Sunday, July 15, 2012

Flea Market Finds

This week the op shops sang the siren song that lured me to their bookshelves ...


Are my own bookshelves already groaning? Yes they are. Are there piles of books on my dressing table waiting to be read? Yes, there are. Do I have masses of spare time to curl up with a book just now? No, I don't. And still I could not resist the temptation. What does that say about me? Well really, who could resist such high-brow titles as "Winkie and His Woodland Friends?"


Winkie is not only a snazzy dresser - he has musical skills to boot. No wonder he has so many friends! If I had more than one lifetime I would be a researcher of things. I'd like to know how things got started - like hymns for instance. Do only very devout people write them? Or perhaps they descend from early folk songs or pagan rituals? If I had time I would track down the authors of songs contained in books like this one ...





Of course the truly lovely thing about this little book is that it bears an inscription inside the front cover ...


A translation would be wonderful. There seems to have been a bit of a European theme to the books I have selected this week. I blame it on Don and Denise. They have been sharing their wonderful adventures in Paris and the French countryside and I have been travelling right alongside them. Virtually of course. We are off to Berlin next!

This sightly tatty copy of Zola's famous book has been on my "broaden-your-mind" list of books to read for quite some time. Sadly it has taken a back seat to easier literature. ( Agatha Christie is so too "literature") And since we are in Paris, how about a little 19th Century romance ...


The adventure continues ...



I know nothing of this book but it did sell more copies 20 years after its first publication so that bodes well. Hope that isn't because it was overpriced in the first place. To conclude my little European sojourn I have been dipping into this lovely book on Venetian painting.

Virgin and Child,c.1470, Bartolommeo Vivarini
 The colours are so beautiful - vibrant and rich. Hands are just hard to paint huh?

                                 Sleeping Venus, c.1508, Giorgione
Just lush and lovely really. Well that completes the tour. Pop over to Sophie's for more thrifting goodness.

6 comments:

Melissa said...

Glad to see there a few treasures still to be found out there, mine are yielding nothing!!

Emma said...

Great books, you're definitely an artisitc hoarder!

Love the way you pick up a tray, below, cut & sand it & make something amazing & unique, wish I could do a w/s with you!

Ro Bruhn said...

I collect old books from the op shop but unfortunately, very rarely end up reading them before they get turned into an altered book.

Anonymous said...

wow, another great haul!

We are staying near the place Emile Zola is buried, at the Pantheon - so yes you may be channeling some french energy here.
Some good music too - colage, maybe?

sascedar said...

There is something so special about very old books. words endure. a lovely collection of finds, that Winkie looks quite the fellow! :)sarah

Tizzy Jo said...

San Michele was a favourite of my grandmother's.(known as Poggy!) I did read it years ago and, tho no clear memory of the plot, it was a good read of a little island Utopia.Yummy!