Show me your favorite piece in your collection. This one's mine. Not quite antique yet, but I love it anyway. The 1957 Complete and Unabridged The Little and Ives Webster Dictionary and Home Reference Library. 2600 pages, complete with 27 full color pages. ~
I have a thing for old dictionaries, too. I have a few from the 1800s. Does yours have moxie and zygote? Just a pet peeve of mine regarding dictionaries, since a Scrabble game challenge long ago and the only dictionary we had available, had neither of those words in it.
Not quite antique yet, 1957 I should hope not, that is the year I was born, my knees might feel antique but the rest is holding up well
My absolute favorite is a 1927 first edition copy of Harold Speakman's Mostly Mississippi- a witty tale about his trip with his wife down the entire length of the Mississippi. However, I do have a few books over 100 years old. My favorite antique is for the striking condition. 1871 Orange Blossom I actually have yet to read it and think it may be a facsimile. I have no idea how to tell. I've included pictures, but I don't know how to tell if it is actually 145 years old. Maybe you can help. I've always been suspicious of it because it looks so new, but I thought, who would take the time to reproduce one in exact detail. Then I learned about facsimile. Still, I bought it because the crowed wasn't paying attention. Real or facsimile, this book represents my first successful sneaky buy. The bottom two photos are of the Harold Speakman book
My check written out for my life........................payable to USA.........................................................................................blank. ~ TWO weeks pay....USN.....1973...................................................$127. ~
We had this one in one of our big auctions but it didn't meet reserve and we had it returned rather than putting it up for post auction offers. We got rid of quite enough in the auctions and we were happy when this elegant, small piece got back. http://jamesdjulia.com/item/2075-373/
My favorite changes all the time as I buy several books a month. I do have an all time favorite though, "Thunder & Lightning and Sudden Deaths at Marshfield in 1658 & 1666", by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff (Mayor of Boston 1867) autographed and limited to 100 copies. It doesn't have much monetary value but it was given to me by George Gloss at Brattle Book Shop in Boston when I was 10 years old in 1977, my Dad and I were regulars in his shop and he new I was from Marshfield. I didn't really know who Shurtleff was until a few weeks later while walking through Memorial Hall at Harvard I saw a large Marble memorial plaque honoring him in the main hall. Right away I ran over to Brattle Books very excited and told George about the Plaque, he acted excited with me but was probably laughing inside.
