Thursday, July 17, 2008

Poetry and Old Books

This afternoon, I decided to update my blog a little. One of those things I updated was my Poetry Corner(you'll find this on the side bar). I always enjoy thinking about and choosing the poems I place there. Sometimes they are mine, sometimes my Grandma Gloria's and other times they are from a favorite poet or ones I've never heard of.

Today, I chose a selection from John Greenleaf Whittier called Trust. A lovely poem..I do hope you will enjoy it. I happened to find it while leafing through my volume of Whittier's Poems. It is a beautiful book with flowers all about it and a butterfly in the center with a gold area for the title. I'm not sure exactly where I found this book..some antique store or an old book shop I use to frequent...it is a treasure to be sure. The book is 124 years old and in amazing condition. These are his complete poetical works. I thought I'd share it with you:



Inside the book, there are marks from the folks I bought the book from..I only paid $18 for this! I think that is an exceptional deal considering the condition this book is in.(I paid much more for my Byron which is in the same condition) Also, there is a lovely inscription to the owner of this delightful book. The picture is very fuzzy, I'm sorry. It says:

"Mother"
from Joe and Maggie,
Christmas 1884


I have a passion for old books! And even more so when they contain some personal memorabilia in them. I have books that have writing(like this one here) and also ones that have clippings and stationary pressed within the pages. Those make them all the more special. I am not one to remove the clippings from their pages..I keep them just where they are and admire them from time to time:-)

I hope you enjoyed looking at this little book and I hope you enjoy the poem in the Poetry Corner!

Blessings,

Sommer


5 comments:

Regina said...

Oh, Sommer- what a beautiful book, and yes, Whittier was a wonderful poet. Thanks for posting Trust on your sidebar. I love poetry (as you know) and Whittier is oe of my favorites!
:)

~ Shannon said...

Oh, Sommer! That has to be one of the loveliest antique books I've ever seen! And it's in incredible condition for its age. The inscription is so sweet -- I don't think I've ever seen one inscribed to a mother from her children. Thank you so much for sharing this, Sommer -- How wonderful to have a book that is beautiful inside and out!

Yours in Christ,
Shannon

Lindsay said...

Oh, wonderful! I agree about inscriptions and that is a lovely book! Why are books not made like that now?! I saw old works of George MacDonald before in a library, then was very disappointed to find out how much such lovely works cost. But even just a cloth binding in a nice color, touched with gilded letters, adds a lot imo.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sommer! I just wanted to let you know that your name is back into the drawing to win my Elsie Dinsmore back that you entered for back in April. to view all details just go www.mdlife.wordpress.com and scroll down the page until you see the post I wrote about it. God bless!

Simply Heart And Home said...

Sommer,

The poem is lovely. Resting in childlike trust ~ Amen!

Have a lovely weekend

Gina