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Other Topics => Off Topic Discussion => Topic started by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 27, 2014, 11:15:11 AM



Title: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 27, 2014, 11:15:11 AM
Sometimes when we get second hand books you see writing written in the front off it. "too person. I hope you enjoy this book. Love other person" Sometimes you may see an inside joke, that your not inside enough to get. Or writing off a deranged person...

Just wondering, if there is any stories in this random thought off mine.


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: ER on July 27, 2014, 02:09:01 PM
That's a great topic!

I buy a lot of old books, sometimes for no other reason than what's been written inside the cover as a dedication, and do see some touching, mysterious, funny writing in the front (one from 1898 mentions the 20th century coming and promises an invitation for tea on 1-1-01), but an engraving that's always left me frustrated is in a 1970s book of poems that reads, "To Jessica on May 15th.....you know why!" It bugs me that I'll never know why.

You know something I think is wickedly cool is I bought a book from the estate of the author John Fowles, a writer who had thick facial hair, and one evening as I was thumbing through my purchase I found a big beard hair sticking between two pages, which made the connection to Mr. Fowles' one-time ownership that much more physical.

But I think the absolute best find in a book I ever personally knew of was a friend of mine in Texas who had a close friend who somehow came to possess a mid-19th century volume of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetry, and inside was a letter written on Prince Albert's stationary, apparently in Prince Albert's hand, noted as "From the Palace" and it was a personal reply thanking Tennyson for the copy of his poems Tennyson had sent him. My friend tried hard to get that book but the other guy wouldn't sell no matter what. Can't say I blame him.

A good week to everyone. (This time you're part of the "everyone" Trevor! lol)


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 28, 2014, 12:32:29 AM
That's a great topic!

I buy a lot of old books, sometimes for no other reason than what's been written inside the cover as a dedication, and do see some touching, mysterious, funny writing in the front (one from 1898 mentions the 20th century coming and promises an invitation for tea on 1-1-01), but an engraving that's always left me frustrated is in a 1970s book of poems that reads, "To Jessica on May 15th.....you know why!" It bugs me that I'll never know why.

You know something I think is wickedly cool is I bought a book from the estate of the author John Fowles, a writer who had thick facial hair, and one evening as I was thumbing through my purchase I found a big beard hair sticking between two pages, which made the connection to Mr. Fowles' one-time ownership that much more physical.

But I think the absolute best find in a book I ever personally knew of was a friend of mine in Texas who had a close friend who somehow came to possess a mid-19th century volume of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetry, and inside was a letter written on Prince Albert's stationary, apparently in Prince Albert's hand, noted as "From the Palace" and it was a personal reply thanking Tennyson for the copy of his poems Tennyson had sent him. My friend tried hard to get that book but the other guy wouldn't sell no matter what. Can't say I blame him.

A good week to everyone. (This time you're part of the "everyone" Trevor! lol)

"To Jessica on May 15th.....you know why!" I gotta wonder is it ominous or tongue and check inside joke xD Recently I saw loving msg to a guys wife inside a book... Except I know these people and she use to hit her now ex husband. So to me that is rather ominous. xD But hey I never thought someone would mention hair being found in a book.


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Trevor on July 28, 2014, 12:45:33 AM
A good week to everyone. (This time you're part of the "everyone" Trevor! lol)

 :teddyr: :teddyr: :wink:

In our high school books - which were held by the school and used over and over by many students - you would always find some wise-ass instruction like 'Turn to page 136 in case of fire'.

The trouble was there were only 135 pages in the book.  :buggedout: :teddyr:


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: claws on July 28, 2014, 01:54:10 AM
My mom used to read a lot and we would always buy second hand books from a local thrift shop. Sometimes we would find handwritten personal notes and messages written directly inside the book or on a piece of paper. Words or passages underlined, drawings, all sorts of bookmarks, recipes, pressed flowers and the occasional squished bug (yuck).


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 28, 2014, 10:48:34 AM
A good week to everyone. (This time you're part of the "everyone" Trevor! lol)

 :teddyr: :teddyr: :wink:

In our high school books - which were held by the school and used over and over by many students - you would always find some wise-ass instruction like 'Turn to page 136 in case of fire'.

The trouble was there were only 135 pages in the book.  :buggedout: :teddyr:

I am sure the stonners at your school at least tried or if not were unbelievably confused like this... hmmmm... Stonners are funny. Ironically my school was a new age hippy school that did not have year books. But we had stonners there. This gave us limited situations for the situation Trevor mentioned.Now I feel sad I spent highschool learning instead off living that situation :(


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 28, 2014, 10:50:48 AM
My mom used to read a lot and we would always buy second hand books from a local thrift shop. Sometimes we would find handwritten personal notes and messages written directly inside the book or on a piece of paper. Words or passages underlined, drawings, all sorts of bookmarks, recipes, pressed flowers and the occasional squished bug (yuck).

Maybe this book was from the same source ER got his used books from. This bug was to To Jessica... Cause she knows why... Jessica had a stalker on another note. :p


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: FatFreddysCat on July 28, 2014, 03:54:40 PM
When I was in high school in the late 80s I bought a used copy of George Orwell's "1984" at a used book sale. On the inside front cover was a note from the previous owner showing her name, the date she started reading the book, and the date she finished it (which was sometime in 1972, if memory serves). She then went on to explain that the reason it took her so long to read the book was because of her "after school job at The Burger."

Ummm......okay. That just seemed like an awfully random thing to write. I could almost understand the start and finish dates, but how O.C.D. do you have to be to write an excuse note for why it took so long?  :bouncegiggle:


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Living_Dead_Girl on July 29, 2014, 05:21:05 AM
When I was in high school in the late 80s I bought a used copy of George Orwell's "1984" at a used book sale. On the inside front cover was a note from the previous owner showing her name, the date she started reading the book, and the date she finished it (which was sometime in 1972, if memory serves). She then went on to explain that the reason it took her so long to read the book was because of her "after school job at The Burger."

Ummm......okay. That just seemed like an awfully random thing to write. I could almost understand the start and finish dates, but how O.C.D. do you have to be to write an excuse note for why it took so long?  :bouncegiggle:

I know right? When I start and finish a book that is my own damn business! And people are like reading this going "Ohhh nice to know darling!" xD Still that particular book is heavy reading in terms off theme and style off writing.


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: The Burgomaster on July 29, 2014, 08:30:57 AM
I sometimes see writing inside or on the back covers of old comic books.  Many of the comics in my collection are from the 1960s and 70s and I often wonder where these people are now.  Usually, it is just a person's name.  I imagine a 10 year old kid writing his name on the back cover of the comic, and then I think, "Wow, that kid is probably 50 or 60 years old now."  Then I think, "Wow.  I am 50 years old now."


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Archivist on August 05, 2014, 05:03:27 AM
As a preteen, I played Dungeons and Dragons, and at one time I thought I had lost my copy of Deities and Demigods.  Turned out that I had left it in the school library and it had been given to the school fete.  I knew the guy who bought it, but he refused to give it back to me because I couldn't prove it was mine.  Fugger.  After that I wrote my name in different parts of all my books, just in case.  But that is not the end of the story.

A few years ago, I was looking through a local secondhand bookstore which is in the same area as my old school, and came across what I believe is my copy of that very book.  It is exactly the same printing as the one I stupidly lost, with only a couple of words written in pencil in the front pages.  And the handwriting looks very familiar, too, so I like to believe that my book returned to me after decades of absence.

In our final year at school, the teacher supplied us with exercise books for Biology.  They had been used by final years students for a number of years, and they were to be returned at the end of the year.  Knowing this, I wrote something like this on one of the pages:

"Greetings to those who are reading this now.  You are now in Year 12, your final year of school, as I am now, and I salute you.  We have come a long way to be here.  This is both the end of one part of your life and the beginning of the next.  Write your name and year on this page and send this into the future."  I was partly inspired to do this by a list I had seen written on the back of a boarding room wardrobe, with names and years of people who had stayed there while at university.

Problem is, I have no idea how many people came across that message, if anyone wrote anything after me, or if the books were used by later years at all!  These days, you'd be able to write an email address, facebook or twitter link and have people message you.  But back then?  Nothing like that.  I occasionally wonder if my message for the future was received and acted upon.


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: The Burgomaster on August 05, 2014, 08:47:27 AM
As a preteen, I played Dungeons and Dragons

I played a lot of D&D when I was around 16 - 18 years old.  A few years ago, a bunch of guys from the old group got together to play "for old times' sake."  The guy who hosted the game opened up one of his D&D books and there was a piece of paper inside with a character on it.  Amazingly, it was one of MY characters from the early 1980s.  I used that character for the game that day.

 


Title: Re: Writting from previous owners in the front off used books...
Post by: Archivist on August 05, 2014, 08:11:29 PM
As a preteen, I played Dungeons and Dragons

I played a lot of D&D when I was around 16 - 18 years old.  A few years ago, a bunch of guys from the old group got together to play "for old times' sake."  The guy who hosted the game opened up one of his D&D books and there was a piece of paper inside with a character on it.  Amazingly, it was one of MY characters from the early 1980s.  I used that character for the game that day.

 

Ah, that's fantastic!  I love how things like that can happen.  It makes me think of staying at a friend's place for an overnight D&D party when I was 11 or so.

The copy of Deities and Demigods I found has small pencil notations scattered throughout, particularly in the Melnibonean section.  What makes this even more interesting is that the one I have is the first edition that includes characters from Michael Moorcock and HP Lovecraft's writings.  Those sections and others were removed entirely from later editions.  The Cthulhu mythos was a contentious inclusion as the copyright holders to parts of Lovecraft's work had already licensed the mythos' use to Chaosium.