I also have the leather-bound, signed and numbered copy of Dinotopia and the Skybax Rider, signed and numbered litho that came with it. And I will stop now because this is just the upstairs of the house....
Yes, I've been through Ft Augustus a few times, and followed the Caledonian Canal. I can't say I know the place very well, though. I'm more familiar with Fort William. We used to spend a lot of time camping at the Kings House in Glencoe, and always ended up trekking up to Fort William for supplies. And Ft William is the stopping off place for going lots of other places, like Mallaig, and down towards Spean Bridge, Fersit and places like that. I haven't spent a lot of time in that area recently, since we gave up the car back in the late 90s. But we used to go up that way a lot, while my husband and I were still doing hillwalking. We were actually married on Ben Nevis! Now it's just up and down the A9 to Ullapool and places north...
Awww! Now I'm getting nostalgic. I used to live in Fort Augustus, had a friend who lived in Fort William. I remember getting the cable car half way up Ben Nevis one time, the marriage must have been wonderful! I can't remember where, but my father used to work for the prison service and was posted in that area, and so he once took us around the old Victorian prison at Inverery because he thought he was being funny by saying his own prison wasn't much better. ¬.¬ God, dad jokes.
The book itself is in pretty rough shape. I bought it because I liked the aged and rough appearance. It's part of a larger set, a catalogue of portraits and landscapes that hang or would have hung in the country manors of the landed gentry.
Gah! Just noticed this thread right as night has fallen. My big bookcase is in the living room, and I'm not waking the critters. My bedside pile will have to suffice for now. I write in my bedroom which explains the necessity of the big dictionary and little thesaurus being so close at hand. I love all your bookcases. Mine is higglety-pigglety, no rhyme nor reason to it at all. I don't even have my books grouped into genre or author. I wonder what the state of our bookcases says about us on a deeper level?
Thank you @jannert . I think I'll be in love with these books my entire life, I also watch almost every animated film that comes to cinema. Not the same as books, but as long as it is a fairy tale it's ok. Like I said, there are a few books missing from the picture, these two are also very important to me. It says "THE WONDERFUL WORLDS OF WALT DISNEY" and "IN THE LAND OF IMAGINATION". It is more than 250 pages long and it contains poems, stories, illustrations. You can see that it is a bit old, it has been made in 1965 and well... it has been in the hands of four kids. This one is "The Golden Edition of Grimm's stories (Kinder- und Hausmärchen)" It has 54 stories on 344 pages, including biography of Grimm brothers, illustrations and introduction.
Four more of my books, these are among my absolute favourites. Including the collection of Robbie Burns I mentioned before @jannert, it's the blue book on the left.
I could show the bookshelves that collapsed from the weight of the books, and the piles and cartons of books in front of them, but it really isn't a pretty sight. I;ll replace the shelves soon, but I still have far too many books for the shelves. And no place to put more bookcases.
Once there was a well-known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard and burned them all.
Ooo, Jan. I'm just noticing the little chest there with the drop pulls. Is that a repro, or an antique?
It's about 2/3 wider than the photo shows. That's the bottom half of an antique sideboard that has been in my husband's family for many years. Unfortunately he's stored his vinyl record collection in the bottom cupboard, and the bottom is starting to sag (as you do) as it gets older. Actually this is a period-piece house. Not a particularly good period (just postwar) but heck. Neither of us are handy-dandy with the DIY, and it's now at the state where only a well-targeted bomb will improve things much. My husband and I have a mutual fantasy. When we win the lottery ...we will buy ourselves a Victorian or Edwardian sandstone detached house, one with at least two floors and maybe three. We will either buy it in original condition or restore it to its original conditon. AND WE WILL HAVE A LIBRARY ROOM IN IT. Preferably one with a window seat (or two, to avoid marital strife), a heavy round table in the centre, several comfortable chairs, a working fireplace, and walls covered in books, floor to ceiling. If our lottery win is large enough, we'll have all the shelves behind glass. I guess Now You Know. I really am not a very modern person, am I?
And then, the next day he sobered up. "Damn! That wasn't enlightenment, it was Bud Lightenment!" And he headed off to the bookstore, hanging his head in shame.
I have the same problem. No room for new shelves, and the shelves I have are stacked two rows deep on every shelf, as is the shelf in my closet. I also have boxes and boxes of other books that have been rotated out. Someday they'll be rotated back in, maybe. Hence, no beautiful bookshelf pics from me.
Wow, reading how you don't have any room for books makes me feel like a child. Especially because my biggest shelf and one smaller one are filled with stuffed animals...
@Poziga Most of mine have been accumulated over time. Like @Wreybies, I've been buying more ebooks of late as storage is an issue, so I'm hoping from here on in, not to end up with as many actual books that take up space but aren't particularly valuable to me. Some books I keep permanently out on display, others which I've attempted to read but haven't particular enjoyed, nor sometimes finished, end up in boxes or are given to friends, charity shops and book dealers. In the case of reading a great book in e format, I'll place an order online or, if the book is out of print, I'll go and speak to my local second hand dealer to see if he can source me a copy. Hoking around in dusty, musty old bookshops can become really addictive and it's the only kind of shopping (other than going to the fresh food market) I enjoy. It's like hunting for lost treasure.
The sag is part of the charm. That's why true beauty comes later. The young are only ever pretty. My house isn't period, but my furnishings are! Spoiler: Eastlake nightstand Spoiler: American Art Nouveau drop-well Period American furniture with art nouveau queues is rare. Pottery and other decorative items from the period are common enough in the U.S., but as a furniture style it never really caught on here like it did un Europe. Spoiler: Wardrobe Sadly, no Narnia connection.
having been an ex-pat world-wanderer, since '95, i had to travel light, could only schlep my most necessary reference books... since settling back in the states, i've been living in the very tight quarters of a 35' house trailer, so haven't been able to add more than a score [at most] of novels i keep on hand to work my way through and then give away... however, back in my 'old life' i was a bibliomaniac [= worse/better than a 'bibliophile'] with a private library of more than 2,000 volumes... my kids never had to go to a library for reference or source material, in those pre-computer/internet years...
Boy what a mess, and they look just as bad as the images. Here are some of my shelves that don't look too bad and a few that do:
Heh, On the first four shelves I was more focused on your nice toy collection. Otherwise I like your shelves, I like how books are squeezed, but still placed in some order.
That's my occult and Goosebumps shelf. It's only a fraction of the 'things' I have, many of which are on shelves that have no books. But my neat stuff has taken over too much space and it'll all look a lot better once I get more of it weeded.
... and yet again, while everyone is looking at the books, I'm looking at the furniture. I love a nice lawyer's bookcase! Porcelain hardware and everything! Vury nice. ETA: When I worked at the auction house we had a set of period L&JG Stickley mission style lawyer's bookcases come through. They were gorgeous, but untouchable to the likes of me because mission was "happening" in a big way in the antiques trade at the time. They went for a mint. About a year later I started seeing Dirk Van Erp style repro lamps in decorator stores.
I want to like every post in this thread. I wish my book shelf was more respectable looking, but I haven't accumulated as many as I would like. The Library is my friend though.
