Old Books

[Chuck Bao]

This may not be a very exciting thread, but does anyone else like to read or collect old books?

I went shopping at the weekend market yesterday for Christmas gifts and ended up buying a few old books.

I think these books are interesting and I don’t want to give them away. Well, I would except I’m just not so sure there are many other people would fully appreciate this sort of thing.

Tour Through the Batavian Republic (during the latter part of 1800 containing an account of the revolution and recent events in that country) by R. Fell (1801)

Dictionary of English Phrases by K.C. Kwong (1880)

Moon Folk by Jane G. Austin (1874)

I’m teetotally enjoying the 1880 English phrase book written by the Chinaman. That he did that as a educational delegation of Chinese to the US and then wrote a Chinese – English dictionary. And, the Editor of the Webster Dictionary from Yale wrote a hand-written forward in the book and had to mark out a few words, ran out of space and had to write in the margins. The Harvard editor said it shows great industry. (funny foreshadowing?).

The Batavian 1800 travelogue is for a colleague, my company's regional economist who got me interested in this sort of thing and was pining for the the book several months ago.

The Moon Folk book is a children's book. I'm a real sucker for 19th century children's books.

[proud gonzo]

Yep. I love old book stores and antique stores--I head straight for the old hardback books--preferably the leatherbound ones. I've been known to buy books just because they look awesome. And maybe i'm just strange...but I love the way old books smell. It's right up there with leather and new car.

[Chuck Bao]

Yep. I love old book stores and antique stores--I head straight for the old hardback books--preferably the leatherbound ones. I've been known to buy books just because they look awesome. And maybe i'm just strange...but I love the way old books smell. It's right up there with leather and new car.

Are there these types of old book or antique stores in Oklahoma or Kansas? I would like to buy more.

My family only has only two really old books. One is the family bible brought over in 1860. It is printed in gothic German and I can't read even a bit of it and I can read some modern German.

The other one is a big English language Bible that has pages for family birth, marriage and death dates and it's filled in from 1880 to 1920. It's too fragile to even open. And, its been in a sock drawer or a bank vault for more than a hundred years.

[proud gonzo]

well, not many good ones. In Wichita I usually go to the used book store in the downtown library--people donate a lot of books and sometimes there are some cool ones.

My favorite place is in New Jersey near my grandma's house. It's called Time and Again Antiques--it's a warehouse. In their front room there's a book case of old awesome books. Last time I was in there I had to restrain myself from buying a set of 19 leatherbound books in..I think it was dutch or old german or something. I have no clue what they were about, but they were fascinating.

[King Crimson]

my mom collects old hardbound books.

[whatsername]

Yep. I love old book stores and antique stores--I head straight for the old hardback books--preferably the leatherbound ones. I've been known to buy books just because they look awesome. And maybe i'm just strange...but I love the way old books smell. It's right up there with leather and new car.
Nope, you're not strange or at least, I don't think so. :) I love the way books smell too. Not just old ones, but new ones too.

[12]

I also like the old books. I have too many of them, but can't seem to cure the addiction.

I've got a bunch of my mother's school text books from the 30s. Every now and then, I enjoy thumbing through those for a lesson in why we are all so screwed up.

And yeah, gonzo and whatsername, the book smell is unique and wonderful.

[royalfan5]

I have a bunch of old or collectible books too. Not as old as some of the ones mentioned already, but somewhat rare like a copy of the offical Navy Report on Pearl Harbor, a hardbound compilation of the AP's accounts of JFK's assisination, and a German language pre-WWII copy of Mein Kampf(Not that I'm endoring the book or anything, I just thought I was an interesting artifact)

[GottaHavePride]

Hell there was a pretty sweet book shop in... wiat where was that? I think it was in Eugene, OR. Down the street a bit from the hotel I stayed in. I'm pretty sure that was in Eugene.

[proud gonzo]

yeah--you told me about that one