Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Found Things.

As a collector of old books, I sometimes find curiosities that have been left behind by past readers. Two such items came to light while I was cataloging books into LibraryThing.

ITEM #1.
I was comparing my two copies of Jacques Futrelle's final book, My Lady's Garter (published in 1912, shortly after the author perished in the sinking of the Titanic), when I noticed that my A.L. Burt edition had been stamped on multiple pages by a previous owner of the book.

In 1922, Edward A Froehling inscribed his name inside the front cover of the book, and sometime thereabouts embellished the book with this cute little rubber stamp impression:















E. A. FROEHLING
"AND PLEASE RETURN IT. YOU MAY THINK THIS A STRANGE REQUEST BUT I FIND THAT THOUGH MANY OF MY FRIENDS ARE POOR ARITHMETICIANS, THEY ARE NEARLY ALL OF THEM GOOD BOOK-KEEPERS."


ITEM #2

I am a book reviewer for several magazines, and receive a fair number of review copies. These review books usually come with a press sheet folded up inside the book, telling me about the book, about the author, and details such as publication date, price, and contact information. Tucked inside my hardcover copy of Dwight V. Babcock's The Gorgeous Ghoul I found this little item:

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