Old Books Options

[Retrogressive]

I have this... compulsive... habit. I seem to only want to buy used books. I haven't always been like this. The fact that new books are so expensive doesn't help my compulsive habit. When I say compulsive, I mean: I know all of our used books store owners and they know me by name. I also have discounts at all of our used book stores because I've brought in so many books-- thus, I get books for dirt cheap. It's not the price that I'm "compulsive" about. It's the age, the time someone spent on it, the story OF the book ITSELF that interests me so much.

So one day I started a book collection of 1800-early 1900 books. They aren't worth anything at all. Most of these books have been mass produced later on in their publication or have simply been forgotten with time and culture changes, making the plot trite and predictable. I often wonder who wrote that Dec. 25, 1908 inscription, "To John, with love- Sarah." Who were the people who wrote in my margins? And who will be reading my scribbles in fifty years?

These time capsules aren't limited to 100 year old books. I recently bought a 20 cent copy of Crime and Punishment. The previous owner wrote her name all over the cover, and doodled on Raskolnikov's face. Yet, for some class she took she scribbled little side notes in the margins. She spent her TIME writing in those notes. Who was this Ali Lawrence? How did her beloved book come to be in my hands?

Our time capsules are everywhere. We are constantly being confronted with little bits of forgotten history everyday-- those initials in the pavement, the graffiti in the bathroom, and that T-shirt your mom bought you from the used clothing store. Everything around us has a story to tell, even if it's just beginning. Do you have a collection that tells a story? A picture? A memory? Or something you wonder about?

[Retrogressive]

You should definitly display them here! I'd love to see them.