The following is one of the first ever blog posts I wrote, in January of 2010. Since this is a busy week for us, I decided to take a break and simply post a few re-runs. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I plan to be getting back to your blogs next week...
There is just something so appealing about little books. Whether it's my pocket-size Emma or Treasure Island or Chicken Soup With Rice, little books can easily fit into a purse or rest snugly in your hands. I think that a love of little books begins in childhood. Little kids - little books. When my children were little, they loved little books. Remember Beatrix Potter? She obviously was aware of this fact.
I recently discovered a wonderful series of books from the turn of the last century. Published by the Henry Altemus Company, these small-format (about 4 x 6) books are part of the Vademecum Series and have beautiful hard covers, some with paste-ons. Having enjoyed the series 'Cranford' on PBS Masterpiece Classic, I managed to locate Elizabeth Gaskell's book Cranford in the Vademecum series. It doesn't have a publication date, but according to the above-mentioned website, it was probably published before 1901 when the covers with pictorial paste-ons came on the Vademecum scene. Paste-on or no paste-on, my copy of Cranford is a beautiful little book (pictured above).
So... my husband and I had this discussion tonight, 'Which Movie to Watch.' I suggested that we watch 'North and South', from the book of the same title by Elizabeth Gaskell. He absolutely refused. He likened it to Jane Austen's Emma and would have nothing to do with it. Try as I might to convince him that it is nothing like Emma, (which I loved, by the way) that he would enjoy it because of the subject of cotton mills in 19th century England and the relationship between management and labor, the misunderstandings and misperceptions people hold about one another, etc. etc., he remained resolute.
We are going to watch a Netflix Instant, Cities of the Underworld - 'City of Caves,' Budapest, Hungary. Okay, so I'm giving in. I'll have to admit that it is absolutely fascinating and worth watching a second time. Maybe he'll have to ease slowly into 'North and South.' This may take some time.
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3 comments:
Ha! And I thought North and South was about the civil war! LOL
Nice.
Well, I seem to be falling more and more into the technology abyss. My kids gave me a Kindle for Christmas--and I love it! The cool thing is that I can download the oldies for free. I've had such a good time finding all these old books that are classic and enjoyable. "Emma" is one of my downloads. Thanks for sharing your old post. I love it!
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