Some of My Library (Part the second)

 The condition of this group of books isn't the best but I have a great fondness for all of them.  On the top shelf starting at the left is a book which I was "loaned" in the late 1970's and made items from (which I will take pictures of) and thought I'd never see the book again in my life.  Lo and behold, at a university library book sale, there it was around 10 years ago and now it is part of my collection.

There is another book titled The Age of Paradox which details what all was going on in England, year by year from 1841 to 1851.   I love to reread that as a breakfast book once each decade because nothing has changed much in this world besides fashions.

The book next right is Our Times: The Turn of the Century which is 1926's snooty view of the not-too-distant-past.    Since 1926 is now a very distant past, this makes for great fun to dip into and smile over.   It is actually one of a set but this is one I encountered back in the late 1970's and just fell in love with because of it's kind of snootiness.

Examples of these will be provided in later posts....             The rest of the volumes are Harper's Bazaar collections starting from 1858 and going up through the 1880's.   The university library I used to work in had an ENTIRE collection of these and a guide book which I happily poked through for the 8 years I worked there.

Please excuse the dust and condition of these books.   I won't try and fix the condition of the books but I have since dusted after seeing these pictures!     This is a complete set of Bulwer's works which I am pleased as Punch to own.   I have to confess I have not yet read even one of Bulwer-Lytton's novels but I intend to before I quit this earth.

Now here is what I call my etiquette book collection.  It has more than that if you look closely but there are some really, really fun books like 600 A Year which is a woman in the 1850-60's writing on how her family got along on $600 a year.   She describes how she made furniture from packing boxes which is simply fascinating.

Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio is a series of essays which are just fabulous and most just as pertinent today as when they were written which was I think the 1850's and 60's.

And just check out the titles on this close-up of the bottom shelf:

   
             I special-ordered from England the book by Anna Maria Fay titled:  Victorian Days in England.  It is such a fun read.  Anna Maria Fay was an American girl who in the 1800's (mid I think) spent some time at a country estate.   Her views are truly great reading.

This is a set that took me some time to save up and buy.   The book to the left was what got me interested in George Templeton Strong's diaries.  His diaries from the Civil War years are the most read but the early years are almost more interesting.  He discusses having a bathroom put in and taking his first bath in the 1840's and how wonderful it is.

These are some of my "old south" novel collection.   I have read them all except Red Rock which I am only about halfway through.

 And last but not least is my Emile Zola collection.   Most of them are period and illustrated and they were just rollicking good reads.   I need to re-read them sometime soon.   I know I just loved "The Ladies Paradise".