Sunday 20 September 2015

Raiders of a book sale


Yesterday, our local library hosted a book sale. We always go there (as I may have mentioned), looking for bargains, especially source books in history. Not many of those available this time, but here's what we found:


The Pratchett is for my DH and the Coopers are for my daughter.

My DH found me this. I don’t know if it can be regarded as a reliable source of information, but it certainly looks like fun!




As soon as my daughter (who stayed with her grandpa while we raided the book sale) saw the Viking album, she grabbed it in her greedy paws and asked, “What’s this? Is it yours, mum?”
Me (smiling smugly because brainwashing inducing interest in history was always our goal): “It is indeed… but I can read you bits of it.”

And finally, this lovely old book:



It’s titled “Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita” (Finnish folk tales and myths) from 1920 (the first edition came out in 1852). Folk tales alone make it something that should be in our collection... but wait, there’s more! It is not in a perfect condition, unfortunately, but it's just so pretty




...and besides being printed in this old font...



...it also uses some archaic words and expressions, which, for a language geek (or a word wrestler), makes it absolutely fascinating! (What? I should get a life? Why do you say that?) And it is almost 100 years old – not exactly a collector’s item… correction: for a poor book lover, it is a collector's item. :)

6 comments:

  1. Hi Ulla dearest,
    wow, what amazing loot! Congratulations on the purchases. They look absolutely awesome.
    Best wishes
    Kathy

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. :) Yes, well, we always find something in these library book sales, but this time was particularly lucky.

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  2. It's so nice when you find something you like for a good price - makes it even more "precious"!!!

    (But why are the people from the library selling these books?!?)

    i-reader

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    1. Hi i-reader!

      Yes, finding something interesting/useful/lovely for a good price - there's a certain satisfaction in finding a good bargain, I guess. :)

      I guess the library organises the book sales because they need more space for new books and they have to get rid of some of the old ones. It would be lovely if they had unlimited space available, but unfortunately they don't. :/ They might also want to get rid of books hardly anyone reads any more (especially if they have several copies) or books that aren't in a very good condition. Oh, and the last book sale they organised was a charity event - I don't remember the cause but the money went for charity. :)

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  3. You're right - the library must have the same problems concerning space as everybody else. The thing is that I tend to think of libraries as the kind of place that should display a certain "reverence" for books, a kind of respect that others wouldn't usually dispense towards them. But that's just a romantic vision, of course! Most libraries are admnistered by people that work for the government and have a budget... I knew a few bibliotheconomists or whatever they are called here... librarians?

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    1. Indeed... I also tend to think of libraries as some sort of "keepers of knowledge" and "guardians of ancient wisdom" that store all sorts of books, including ancient tomes... but that's the romantic vision, I know. ;) Naturally, if they just keep acquiring new books (as they must) and keep every single copy, they're eventually going to run out of space. I think it's better to organise these books sales - when we go there, there are always lots of people interested in buying books, and that's a good thing - than just throw away good books. I know libraries (mostly libraries of educational establishments) where they've done just that. It's horrible! Perfectly good books just thrown away. What a waste! :O

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