Photos I took yesterday, at the thrift store, of a few of my favorite things:
Inscriptions and other handwritten notes, and ephemera in books--glimpses of people living their lives....
1. Advanced Course of Composition and Rhetoric, G. P. Quackenbos, New York, 1879.
The entire book is archived online.
Receipt (6/23, 1924) tucked in book from Silas Walston Second-Hand Furniture:
I can't make out what it's for, can you? Balance on a ... lawn mower???
(Is "Vic." for Victoria? )
____________________
BELOW: Ego te amo. "I love you", in Latin.
2. Set of The Waverly Novels, by Sir Walter Scott, given as a retirement present in 1883.
Close up of inscription, below. It reads:
* RE: Manitoba Freight
"In May 1879, the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Co. (StPM&M) formed—with James J. Hill as general manager." The company later became part of the Great Northern Railway.
**A clipping online from the St. Paul Globe in 1879, notes a Mr. W. F. Myron attended a meeting of "Scotch citizens" to form a Saint Andrew's Society.
The covers all have the same design:
Dog rescuing child, from a book in the set, The Abbot
"Wolf", I guess is the dog's name--an Irish wolfhound, or Scottish deerhound?
Inscriptions and other handwritten notes, and ephemera in books--glimpses of people living their lives....
TWO BOOKS
1. Advanced Course of Composition and Rhetoric, G. P. Quackenbos, New York, 1879.
The entire book is archived online.
Receipt (6/23, 1924) tucked in book from Silas Walston Second-Hand Furniture:
"I Repair All Kinds of
Talking Machines"
What? Gramophones, I think...
I can't make out what it's for, can you? Balance on a ... lawn mower???
Inscription on flyleaf: "Miss Vic. Jackson's
Book
July 26, 1880"
(Is "Vic." for Victoria? )
____________________
BELOW: Ego te amo. "I love you", in Latin.
_______________________________
2. Set of The Waverly Novels, by Sir Walter Scott, given as a retirement present in 1883.
Close up of inscription, below. It reads:
"On the occasion of his leaving the
Department, the Employees of the
Manitoba Local Freight *
Manitoba Local Freight *
❧ with best wishes ❧
present to
Mr. W. F. Myron **
the works of his countrymen
Scott and Burns.
St. Paul [Minnesota]
31st Jan. 1883."
* RE: Manitoba Freight
"In May 1879, the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Co. (StPM&M) formed—with James J. Hill as general manager." The company later became part of the Great Northern Railway.
**A clipping online from the St. Paul Globe in 1879, notes a Mr. W. F. Myron attended a meeting of "Scotch citizens" to form a Saint Andrew's Society.
The covers all have the same design:
Dog rescuing child, from a book in the set, The Abbot
What finds, esp. the inscription to Mr. Myron and your tracking him down.
ReplyDeleteThe receipt looks to me like “Bal Jackson” or “Bob Jackson,” for something involving a “Lon mower.” I love receipts and local commercials that leave out the name of a city. “At the corner of Jackson and Third.” Yeah, but where?!
Yes, a "Lon mower"! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I just noticed it's from "Dalton, Ga"!
I'm glad you enjoy this sort of thing too--
there's a whole world in these little scraps, isn't there?
They are the reward for getting boxes of junk–– damp from the basement, gritty with... some substance–– dumped on the thrift store.
Beautiful books, with a beautiful inscription. At one of our local thrift stores, I picked up a very old copy of Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd" that had been inscribed to a girl for her graduation in the early 1900s. I still have it, but I haven't read it yet!
ReplyDeleteSTEVE: I wonder how many people who buy these beautiful old volumes actually read them? These ones are on cheap paper that I fear would fall apart with much use... Also, dusty--not sure about breathing that!
ReplyDeleteBut the inscriptions are wonderful--worth saving!
I do wonder why Mr. Myron was gifted with a set of books and not the ubiquitous gold watch.
ReplyDeleteLovely illustrations!
Kirsten
ps loving the photos of books that come into SVDP!
KIRSTEN: I did wonder if books were a normal retirement gift (and from a railroad?)--- a gold watch popped into my mind too!
ReplyDeleteI looked up the Waverly Novels--I'm not familiar with W. Scott, except by name--and read,
"The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in all of Europe."
And in the USA?
If Mr. Myron was big into his Scottish heritage, as it seems he was, I wonder if he already owned them...?
Thanks for letting me know you're loving the photos--that encourages me to keep taking and posting them!