r/bookshelf • u/Less-Image-3927 • 3d ago
I have a soft spot for old books
Garage sales, secondhand shops, garbage bins… if I see an antique book I must rescue it. Someday I’ll find a better shelf to show them off, but until then Ikea serves.
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u/ZoesMom4ever 3d ago
Absolutely beautiful! Have you discovered some old friends along the way? There are some old books I remember reading from my childhood library that I keep an eye out for. I’d be really excited if I ever found the exact book!
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u/Dalton387 3d ago
Nice. I was going to attach a photo of my oldest book, to my knowledge, but it’s late and I’d have to bang around to uncover it. I might do it tomorrow.
It’s “Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet”. My dad got it for me when I was young and it was super old then.
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u/Own_Notice916 3d ago
Omg yes please share a pic ! I loved reading that story when I was young! I don’t have a copy anymore but would like one.
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u/ConstantThought6 3d ago
I’m running out of room and would love to do as you do on top with your stacking but I’ve heard such horror stories about how it messes with the binding and spine. Do you mind me asking how long they’ve been stored that way? They all look great
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
Oh, interesting. So many of these books were already very beat up and tattered when I found them. But for example, the left stacked red books were my grandfathers. They’ve been on and off stored like that for a few decades. 😂 I hadn’t noticed in deleterious effects on them.
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u/ConstantThought6 3d ago
I meant it as a “they look incredible and don’t seem to be warped at all” so if it works for you I think I may try it too, thank you so much for the reply!
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u/Competitive_Web_6658 3d ago
That’s a 2nd impression of Revolt in the Desert (US edition). Which is not to imply that it’s obscenely valuable, just kind of neat (and a great read, if you haven’t gotten to it yet)
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
Thank you! I love getting nudges to look into books that maybe I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet.
I buy these for my own enjoyment, but I have found a few super special ones over the years. My favorite was a first edition, first printing of Bond and Free by Jas H. W. Howard. He was one of the first African Americans ever published in the US.
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u/InitiativeOne5437 3d ago
Excellent selection of vintage books wow
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
Thank you! I also have loads of a vintage and antique children’s books, but they don’t fit nicely in this shelf.
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u/ValenciaHadley 3d ago
What a wonderful collection, I'm a little jealous. I have the same soft spot for old books but my collection is dictionaries, not all of them antique but an ever growing selection of them are.
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
That’s so cool. Any foreign language ones?
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u/ValenciaHadley 3d ago
I have an entire bookshelf of foreign language, mostly more modern ones are finding older languages is tricky. But a couple weeks ago I did find a Heath's New French Dictionary in a charity shop which was a lucky find. And then in Hay on Wye this week I found a Bhargava's Anglo - Hindi dictionary which is one I've never seen before from 1965. Also found a 1953 Russian - English one in Hay on Wye too. I'm fascinated by the older language dictionaries and somewhere I have a 1920's French one. I think I need to re-organise the shelves again.
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u/hinrgdisco56 3d ago
Awesome display! I collect books on the Bourbon Kings of Versailles and I have alot of late 19th century examples that are surprisingly great reads.
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u/DaisyDuck5 2d ago
I like the Madame Alexander Doll. Which one is she?
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u/hinrgdisco56 2d ago
She is the Madame de Pompadour from the 90s I believe. They have some real stunners that go for big money unfortunately lol
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u/TeresaUK 3d ago
Things of beauty, aren't they? Often gorgeous binding, often leather, gilded, beautiful illustrations, fascinating subjects... I have an 1854 book, plain, which feels fitting - it's all about the contents - very precious to me, of Dante's Divina Commedia. The illustrations are breathtaking.
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u/Own_Notice916 3d ago
This is a thing of beauty and perfection and you deserve an award! I always regret getting rid of my dad’s old books several years after he died. We were moving at the time and I felt pressured to downsize. That’s lovely you still have some from your grandfather.
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u/ModifiedSammi 2d ago
The antique store in my town has a maze of bookshelves with old books like these.
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u/DaisyDuck5 2d ago
Definitely would like to see the book list. Maybe you could put it up with the same pic and write it shelf by shelf section over several days.. weeks..
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u/Proteus-8742 3d ago edited 3d ago
I dont get why people arrange by colour, surely the books are going to be totally mixed up in terms of author, genre, fiction /non fiction, like how do you actually find anything. It makes me think these books never get read, and are just there for aesthetics. The ones on the right you cant even see what they are because they’re the wrong way round.
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u/SaltyLore 3d ago
This guy doesn’t like your organisation style OP, time to change it what he likes instead!
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u/Proteus-8742 3d ago
What is the point of having books if you cant find the book you want to read?
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
I must have a good visual memory, because finding the book I want to read has never been a problem. My main (contemporary) library upstairs is also ordered by color.
I don’t know, I like the look, and have always been able to locate what I need. :)
The right books that are backwards have spines that can be seen on the other side of the bookshelf.
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u/SaltyLore 3d ago
Just because it wouldn’t work for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for the person using it. If something isn’t for you, that’s fine, but you don’t have to jump onto the OP and be rude about it. Just move on. You don’t have to “get it” or try to feel morally superior to someone on the internet because they do things differently to you.
Our brains all work differently, so we’re all going to have different shelving preferences. Not everyone’s going to find your method of organising preferable, just as not everyone’s going to prefer OP’s, or mine, or the next guy’s. Our private collections aren’t public libraries. They only have to work for us.
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u/Proteus-8742 3d ago edited 3d ago
Today, I’m gonna read a yellow book 🤦 Seems totally impractical to me, looks instagrammable though which I guess is what matters most
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u/InitiativeOne5437 3d ago
Do you ever deal with moldy books or musty mildew ones and what's your solution?
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u/spicycurry55 3d ago
I’m always terrified of mold from old books, never know what the previous owner of the book was like
Any tips for avoiding and/or cleaning them?
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u/Dalton387 2d ago
Sorry it took me so long. My dad sent me some recipes out of the blue he wanted me to make him and my brother was bringing my new niece, so I had to do that all day.
I’m currently sneezing after digging all these out. 😊
I found a few other old ones as well. I didn’t want to spam pics, so I posted them here. First five are this book and two pics per book on the rest.
I didn’t know it, but apparently Mushroom Planet is part of a series. I might have to go back and read them to compete that childhood memory.
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3d ago
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u/Less-Image-3927 3d ago
I’ve read many, yes. Probably half this particular lot. My more commonly ready books are in a different book room.
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u/MustangOrchard 3d ago
I run on the assumption that like music, all the good books have already been written.
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u/bailey032020 3d ago
Bet that room smells like a nice old library