Old Books, part 3

This week's edition features a variety of old books.

The first, Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book, is a paperback essentially, with pamphlet stitch binding, although it is 8-1/2 x 11 inches.  A dear friend sent me this a couple years ago.

Elbert Hubbard was one of the proponents or founders of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the early 20th century.  This volume was published in 1923 by the Roycrofters, a community of artisans that Hubbard founded in 1895 in Aurora, NY.

Since the early 1970s I've been a keen Arts & Crafts aficionado.  This book quickly became a dear possession of mine.  The book contains quotes and passages of the writings of others that Hubbard collected.  A verbal art journal, if you will.

This book is European Architecture in the Twentieth Century, Vol. 1.  Bought from used bookstore $1 shelf. 

Published in 1950, it has great b&w photos and drawings.  One of my favorite art classes, eons ago when I was in college, was architecture.  I've often said that in another life, I might be an architect.

You might remember that my journal collages from 2012 primarily focused on architectural elements.

With Lawrence in Arabia by Lowell Thomas is from the early 1930s.  There's actually no date of publication, although the penned inscription by the original owner is from 1935.

This also from the $1 shelf at Eureka Books.   When Lawrence of Arabia came out in the early 1960s, I actually tried to read T.E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom."  Way too heady for a young teenager, who was admittedly more taken with Peter O'Toole than Lawrence himself.  Anyway, should I ever decide to learn more about what actually went on back then, I'd sooner read this Lowell Thomas book.

This is Barlow's Tables of Squares, Cubes, Square Roots, Cube Roots and Reciprocals, from 1930.  Contains a brief introduction and then nearly 200 pages of tables.  Another $1 shelf find.

Glued inside the front cover is a typewritten note by the owner ~ "This book is the property of Harold D. Carter.  Furthermore:  1. I don't wish to loan this book to anybody.   2. I use it every day.  3. I don't want it taken out of this office, except by myself."

This little beauty is from 1942.  And it really is little ~ 5 x 3-1/2 inches.  Thrift store or $1 shelf buy.

It is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Grosset, who had asked the author to write the book ten years before he actually did.  Grosset ~ from Grosset & Dunlap publishers.

I had a fondness for Grosset & Dunlap when I was a kid.  After all, they published some of my favorite books of the time, including Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

This is another very cool book, published in 1914.  It was a Fortuna High School textbook, although I think I got it for $1 from Eureka Books.

I've always been musical, always had a good ear, can sight read music, played piano quite well for only five years of study, later played guitar and ukulele.  Alas, I can't play my uke any longer because of my hand and wrist problems. 

This one's a hoot.  Lots of very cool illustrations ~ see next photo.  This book is from 1970 which in some sense seems like just yesterday, especially compared with some of the really old books I have.  But considering how everything in life has been exploding geometrically and exponentially in just the last 25 years, 1970 seems like the dinosaur age. 

I also have another similar book, Industrial Production Illustration.  Both came from a local thrift store. 

This book, A Net of Fireflies, was a real find.  It's from 1963 yet seems brand new.  The contents are Japanese haiku and haiku paintings.  See next photo.

It is a beautifully covered, bound and produced book.  The pages are such that the folds in the paper are on the outer edges.  Almost like an accordion book that was case bound.  The back section of the book is a very long essay on haiku.  Someone ripped open the folds on those pages, so with the turn of a page of text, the next spread is blank.

$1 shelf buy.

This large-format book is called Color in Sketching and Rendering, from 1946.  Another thrift store find.

This is like an art textbook, it tells you how to do every kind of sketching imaginable, with great attention to detail.  You can see how wonderful the illustrations are.

I might actually get around to reading this one sometime.