Saturday, April 10, 2010

Old Books and a Gift

Anyone who's been to my house knows I love books. You can't help but figure that out after being here a while, say, long enough to wander through 2 or 3 rooms. And I really love old books; I enjoy the knowledge that there's a connection between me and whoever owned this book long ago.

So, our friend Greg stopped by on his way to Maryland yesterday; in
the back seat of his car he had a box of books for us. The little boys were thrilled, because there were a number of books they will enjoy reading (and five that they urged me to send to one of their sisters, because they're "girly books"). Among the books was this geometry book, with a copyright date of 1916, renewed in 1924. I noticed a number of things about this book.

First, the book has some kind of oiled paper cover glued to it. Now WHY didn't schools continue doing that, instead of dooming generations of us to figuring out how to fold brown paper bags to make book covers that would tear soon anyway? This book was last used in the 1932 to 1933 school year, and its cover is still intact. Just saying.
The pages aren't so hot, but it's interesting to see that a kid a long time ago made the same kind of notes I would have made. Ryan was especially interested to find the charts of
squares, square roots, etc. in the back of the book. He's learning Algebra this year, and probably didn't quite believe me that back in the days of the dinosaurs, we didn't have computers or graphing calculators or such things, and had to look up all of our functions in charts which existed in every book.

But what I found most interesting was that this boy had left a homework assignment typed on an index card in his book.
And he was clearly bored, because he'd made this sketch on the back of his assignment.

As I said, I love the connection between people of the past and present. I love to imagine what they were thinking.

On another note, last week I got a present from Chan. This week, it was finally warm enough to wear.

Isn't this shawl beautiful? I wore it to the lab to get blood drawn, and my dearly beloved was most perplexed that the ladies who work there were studying it carefully, feeling it and admiring it. One asked how she could get friends like mine who knit.

Don't mind the face I'm making in this picture. I was looking right into the sun, and my little guy isn't enough of a photographer to tell me I looked funny!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. The boys and I are off to a Library used book sale. We do love those books!

11 comments:

Sue said...

Our library sale is coming up in a couple weeks. On the last day you can buy a paper grocery bag for two dollars and fill it up. I usually fill about three of them while Rob gets a couple, too.

I love finding treasures in old books. Recently while doing some genealogy research I found an old letter tucked away between the pages. What a great find. A letter from some ancestors.

buffalodick said...

I collect old cook books.. along with others we have bookcases and boxes filled with books!

~~louise~~ said...

What a treasure Marjie! I'm so impressed that the boys are even interested in looking at vintage books and Algebra no less. Kudos to those boys!!!

You look fabulous! I was wondering when you were going to model that gorgeous Channon shawl for us. I'd say you chose the perfect day.

Thanks for sharing...

Christo Gonzales said...

the book is pretty cool and it seems like not much has changed in 70 some years - nice gift and you look so "springy" in your yard!

Rose said...

Your comment about the brown folded book covers brought back old memories for me, except ours were actual book covers we had to fold up to fit the books. I grew up in Western PA... and of course I'm much older than you (graduated in '66). But I can say, thanks for the memory! :-)

gMarie said...

fun books - and what a fabulous drawing that young man made on the back of his homework.

I am very impressed by the shawl. I love how it turned out. g

pam said...

I love old books, just love them!!! Your shawl is beautiful, lucky you!

Kapitein Haakje said...

you dont need photoshop! :D only a mastiif in the photo

Kissslobbers
El'bow & Hauwii

SissySees said...

I'm delighted the shawl fits you so perfectly! I think your little guy did just fine... but then all the world thinks Gretchen is always worried just because I can't capture her facial expressions at the right nano-second...

LOVE that old book and the cover. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?! I have lots of old books too, mostly from my relations, and I just love the smell, the fragile paper and those connections you mentioned.

Lapdog Creations said...

What a fun treasure to find!!!

The shawl looks fab on you!

Paula said...

I love old books like that! And that homework assignment ... all of those topics would apply to today's world situation, too!

You look lovely as always. The color suits you perfectly. My kids call those "shrugs" and they are all the rage on this side of the map. May I also add that, gosh, your hair is gorgeous!

Hope you had success at the book sale. We are off to our little community library is about an hour.