Tuesday, February 9, 2010

For All You Book Lovers

On a very rainy day the weekend before last, Daniel and I drove to Hilton Head Island and found a great thrift store with the most amazing book section. Daniel zeroed in on the "special" books and we came away with some amazing illustrated treasures for just a few dollars!

A copy of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, illustrated by Isabel Bishop,
a copy of The Story of Renard the Fox by J. W. von Goethe, illustrated (wood engravings) by Fritz Eichenberg,
... a copy of The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde, illustrated (lithographs) by Zhenya Gay,
and a gorgeous copy of The Coronation Edition (published at the coronation of Elizabeth II) of The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser with illustrations (wood engravings) by Agnes Miller Parker.
What wonderful treasures have you found when you were least expecting to?

26 comments:

  1. These are amazing! You must have been elated to find them. Think it would be quite impossible to find those in any thrift shop in Europe!

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  2. Holy cow those are absolutley amazing!!!
    My treasures are usually oldbooks, either texts that have interesting graphics I cannot decipher (math, engineering, chemistry, medicine) or when I am really lucky, the odd foreign language text printed in a different font. I am still lusting for a book printed in Cyrillic alphabet.....that is a shot in the dark.
    Someday though.....
    I'd settle for a set of rubber stamps in Cyrillic if I could find them!
    What a haul you made!!!!

    XXOO!!
    Anne

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  3. Wow! I just LOVE etchings & woodcut illustrations....you lucky girl, what a find. Recently I discovered a treasure trove of original 1940's Enid Blyton Famous Five books, in their original book jackets, for 30p each in our local Charity Shop. Bought the whole lot, but I felt so bad I insisted on paying much more for them!! Gorgeous Silke xox Rachel

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  4. Silke...they're FABULOUS!!! I love thrift stores...Mum and I used to go in them all the time.
    I found a DRAGON FRUIT...in the supermarket...just posted it yesterday...SO beautiful!
    I had never tried one before.
    Have a great day.
    Char
    Char

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  5. how lucky you were to find these books...have fun with them...i know you will....i LOVE old books...someday i will get back into my fun collage work...but for now...monsters!!!
    hugz

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  6. Wow how nice... great find.I loved the movie Pride and Prejudice.~~Becky

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  7. This is a tremendous score Silke!!! Daniel has a nose for finding treasures it seems!!

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  8. Leave it artists to buy books for their illustrations. I of course do the same although I never realized that I have a copy of Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Sir John Tenniel and a copy of Le Morte D'Arthur illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley until recently when Bella and I were discussing books.

    I then went rhummaging on our bookshelves and discovered the names of great classic painters like Arthur Rackham, Willy Pogany, Kate Nielsen, Maxfield Parish, E.C. Wyatt and of course the Winnie The Pooh Books by Beatrix Potter.

    I love illustrated books and I promise that my next trip or online book browsing will be to buy a book illustrated by the great and wonderful Daniel Powers.

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  9. Oh wait! I also found books illustrated by Edmund Dulac and my husband was complaining that we have too many books. I donated several boxes, I kid you not probably over a hundred children's books that I BOUGHT for myself before I realized who the illustrators were and now I think I may have let go of some beautifully illustrated books because why did I buy those books in the first place? I was 24 years old! I was attracted to the illustrations. Too late.

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  10. oh heavens!!! what a wonderful find Silke!!! these books are wonderful...you know I always love the ones with art in them!!!

    Congrats on these wonderful finds...

    Hugs
    Diana

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  11. Beautiful find Silke! Awesome illustrations. I love treasure hunting through thrift stores too. Besides old books I love finding old skeleton keys. Doesn't seem like much but I like to imagine the stories they hold.

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  12. great finds!!! love all these incredible illustrations.....wonderful treasures!

    there is a book that a friend bought for me in a thrift store and inside i found a rose pressed between the pages that was purple in color...it was beautiful and i wonder every time i look at it about the story behind that pressed rose between the pages of this book...it makes me smile because i know...the story is a good one!

    happy tuesday!
    xxoo
    k

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  13. What wonderful treasures you found. I love going to thrift stores looking for old books, yesterday I found one. Not nearly as gorgeous as the books you have shown but I won't be afraid to cut it up for collage.

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  14. I know that feeling well, i LOVE used bookshops, everybook is a treasure! I'm so happy to see these that you both found, now in such a good home. Enjoy your lovely books Silke!

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  15. Wow! You found some fabulous treasures!

    I love seeing just what is waiting to be discovered in thrift and resale shops, too. Two of my favorites are an Inca angel figurine, which I wrote about here:
    http://angelarecada.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-angel.html
    and an original piece of art by Nedobeck, which I bought for 98 cents! Have you heard of Nedobeck? He used to live in Wisconsin, and he was famous for doing the most amusing pen and ink and watercolor cats. Very fun!
    xo
    Hugs,
    Angela

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  16. Lucky Girl ! Love woodcuts too..what a score !

    just lovley...the last thing I found at the Goodwill was a Halloween light for my upsatirs window...and it sent me to the moon....

    more later, dear friend

    sending love your way....

    kary
    xxx

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  17. Fantastic treasures! Reineke Fuchs - how wonderful!

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  18. wonderful Silke! i loved Pride and Prejudice too!

    xx

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  19. silke, i can just see you and daniel looking through these books! i seek out illustrations old and new like never before, thanks to the wonderful artists here in my life.

    my best finds: i have a two foot statue of Michael the Archangel, golden wings with a velvet robe. somebody might think it''s tacky, but i love it.

    ah, now you've given ME an idea for a post.

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  20. Gorgeous! Never mind the stories. The illustrations are golden. I can't say I've been as lucky...though I did find a $20 in a book once. Does that count?

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  21. What a great find Silke!:)
    These old books have fantastic illustrations, of course I like the Fairy Queen the best!:)
    Wow, just a few dollars a book. You were very lucky. Old children's books are quite expensive here in England!
    I bought a book the other day on ebay from America because it was cheaper...
    The book was illustrated be Arthur Rackham and was called, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Published in 1902.
    Have a look for it on the internet if you like. I think you and Danial would love the illustrations.
    Jo.x

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  22. What wonderful books, Silke. The illustrations are fantastic! Magical moments and nature's gifts are perhaps what I treasure most and I always enjoy finding inspirational works of art and literature. Thank you for sharing your beautiful finds. Bright wishes for a magical day. :) xx

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  23. Wow - what AMAZING finds!!! We've been so busy and haven't been able to treasure hunt lately. Hopefully soon, we'll be able to. The last things I found were two lovely little vintage frames at a "junk" shop. Theresa

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  24. These are phantastic treasures.
    I love books so much.
    Ich gklaube, ihr beide wärd die richtigen Kandidaten für Redu, das belgische Bücherdorf.
    Sxchon mal davon gehört?.
    Das ist ein kleines Dorf in den Ardennen, das quasi nur aus Antiquariaten besteht, dort findet man die schölnsten bibliophilen Schätze in französisch, englisch und deutsch.
    hab eine schöne Woche
    Janine

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  25. Ahhhhh, all you fellow book lovers out there!! I am not surprised... And it was wonderful reading about your own special finds! Love, Silke

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  26. WOW.. how wonderful for you! I love finding little treasures on the ground in parking lots... I know that sounds so silly maybe even gross but I have found the coolest rusty mixed media treasures in the world that way! :)

    TAKE CARE sweet girl.

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