A Big Comfortable Chair and a Good Book......is better than a day in the sunshine...then throw in a poorly lit, somewhat dusty, piled to the ceiling, smells of leather, old bookstore and I have "HEAVEN" on earth! Even when I was kid bookstores always fascinated me. I would get lost for hours, literally hours! My parents knew one way to keep me out of trouble was to drop me off in a bookstore, there was no better babysitter than that of a good book. Of course when they returned to pick me up my arms were often ladened with volumes of exciting new adventures that I wanted to visit and mom or dad would just shrug their shoulders and pay the clerk....cause they knew there would be peace and quiet at home until the pile was finished. One of my happiest days was getting my own library card.....
I was always on a first name basis with the librarian! I have many memories connected to bookstores. When I was eleven I was diagnosed with a severe scoliosis and needed treatment often at the Oregon Medical School in Portland Oregon. Mom and I would always make a day of it since we lived quite a distance from Portland. Bookstores were always on the agenda and the search for the coveted old copies of Nancy Drew mysteries began. It became a game for my mom and I to see who could find the oldest copy, one I didn't already have. I'll never forget the day my mom found the first edition of the "Secret in the Old Clock"....
and it was in immaculate condition. Of course the asking price was $5 and for 1961 that was expensive but mom bought it anyway. WOW! I built a shrine for this coveted book! By the time my reading started taking on new interests I had collected 25-30 volumes of Nancy Drew Mysteries, many from the "30's and 40's. I've passed my beloved collection on to my daughter who now has them, wonder if boys will like the stories???
Both Dan and I have a deep seeded love for the written word and add to our personal library often. I'm a huge collector of first signed editions and have quite a few. I also love the classics and find myself purchasing aged and worn copies of many. It just seems to me that an old worn book even has more to tell than the story that lies inside the covers! Wonder if I can have my ashes evenly distributed in an old dusty bookstore? Think anyone would notice?
4 comments:
I have always loved libraries. I think that comes from an age when we didn't buy them, we went to the library and spent hours looking on the shelves. Our library is a newer one now, on the salt pond, so a nice place to sit and enjoy the views.
Debbie
Love this post and love old bookstores too!
And Nancy Drew book, *sigh* - what memories! I used to have the entire collection, every single one of them. What I wouldn't give to have them today....
♥ Carolee
My son learned to love to read with Hardy Boys series,but my daughter has read I bet every dracula related storey there is. I have never had any family memeber that loves dracula as much as her. Course right now she is 21 and her dracula costumes she wears are much, much, much more sexy than the draculas I remember. I laughed at her this last Halloween because she really spent some money on her costume and had dracula teeth specially made for her mouth, she went to eat before the main party she was going to and left the teeth on her tray and accidently through them away.
Great post and the most excellent photos! :-) Although, not a small quaint bookstore, did you ever go to Powell's books in Portland? My Dad took me there a few years ago, and I don't think I've ever seen so many rows and rooms filled with floor to ceiling books. Heaven!
~ Deb
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