10 of My Favorite Things to Find in Secondhand Books by Amanda Lockwood

10 of My Favorite Things to Find in Secondhand Books by Amanda Lockwood

As far as I can tell there are two main groups of book lovers. Those who prefer pristine new books and those who prefer second hand copies. I fall into the latter category. One of my favorite things is to find notes and hidden surprises in books. I’ve found a number of interesting things. Here is a list of my 10 favorite things I’ve found in second hand books –

1. Photographs from top to bottom pressed plant in note next to illustration in Gray’s Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology published 1881; pressed plant found in the index of The Dispensatory by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache published 1873; plant matter in Dominicalia & Festivalia Evangelia, Graeco-Latina printed 1687.
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2. Photographs from top to bottom inscription in Green Lantern Sleepers Book Two by Christopher J. Priest and Michael Ahn; dedication in book of hymns; inscription to me in a used copy of Someplace to be Flying by Charles De Lint.
   

3. Photographs from top to bottom note next to illustration in Gray’s Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology published 1881; notes on illustration plate from Neill on the Arteries published 1845; translation notes in Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon Primer Ninth Edition revised by Norman Davis.

4. Photographs from top to bottom crossed out names and ex libris stickers/stamps in Dominicalia & Festivalia Evangelia, Graeco-Latina printed 1687; name and date in a pocket bible published by William Rutter & Co; names and dates of medical students from Neill on the Arteries published 1845.

5. Newspaper clippings – to date I’ve only found one of these. I’m still very excited about it though I don’t know which side the original owner was interested in. Photographs two sides of newspaper clipping found in Dispensatory by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache published 1873.

6. Recipes – these always remind me of an old cookbook my mother has. Though the ones in my library all come from the Dispensatory. Photograph personalized recipes for prescriptions found in Dispensatory by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache published 1873.

7. Photographs from top to bottom drawing by artist Steve Lieber on title page of White Out Volume II; cat drawing by artist Benjamin Dewey on title page of I Was the Cat; drawing of unknown subject on pages of Gray’s Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology published 1881.

8. Photographs from top to bottom grocery list and receipt in The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson; cryptic note in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams; original New Hampshire purchase receipt for The Foxfire Book from a copy I purchased in Portland, OR.

9. Photographs from top to bottom advertisements for dictionaries and microscopes in Gray’s Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology published 1881; promotional giveaway dictionary from Wolbach & Brach in Hasting Nebraska.

10. Photographs from top to bottom dog eared page in book of hymns (title page missing, signature in front of books dated 1859); dog eared page in The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan.