If Only These Tomes Could Speak
“The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.” – Jean Cocteau (French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic).
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 2nd of August is "embossed leather". As those of you who follow my photostream will know, I am a collector of a great many things, and that includes antiquarian books. The smell of old paper and the feel of volumes in my hands delight me far more than a Kindle ever will. I love old books for their beautiful illustrations and ornately decorative bindings. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful library full of old embossed leather bound books with gilt decorated tooled spines, so I had to look no further than there for my choice for this week.
In the background I have one of eight volumes of “Rollin’s Ancient History” – 6th edition – published in 1774, one of seven volumes of the “History of Charles Grandison in a Series of Letters” published in 1811, and volume three of the “Waverley Novels” by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1829. However, the book with the beautifully embossed leather cover in the foreground is something of a recent edition to my collection, and a young’un when compared with the others, having been published in 1841. It is a copy of “Johnson’s English Dictionary in Miniature” published by Eli Soul of number 26 Tabernacle Walk in London (razed in the Blitz). I found it not three weeks ago at a thrift shop which a friend and I went to on a whim. It was in a locked glass cabinet on display, but when I asked to look at it, I was surprised to see it only had a price tag of a few dollars. It was a wonderful bargain, and its pages are full of interesting markers left by its former owners (who are all noted on the inside cover in spidery writing in faded ink), like old Victorian calling cards, pressed flowers and grasses, pieces of poetry cut from old newspapers and even an old and crumbling piece of silver foil. The cover, made of rich burgundy dyed leather is heavily embossed in typical Victorian patterning of the era. If only these old, embossed leather tomes could speak, what stories they could tell! I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
If Only These Tomes Could Speak
“The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.” – Jean Cocteau (French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic).
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 2nd of August is "embossed leather". As those of you who follow my photostream will know, I am a collector of a great many things, and that includes antiquarian books. The smell of old paper and the feel of volumes in my hands delight me far more than a Kindle ever will. I love old books for their beautiful illustrations and ornately decorative bindings. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful library full of old embossed leather bound books with gilt decorated tooled spines, so I had to look no further than there for my choice for this week.
In the background I have one of eight volumes of “Rollin’s Ancient History” – 6th edition – published in 1774, one of seven volumes of the “History of Charles Grandison in a Series of Letters” published in 1811, and volume three of the “Waverley Novels” by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1829. However, the book with the beautifully embossed leather cover in the foreground is something of a recent edition to my collection, and a young’un when compared with the others, having been published in 1841. It is a copy of “Johnson’s English Dictionary in Miniature” published by Eli Soul of number 26 Tabernacle Walk in London (razed in the Blitz). I found it not three weeks ago at a thrift shop which a friend and I went to on a whim. It was in a locked glass cabinet on display, but when I asked to look at it, I was surprised to see it only had a price tag of a few dollars. It was a wonderful bargain, and its pages are full of interesting markers left by its former owners (who are all noted on the inside cover in spidery writing in faded ink), like old Victorian calling cards, pressed flowers and grasses, pieces of poetry cut from old newspapers and even an old and crumbling piece of silver foil. The cover, made of rich burgundy dyed leather is heavily embossed in typical Victorian patterning of the era. If only these old, embossed leather tomes could speak, what stories they could tell! I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!