This last while we have been tackling book cases...a shelf at a time. I am instructed to go through and pick out what a I don't want. I can make a pretty big pile of "don't wants" in a hurry. My wife will go through a second time and choose ones she doesn't want to part with. I thought that I had thrown out all university texts years ago. There were still lots on the shelves and some of them weren't thrown out this time.
I did make some discoveries that were very surprising. I found about a dozen books that I had received as a little kid. Books that were Christmas presents and birthday presents. My Mom's sister was only 12 when I was born. She spoiled her nephews rotten and she still does today when she's 85 and her nephews are 73. Our Aunt gave us books for gifts. She found a series that we liked. Mom would read these books to us. Once we were all ready for bed we would crawl on Moms's bed. She would read and we were absolutely quiet . When about half of us had fallen asleep she would quit and that was bedtime.
Like many people I left home right after high school. I did not have a permanent residence. Over the years the things I had as a kid disappeared. Once I had settled down my Mom said one day, "These are the only things of yours that are left here." She gave me the books a I found the other day. My brothers established homes before I did and took things that they had as kids to their houses. Not much was left when I established roots.
So the other day when I found these books it was like rediscovering a very ancient past. To say the least, these were books I didn't throw away.
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| The books were always neatly written in with a greeting. I anybody familiar with the Sugar Creek Gang series? |
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| My 1950 birthday present. |
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| In the country schools we would draw names and give that person a Christmas gift which was presented at the Christmas concert. Wesley was in the grade ahead of me, |
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| Hans Brinker doesn't appear to have been a gift as there is no inscription in it. I read this a couple of times. As you see it's in pretty bad shape. Sleep tight! |
i LOVE this! what a treasure to rediscover them! glad they were kept for you - and that you've then kept them, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm a reader so to see what I read a long time ago is cool.
DeleteOh those are indeed a great find. My husband and I should go through our book too. My husband says it depresses him to think of all the junk we have accumulated and the work to get rid of it. I told him it doesn't bother me at all. I've instructed the kids to rent a front loader, dig a hole and bury everything. He has a hard time with my humor.
ReplyDeleteIt's about the same here too one of us could part with 90% of the stuff in a hurry. the other one hangs on. Dad died with stuff that would fit in one corner of a suitcase. He traveled light.
DeleteI remember Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates! The top favorite series of books for me and my siblings has to be the animal books by Thornton W. Burgess. Childhood favorites of my father and his brother and my daughters as well.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention the Burgess books in my post. I have one of them.The Burgess books have been republished and repackaged. They sell well today.
DeleteGreat memories. I hope you are keeping these books.
ReplyDeleteI will keep the books to the bitter end.
DeleteI read and loved the Sugar Creek Gang books!!
ReplyDeleteLes
I knew somebody would have read them. I wonder if they are still in print? I did also read them on my own as well as listen to Mom read them.
DeleteLovely story and I also have a similar one.
ReplyDeleteI have 4 books given to me, at birth by my mother’s sister, my godparent. I was a bit young to read the first etc., but they have been well and truely read in years after.
Pity about the film that was made years after, the books had them as race-horses, the film had them as trotters (pacers, if you prefer).
Roddy McDowall starred as Ken McLaughlin.
1. My Friend Flicka - aged one. (1944)
2. Thunderhead - aged two. (1945)
3. Green Grass of Wyoming - aged three.(1946)
My aunt must have purchased all books, hot off the press.
All by Mary O'Hara. I just got them out after reading this blog report - the plastic cover bag will have to be replaced. The poor old bag cover must be at least 50 plus years old.
Obviously plastic does last!!!!!
Then I got Black Beauty at aged four.
These 4 books went to the Territory of Papua New Guinea with me at the end of 1963, then to Canada at the end of 1969, not that I lasted long in freezing Canada and then back here.
They are all sitting on my table at the moment as I wonder if I should change the old protective plastic cover - it looks OK, bit messy, I think I'll just put another cover over the old, what do you think?
Thanks for these "much unexpected" memories, I think I will start reading them all again.
Cheers and thanks
Colin (Brisbane. Australia)
I read Flicka, Thunderhead and Black Beauty. Our teacher also read them to us at school. One I really liked was Smoky by Will James.
DeleteThe books I have are not in good condition. We were pretty rough at our house. I notice Hans Brinker has some major water stains.
Wow, what a treasure to find these books Red. I can't even imagine how it felt to rediscover these!
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the titles, these were from pre-darlin era. ;-)
Have a wonderful day!
They were from the pre Darlin era, but they wee also evangelical and probably had a fairly limited circulation.
DeleteRed you have so many interesting stories, I love reading what you share. Thank you!
DeleteWhat a wonderful find, Red! I have never heard of any of these books. What fun to have them back. They are precious now, when back then they were just books. Now they contain the past. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think they were in wide circulation. They were evangelical based.
DeleteFunny how you look at them and remember a lot of things that happened. I'm sure that if I talked to my brothers we would drag up many memories like you and Norma Jean are doing.
This is a thoughtful post and very sweet. I am sure we all have little treasures like this round about our houses Red. My Mom used to read to us too, except we were already in bed. I have some books from my childhood, which I passed on to my neice, which she still has on her bookshelf. When we were kids, I couldn't get my hands on enough books, still love to read.
ReplyDeleteYes I am a reader. I think having books read to us as kids helped us to be readers. My two kids are great readers and they read far more than their Dad and get more out of it.
DeleteI never read the Sugar creek series, but sounds fun. I read Hardy boys and Nancy Drew.
ReplyDeleteI never read the Hardy boys but we did have the Thornton Burgess books and I'm sure you had them too. They were one of the things that contributed to my interest in natural history.
DeleteLike you Terry and I are slowly going through things we have collected, been given, stashed at our place because "You have a farm"...what a job.
ReplyDeleteI love your books...I have a couple that are now banned, who would have ever thought that so many years ago.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
It's unbelievable how much we can accumulate. We have not moved since 1970. People who move get rid of things.
DeleteYes , there are some pretty useless things left out on farms : things that people never come back for.
Your books are a great treasure! So glad you still have them. Books make the best gifts. I have always given my granddaughters books as gifts. They still love them all. I remember the Hans Brinker book. Thanks for the memories : )
ReplyDeleteOne that goes along with Hans Brinker was Heidi.
DeleteOh I forgot to mention. The handwriting of your Auntie Olive, so beautiful to see. I don't think anyone under 30 writes anywhere as beautifully these days. The way they hold the pen or the pencil looks as if they are about to strangle the writing implement. And God forbid, remove the calculator and they can't add 5 + 5.
ReplyDeleteAh dear, back to My Friend Flicka - Chapter 4.
Cheers
Colin (Brisbane. Australia)
Now put all the writing stuff into perspective...this was pre 1950. I never use cursive writing and haven't for years. I print.
DeleteFunny how we can reread books, enjoy them and get more out of them with each reading.
I would hate to have to go through my accumulation let alone have to get rid of some. I was just looking through the bookcase in my office and thought......one of these days I'll have to :(
ReplyDeleteWonderful keepsakes!
ReplyDeleteI have the first book I think I ever got. My Mom bought it at a school bookfair for me when I was in the first or second grade. Then I was given a couple more hardback books in the next few years. My Mom has those on her shelves.
When my Dad noticed I read a lot he let me buy paperback books from school. Not sure what ever happened to those.
Those are treasures worth finding! We went through all our bookshelves a couple years ago too. So many things collected over the years.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful surprise! I want to downsize, but it's not taking!!!! Moving helped. Moving out my late parents stuff helped, too. I realized what I would do to my kids when I passed over!
ReplyDeleteNow those were a wonderful find! How nice that your Mother read to you every night..I bet that brings you warm memories of childhood:)
ReplyDelete