Aug 27, 2008

Mission Accomplished

The books are moved and it turns out that after I took all the nick-nacks and crap off the top shelves I was able to fit almost everything into the four cases we brought upstairs. So all together we have nine full cases in the library. There is a little matter of some volumes of the New Republic and the Nation (1936 - 1948) and an encyclopedia set (from 1969) that I still have no place for, but I'll figure that out later, right now I am feeling accomplished and sore.

The best part of the whole project was rediscovering things I forgot we had as well as realising exactly how many books about Africa/dogs/poetry/statistics we own. The next project will be to group them up by subject or something.


So what are the three most delightful finds?


A copy of James Joyce the Dubliners that I pressed all sorts of four leaf clovers in. It's like finding lost money only luckier.









An old sketchbook from right after I met Dan in college in wich I sketched all sorts of places on campus.


And "A Rude Book" by Tell - from 1926 the book is filled with caricatures of british politicians and celebrities and all sort of spiteful limericks and wit like the one below of Sir William Joynson-Hicks who "created a stir when he pledged that the Conservatives would give the vote to all women over the age of twenty-one - a pledge which thus had to be honoured in 1928." So despite his opposition to jazz and smoking (gasp!) Yay for Sir William-Joynson-Hicks.

"A Puritan The RT. Hon. Sir William Joynson-Hicks

Desist, we say, desist,
This is no time for joking:
We've made a little list of habits most provoking.

We've got our watchful peepers
On those who stay out late
Disturbing humble sleepers
And Ministers of State.

We don't believe in croaking,
But drinking is a blot,
And so are jazz and smoking,
The world's a sinful plot.

The Reds are very naughty
Our warning words despite,

With them we'll be most haughty,
We Will paint England white. "


1 comment:

Debbie said...

I spent about twelve hours today unpacking hundreds of enormous textbooks, and then numbering and organizing them.

There's nothing like neatly shelved books to make a room feel like home, though.

Congrats on finishing the job.