Forgotten Bookmarks

I work at a used and rare bookstore, and I buy books from people every day. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in those books. I also wrote a book: http://bit.ly/ozEmdL

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Small card from a vintage Peerless Vending and Weighing Machine:. This card features Betty Grable on one side, and the user's weight and fortune on the other (139 pounds as of July 28, unknown year, and "YOU believe in fair play and in giving the other person an equal chance") #forgottenbookmarks

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Doctor Dolittle's Circus - color illustrated children's book from 1927 with decorative cover and endpapers

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Some random illustrations / advertisements I’ve found recently

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First edition and printing of Mark Twain’s "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

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1900 edition of "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman; deckled edges, gilt top edge

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This interesting book came with some interesting additions. Check out the drawing and writing. The book is "Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Helpless Recruit" by J. Thorne Smith. Published by Frederick Strokes, 1918.

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“Projection Infinity" by Zeigfreid

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"New Worlds: Fiction of the Future" Vol. 1 No. 2, 1946 

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Classic Orrie Hitt paperback "Ellie's Shack" from 1958

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Vintage Western pulp FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES Magazine, November 1943. Vol 5, #1

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Inscription, dated May 3, 1960 - Oneonta NY:

Lucy, Yes, I can see it all now, you in twenty years finding this book in some moldy old closet and wondering where the heck you got it from. Then you'll flip open the cover and see this and try to recollect who I am or was, depending. You'll slowly remember and that will be the end of it, and back into the moldy closet. Well, hon I don't think I'll ever forget all the fun you, Sue and I had this past year. Good luck, I'm sure you'll be successful. Love, Dolores

The book is "Van Gogh" by Rene Huyghe. Published by Crown, 1958.

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Vintage mystery paperback "Night of the Jabberwock" by Frederic Brown, 1950 - great cover art

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First Dell printing of scifi classic LOGAN'S RUN from 1969 in excellent condition

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Antique 9 volume set "The Works of Charles Reade" - 

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1882 book with full color wraparound cover, Papa's Little Daughters

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I posted on Monday that I was off to check out some books that had been locked away, unseen, for nearly fifty years. The caretaker in charge was sick on Monday, but I was able to see them yesterday afternoon. Here's a quick recap of the experience, a chance for you all to walk in my shoes for the day:

The caretaker was nice enough to haul the books out of the dusty and unlit attic down to an upper floor. It was still unheated, however. Good thing I brought my sorting gloves.

Nearly all of the books were from the 1820s to the 1870s. They were part of a private reading library that belonged to a local organization.

About 750 books in all. There were lots of larger sets; Waverly Novels, Dickens' Works, encyclopedias - as well as a good collection of United States history, specifically the western states. Here are some of the highlights:

Early edition of James Fenimore Cooper's "History of the Navy" from 1847. Published in Cooperstown.

An "Oddfellows" anthology.

There were many different titles on Abraham Lincoln.

A very early printing of Uncle Tom's Cabin from 1852 (25th thousand).

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" in two volumes.

Not particularly valuable, but I liked the cover.

There's nothing like a nice spine lineup.

This is a very early edition, perhaps a first American edition, of "David Copperfield." I was unable to find much information on this particular printing.

An early colorized atlas of the world. I believe there were four volumes originally, I was only able to find two.

There is something about engravings that resonate with me. Here is Grant and Sherman from a Civil War history. Don't stare at Sherman too long... his eyes start looking back at you.

Another shelfie.

A nice and clean two volume edition of Carlyle's "French Revolution" from 1848.

An early Lincoln biography; this book has "Honest Abe" embossed on the front cover, I believe it was one of the first mainstream uses of that nickname.

An early Elizabeth Barrett Browning edition.

Beefy.

Not a first edition, but a very early printing of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter."

First edition of Washington Irving's "Astoria."

Another early Browning.

And I even found a forgotten bookmark in this history of Massachusetts:

I will probably end up going over to look at them again, do a little more research, then make an offer. I'll be sure to let you know if I bring them home.