Vintage Books

3/23/2014

Okay this is a long shot - but do you ever smell books?  Do you ever wonder who read the book in the past?  I know, I know, you're all thinking I've just about gone over the edge.  There is a certain smell that only old books have. These books I don't buy so that I can read them, I just enjoy owning them.  I love looking at them and wonder who has owned and/or read them in the past.  

One of my old books is "The Joy of Cooking" published in 1946.  After my mother-in-law I was lucky enough to be able to own this book.  This book has lost it's binding between the front and back of the book.  The book is stained an yellowed.  What I found while thinking about talking about old books was that tucked inside the cookbook are notes from friends.  Both notes contain recipes for both something called Klejner (fried diamond twists) and Medaljer (Medallions).  The notes are old and have a little boy and girl dressed up in clothes from Holland.

Jeff's mother as well as Jeff made barbecue sauce for ribs that is outstanding.  Nothing I have ever tasted in a restaurant even comes close.  So today I put the 1946 cookbook next to my1973 cookbook to see if the recipes were the same.  The recipes are identical and based on my mother-in-law's cookbook for the sauce, she must have made it often because it's it's got all kinds of spills on the page. The pages devoted to spareribs appear to have been used often, based on the amount of spills on the pages.  My mother-in-law did write the word good on a recipe for banana cake.  Unlike my mother-in-law's cookbook, I never used my cookbook as much as she obviously did.

We bought at an antique store a long time ago, a book written by Mary E. Stone Bassett and published in 1913.  The book is entitled "A Midsummer Wooing".  Each page is outlined with flowers and ivy, with colored illustrations.

I did some research and Mary E. Stone Bassett lived from 1857 to 1924.  Apparently Ms. Bassett only wrote three books and we're lucky to own one. Long lost relative?  Doubtful, but it does make you wonder.

I think all books should be treasured, and obviously some more than others. My copy of "The Heart of Rachael" was published in 1916, with very small print and a old book musty smell, that I enjoy. The author lived from 1880 until 1966 and published 18 books.  I also have a book published in 1921 and a more "current" one published in 1940.  

I treasure these books because none of the authors are now living and they are worth hanging onto, if no other reason, than they don't make books like this anymore!

Happy reading.

P