I have always loved books from when I was a very young girl reading my treasured fairy tale books; I even used to pore over a set of Childcraft Encyclopedias! But what I remember most vividly was in the second grade when my mother brought home to me one day "The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore" by Laura Lee Hope (pseudonym started by Edward Stratemayer). I was hooked for life. The Bobbsey Twins were Nan and Bert, age twelve and Freddie and Flossie aged six who had all sorts of wonderful adventures. From there I moved on to the "Five Little Peppers" by Margaret Sidney and then Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene (also a pseudonym by the Stratemayer Syndicate). From there my obsession just grew and grew throughout my life. I have probably read (and owned) thousands of books in my lifetime. Today I own both a Nook and a Kindle as well as read books on my iPad and iPhone! I still love the real thing as well buying my favorite authors in hardcover and picking up old books in antique and consignment stores.
A couple of years ago I made this scrapbook page for a scrapbooking site (now closed) challenge that shows how books have taken over my life.
And this all leads very neatly into this week's topic of "Books" at Sepia Saturday. Books were often used as props by photographers in vintage photos and since I also have a love for these old orphan photographs I thought I would share a few of these as well.
This photograph I posted previously, but thought it deserved a repeat. This is an unknown Chicago woman circa 1882- 1888 posing with three books. She is wearing a beautiful ruffled coat, gloves and hat with feathers. The photographer of this cabinet card photo was Copelin of 75 Madison Street, Chicago.
This lovely little lady with her long curls and lacy dress with ribbons is posing with some type of large tome on a velvet draped table. This is a cabinet card taken by McCormick and Heald of 22 Winter St. Boston. According to the New York Public Library System who has a large listing of American photographers, McCormick and Heald were active between the 1870's and 1880's. The beveled edges with gold gilt on this card would date this around 1880.
This last photo I believe dates around 1915 - 1920. There is no identification of the subject or photographer. The young girl, probably around age twelve or so, is wearing a lovely, simple white dress with white tights and white shoes. She is holding an open book in her hand. She also has on several pieces of jewelery, a ring, bracelet, and what appears to be a pearl necklace, which I would think would be uncommon for a girl her age so most likely came from a family of some status.
I hope you have enjoyed my trip down memory lane and will flip the page over to Sepia Saturday for more interesting takes on "Books."
