beautiful when it was new. I imagine Margaret was a child but the handwriting is a beautiful flowing script which was definitely written by an adult.
One hundred and [eighteen] years ago, before Orville and Wilber flew the first plane; before automobiles; before paved streets; before electricity was in homes; when horses pulled carts and buggies down city avenues; and before two world wars, someone named Grace gave this book as a gift. Obviously both of these people are no longer with us, and I will never know who Margaret and Grace were, but I award this book an honored place on my bookshelves with other "special" books out of respect for the love with which it was originally given to Margaret, and a century later, to me.
― Steven Wright
- Gravy
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DATo wrote: ↑19 Aug 2018, 02:14This is a repost of something I wrote a long time ago in an OBC thread regarding inscriptions in books.JudasFm wrote: ↑19 Aug 2018, 01:20 If there's a new copy available or it's a fairly new book, I'd like to get it new as a gift unless the person giving it doesn't have a lot of money (Books were a serious luxury for me at one point; if I bought more than one 4.99 Kindle book a month, that was splurging!)
Beyond that, though, I love love LOVE old and used books, particularly when there's a note in the front cover. Sometimes it's just an old name and address, but sometimes the book was given as a prize, and there's a note of that.
One of mine reads, "Awarded to XX in 19XX for excellent behavior at school" (can't remember the name or year and I'm in the middle of moving house, so I can't unpack the books just to check! I'm pretty sure it was the 1910s or 20s though).
My pride and joy, though, is a first edition of Jane the Popular by Evadne Price, and on the first page is written "To Harris + Con
with love Christmas 1939
(and what a Christmas, just full of peace & goodwill, and how!)
Evadne"
(Yes, that's the same Evadne Price who wrote the book! 1st edition, signed by the author, can't ask for more than that!)
But it makes me wonder, who were Harris and Con? How did they know the author? Same goes for the girl who received one of my books as a prize; did she have children? Grandchildren? What was she like? There's someone with a whole life and story who lived and died and who I'd never even have known about if it hadn't been for that one book (Okay, being a bit dramatic now, I admit It's still true!)
Last Christmas an internet friend sent me a very old copy of Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. On the inside front cover is the inscription, To Margaret with love from Grace - Oct. 17, 1900. The book is in very good shape but does show signs of wear so I know it has definitely been read many times. It is small, hard-bound, and has a cloth cover with a beige and gold background pattern and small roses on it. It must have been beautiful when it was new. I imagine Margaret was a child but the handwriting is a beautiful flowing script which was definitely written by an adult.
One hundred and [eighteen] years ago, before Orville and Wilber flew the first plane; before automobiles; before paved streets; before electricity was in homes; when horses pulled carts and buggies down city avenues; and before two world wars, someone named Grace gave this book as a gift. Obviously both of these people are no longer with us, and I will never know who Margaret and Grace were, but I award this book an honored place on my bookshelves with other "special" books out of respect for the love with which it was originally given to Margaret, and a century later, to me.
Love this.
What is grief, if not love persevering?
Grief is just love with no place to go.
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This puts what I feel and wanted to say much better and more succinctly than I managedDATo wrote: ↑19 Aug 2018, 02:14 Last Christmas an internet friend sent me a very old copy of Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. On the inside front cover is the inscription, To Margaret with love from Grace - Oct. 17, 1900. The book is in very good shape but does show signs of wear so I know it has definitely been read many times. It is small, hard-bound, and has a cloth cover with a beige and gold background pattern and small roses on it. It must have been beautiful when it was new. I imagine Margaret was a child but the handwriting is a beautiful flowing script which was definitely written by an adult.
One hundred and [eighteen] years ago, before Orville and Wilber flew the first plane; before automobiles; before paved streets; before electricity was in homes; when horses pulled carts and buggies down city avenues; and before two world wars, someone named Grace gave this book as a gift. Obviously both of these people are no longer with us, and I will never know who Margaret and Grace were, but I award this book an honored place on my bookshelves with other "special" books out of respect for the love with which it was originally given to Margaret, and a century later, to me.
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