Books are awfully decorative...don't you think?

One of my favorite movie quotes comes from the 1958 film "Auntie Mame" starring the always brilliant Rosalind Russell.  In the film Patrick, Mame's beloved nephew, brings home Gloria Upson, his dim snobbish girl friend.  Needless to say she make less than favourable impression on Auntie Mame.  Walking in to Mame's fantastic 1930's Beekman Place,  New York apartment Gloria, played spot on by Joanna Barnes, drably remarks on Mame's "stunning apartment" followed by..."books are awfully decorative don't you think?".

Some of the collection

 
I couldn't agree with Gloria more!  I love books.  I love shopping for books.  I love reading books.  I love looking at books.  And they are quite decorative.  When my Mother moved to Hawaii a few years back I inherited her collection of antique books.  The books were handed down from an old maid relative, Cousin Fanny.  Fanny was a strict school teacher, a Christian Scientist who never married and who lived with her equally spinster sister in the same house until her death.

Stories of Aunt Fanny have always intrigued me.  Now her books intrigue me.  One of my favorites is an 1893 first American edition of Lewis Carrol's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".  On the inside is written...
     
    "A Merrie Christmas for Lorenne from the two Aunties,    1899"

First American edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" 1893



The collection also contains several German-English study/text books including a beautiful little history of German geography dated 1867.  There is a two volume German collection of Shakespeare dated 1865 and several ladies reading books with evidence of being borrowed from and never returned to the "San Francisco Women's Lending Room".

One of the largest books is a very fragile 1835 edition of "Arabian Nights".  It's cover leather is dry and brittle but the gold "Arabian Nights" still gleams on it's spine. Inside contains some beautiful prints of the Genii, Aladdin, the thieves and pages and pages of harem girls.  I love that I have such a beautiful old  book in my collection.



the Genni & the Merchant



Jake of Kenton Collective