Morning everyone who loves second-hand books and bookshops: I'm researching an essay about strange/fascinating/moving artefacts found in second hand books such as old love letters/newspaper cuttings etc that have a bearing on your experience of the book. A reply/ repost hugely appreciated!!
An early 20th century book I bought had a small rectangular page from a tear-off calendar inside like a bookmark: from the font and day/date I deduced it was probably 1910s or 20s . I’ve never removed it or changed the page marked: it felt like a ghostly connection across the decades.
I have a Joy Of Cooking cookbook from the early 1940s that I found in a thrift shop. Someone had written on the first page, "To a good cook - may the next year be a much happier one for you". I've always assumed that the book was gifted to a woman who had lost her husband or son in WWII.
I bought a copy of Carl Zuckmayer's autobiography (German novelist and playwright), and there was a newspaper cutout inside with a short notification of his death
I found this shopping list in a second-hand copy of Gloria Swanson's autobiography, which has a normal list of groceries on one side and on the other side just the mysterious words "STRIPPER BLOOD UPRIGHT BIRD"
Borrowed from my villages little free library. Vintage 1959 detective novel, with a childs pen scribblings and an old school letter inside. Someone must have retired here, since the book is in English. Was this from their childhood? Did their own child later read it? Love these little mysteries..
The very first used book I ever bought was from a local library book sale. I was 5 years old and it cost 15 cents. It was old and had gold lettering so I bought it. I took it home and showed it to my father. It belonged to his grandmother who had written her name on the inside cover.
I once found a list of the pros and cons of two men in a personal training handbook. The writer seemed pretty torn on which one they'd rather go out with
i feel bad, being a former second-hand books seller, of having robbed so many of that discovery by removing (most) letters & objects left within when we acquired them. i apologize to all the romantics; please forgive me.
Someone just found a hundred dollar bill in Amnesty bookshop in Kentish Town, north London. Was featured in a local paper.