Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Antique Books



Be careful what you wish for, yesterday I was bemoaning the fact that we have had endless warm, sunny days, which seems out of keeping for November, well today it has been damp, dull and dreary so it jolly well serves me right! Added to that I have been in a melancholy mood.

To try and cheer myself up I went rooting around in the cupboard under the stairs for the boxes of Christmas decorations, surely fairy lights and baubles would cheer me up! Of course it's far too early to decorate,  normally I like to decorate in the first week of December.  No, what I wanted was to mess around in my studio spare room with baubles, fairy lights and candles and try to make some pretty pictures but nothing seemed to be working for me today, the pictures were a disaster so in the end I gave up and went back to photographing antique books.

We are fortunate to have inherited a large collection of antique books, the top three books in the first picture are French books on natural history, they have some stunning engravings in them and are eighteenth century, I was trying to capture the patina on them whilst imagining who their original owners were, these books were around during the French revolution, how come we have ended up with them? What was the fate of the original owners? what kind of room or library might they have rested in?

In the second picture the books are popular British classics from the late nineteenth century, I know the history of these one's. The first four little books are Dickens and they also include wonderful engraved illustrations, I love the gold detail on the spines, I really should read them but they are so delicate I worry about damaging them and that would be awful, so I will put them back in their home on the bookshelf and admire them.


I am still resisting the urge to invest in a Kindle or Nook, I love books, all books, nothing gives me greater pleasure than a new book. My modern book collection may one day fall into the hands of someone who wonders about the original owner from a couple of centuries ago, I don't believe a Kindle or a Nook would last that long!

Wishing Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.
XXX

13 comments:

  1. Oh, I so agree with you...I could not live without my books...my husband is a fan of the Kindle but for me it's all about the smell of the books and my library that I can dip into as when I please ;-)
    Catherine
    xx

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  2. I like the feel and the smell of books....and am careful with my old treasures...

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  3. Hello Dash

    You have a wonderful collection of books and, like you, I have no desire to own a kindle.
    We are celebrating Thanksgiving with friends tomorrow at their ranch. My contribution is a large salad for twenty people.

    Hope tomorrow is bright

    Helen xx

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  4. Add me to the list. . .I am happiest with my stacks of books surrounding me; no desire for Kindle, Nook, or any other electronic gadget. . .they'll never match the smell of musty old pages being turned or the indentations of the printed word on a cover. Your photos are beautiful -

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  5. Yes to this! Love books in every form, be freshly crisp from publish, modernized reading to the oldest ones. Got my eye on your next posts.

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  6. Christmas decorations and twinkly lights will certainly lift your spirits in the cold days:). I like to wait until December too. The books are glorious treasures - how lucky you are to have them to stroke, smell, flick through and gaze at. Oh and read;). I'm not doing digital books. I love pages too much:). xo

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  7. Love your pictures Dash, and the tassel as a bookmarker is charming
    Sharon
    xx

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  8. Beautiful old books are the best :)

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  9. What beautiful pictures - no matter what angle you took a Kindle from you couldn't make my heart jump like those leather bindings do!

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  10. Oh those books are so beautiful, I still prefer the feel of a real book in my hands, plus I read online for so many other things that it seems much more relaxing to snuggle down with a good book.

    The snowball is awful, really sickly, but for some reason I just have to have one this year!

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  11. antique history books are really very special books because just because of these books we can easily comes to know that what was our past and also gave us much more knowledge about life. Really thankful to you for posting this blog.

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  12. Books are forever! A Kindle...never!

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