This week’s PhotoHunter theme is Book(s).
Now, for someone who, when we moved back from New York City, she and her husband between them had something 31 boxes of books, mostly antiquarian (He on Arctic exploration and First Nations history; and she almost exclusively ladies travel of the 18th and 19th century) you would think would have a lot of subjects to choose from.
My first date with my former husband was to the antiquarian book fair in town. When the movers came into the apartment when we were moving back from New York City, one of them took one look at the boxes of books and said “Oh, My GOD! You aren’t that couple who moved down here a a couple of years ago from Ottawa, are you???” Apparently, we were legendary with movers for the number of boxes of books we had. AND we had both sold a lot of books before we moved down to the US and again before we moved back, just to lighten the load!
Unfortunately, most of my books are still in boxes after my husband and I parted company and I have no room to adequately house them. I have my prized ladies travel books (and some by men) in one book case which gathers dust as I can’t properly access it. However, I did my best and got a few slightly wobbly photos of part of that collection.
My favourites? “The Works of the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu‘” (5 vols. 1817), “Voyage of the Sunbeam” (2 editions, 1879), “A Ride on Horseback Through Florence, France and Switzerland described in a series of letters by A Lady” (2 vols., 1842), and “The Diary of an Invalid: Being the Journal of a Tour in Pursuit of Health in Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and France in the Years 1817, 1818, and 1819″, by Henry Matthews (2 vols. 1822 ed.). They had long titles in those days!
Some of my books
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam'
Mudpuddle 
Eric Richardville said,
June 8, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Nice books I love books so seeing that is like drugs. When I have a house one of the things that is a must is my own library.
Carver said,
June 1, 2009 at 3:58 pm
You did a great job with the theme and your books look so beautiful in these shots.
mudhooks said,
June 1, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Thanks!
magiceye said,
May 31, 2009 at 11:51 pm
that is a great collection!
lissa said,
May 31, 2009 at 7:37 am
love those vintage books, they look quite beautiful, especially those embossed covers and spines
JC said,
May 31, 2009 at 7:31 am
Love the third shot! I can nearly feel the texture.
SandyCarlson said,
May 31, 2009 at 5:28 am
Gorgeous books. I enjoyed this very, very much.
jams O'Donnell said,
May 31, 2009 at 4:39 am
Great take on the theme! You have a wonderful collection. I love those long titles!
Jerry said,
May 31, 2009 at 3:37 am
What a great collection of classics!
Charlotte said,
May 30, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Very interesting! Love the last photo – the covers look so exotic.
srp said,
May 30, 2009 at 3:47 pm
These are lovely… I love old books but have few. I would be scared to hurt the fragile pages. So, I usually go for the paperbacks if I buy them.. I tend to underline favorite lines and phrases. Mine is up here.
JennJilks said,
May 30, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Beautiful shots. Nothing like a book.
mudhooks said,
May 30, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I never mentioned that I have spent, until the last few years, working in book stores.
I really miss that because I have absolutely no idea what new books I should be reading and I don’t get my discount. At the last place, we got a quarterly book bonus which I spent on travel literature.
Jenny A. said,
May 30, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Those seem interesting. The spines on the last pic are beautiful.
mudhooks said,
May 30, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Aren’t they, though? They really went all out on the covers!
laneerg said,
May 30, 2009 at 12:58 pm
You sound a lot like me. Before my year of many moves, I had enough books to easily fill 25 boxes + all the books I used in my classroom library. Now I’m down to about 10 – 12 boxes worth.
azahar said,
May 30, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Very nice. I especially like the black & white pic.