My love of books

I have always had a fascination with books. Since the first time my mother took me to a library when I was about 4 years old, books have always held a special place for me. My Mom taught me that if you have a book, you will always have a friend. It's true, because a book sometimes can be a companion, a teacher, a tour guide and much more.

We have a lot of books in our home. I've always dreamed that one day, if we had a spare room, it would be the library. Some of the books are new. Some we've found through book sales, or even at thrift stores.

It is so interesting to pick up a very old book and look through the pages.

This book is titled Carlyle's Essay on Burns -

Published in 1912, original copyright 1900. I am not much into poetry, but this book had a dried pansy stuck between the pages. The romantic side of me wonders who put that pansy there? How long has it been there? There are little pencil notations through out the book, so could it have been a book used for a class? In the front of the book it is barely legible, but I think it says George Bliss.

Years ago I worked in a church office. The Pastor of that church was going into the foreign missions field. So he was downsizing and getting rid of many of the books in his library. This is one of the books I picked up -

Published in 1936, copyright 1903. It appears to be separated into five different studies.

My daughter found this Scottish Psalter a couple of years ago in an Antique shop.
Published in 1937, copyright 1929. I love the pages in this book.

Can you see how the pages are divided in two sections. I suppose that you could read one Psalm and change the music each time. Lovely book.

Now all you math fans, this is the book for you! Copyright 1899, revised edition (no other date).

I love the note to the teachers.

It's fun to browse through the old books in Antique shops. Of course some of those books are out of my price range, but when we find a nice book at a good price, it adds to our growing collection. It amazes me how the written word survives through the generations. The Bible being the oldest and most powerful of these writings.