Saturday, October 15, 2016

This Week's New {to me} Books

I've added several new-to-me books to my shelves this week. A couple were gifts and three were purchased from our local library's book sale room. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love vintage books on almost any subject.

Here are two I found at the library for sale for .25 each. 
Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman by Stefan Zweig. This was originally published in 1933. I became more interested in Madame Déficit after a workshop in England on 18th century makeup at which I learned about the little black patches upperclass women wore as a finishing touch to their cosmetics. 
The Court of St. James's: The Monarch at Work from Victoria to Elizabeth II by Christopher Hibbert. Originally published in Great Britain in 1979, this was written in collaboration with the royal family to give an intimate look into their daily lives and responsibilities.

I fell in love with Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse several years ago when my then 12-year-old Lynzie declared it the best book ever written. I revisited it this past summer as I used it for my Victorian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature class. I've been on the hunt for more by Goudge but they seem to be a rarity. I looked all over England when I was there last month with no success. Imagine my surprise when I came upon this 1949 first edition of Gentian Hill at our library for a quarter!

Speaking of my literature class, I've made friends with a dear woman who is serving as my assistant and is starting up an online book selling business. She brought me these two treasures last week as she thought they'd be books I'd be interested in. She was right!
Shakespeare the Elizabethan by A.L. Rowse was published in 1977. It's a beautiful biography with lots of excellent copies of artwork and documents included. 
Introducing Charles Dickens by May Lamberton Becker was published in 1940. This hardback edition sold for $4.00 and features some lovely illustrations by Oscar Ogg. The back of the book shows photos of the author and her editor who, as it states, received the proofs by air and "read them in an air-raid shelter."

I'm looking forward to reading through these fun finds. What books have you picked up lately?