Delightful Objects- Vintage and Antique Books

Today I'm sharing another of my mini collections. My vintage and antique books bring me joy even if I don't dare handle them too much. There are a few I've had since high school, a few that are recent acquisitions, some gifts, and perhaps one or two that are of monetary value, while every one of them has intrinsic and sentimental value.

 We keep two book cases in the house- the other is slightly larger than this. In recent years, Brian and I have tried to cull our collections and get rid of texts that we have lost interest in. I keep all sorts of literature (the other set of shelves houses all of my textbooks from college), and Brian is attracted to non-fiction; he keeps and reads books on history, religion, philosophy, politics, and knock-knock and yo mama jokes.

The second shelf down on the left houses my very small collection of old books. Among them are

If you're familiar with O.W. you can probably imagine that most of these are to dark for actual children's bedtime reading, but it is a lovely book nonetheless, with very pretty illustrations.

A copy of A Christmas Carol that someone received as a Christmas gift in the 30s.  

This Pride & Prejudice belonged to my grandfather's sister, Mary Agnes, known affectionately to us as "Aunt Sissy"

Ok, this one is not as old as the others, but it has an interesting page just inside the cover on Communism and how the publishing house established a royalties account for the author in the U.S. It states that "should he ever come to the United States, the royalties earned by the book will be turned over to him directly [...] In the event that within the next ten years Mr. Solzhenitsyn does not come [...] the royalties will be turned over to a worthy anti-Communist cause."

This beautiful Pride & Prejudice set was a thoughtful gift from my M&FIL. Isn't the cover art lovely? They also gave us Springs of Friendship, which is a small collection of quotes with lovely flower depictions that is dated 1970, but looks older.

I think this is the oldest of my books-
 printed in 1871.

 The two books of Irish literature were gifts from my father and stepmother. I am really into Irish literature, Irish culture, and Irish vacations.

 My father bought two volumes of this Poe collection at auction for me when I was in high school. I have always been a super book nerd.

 This is among my favorites. I love Hemingway, and this is a first year printing of A Farewell to Arms. My father sent this to me, and you can imagine my excitement upon tearing off the paper it was wrapped in!

I should probably do some reading up on how to properly store old paper, and if any of you have any suggestions, I would appreciate them. The one thing I won't do is tuck them away. Books are meant to be handled and enjoyed, and I certainly am delighted by my modest collection of lovely, dusty old books!

Delightful Objects- Vintage and Antique Glass Bottles

I am a hoarder/collector of many things on a smallish scale, and I thought it would be fun to share some of these things from time to time, along with a little back story if applicable.

Today, I begin with my bottle collection. Once, it was pretty large, but over the years I have culled it to be something manageable that doesn't require too much space or dusting.

I love the jewel colors when the light comes through them. I dug many of these pretties out of a bottle dump myself back when I was in high school. I was really, really cool. I used to spend hours out behind my neighbor's house raking through leaves and dirt with a stick. I'd bring home big boxes of bottles all covered in mud, wash a few, and leave half of them in the basement. My parents loved that.

Some of my favorites among these are a La Choy soy sauce bottle, the clear one toward the center of the pic which has a honeycomb texture, and the dark pinkish ones my sister got me more recently as a gift. And of course the blue Milk of Magnesia bottles are always a hit. And I have a white Ponds cold cream. And a Bayer with the lid. And I love the brown ones. Oh! That's all of them!

Here is a pic I took in the winter- only a few of the bottles are in it, but I love how they look against the frost on the window.

My husband knew I had a little collection when we met, and one day he showed up where I worked with a vintage Crystal Club Cream Soda bottle for me. Isn't that sweet?

Are there any fellow bottle dump diggers out there? Anyone else like or collect vintage bottles?

My Vintage Button Stash...Too Much of a Good Thing?

So when I was sewing the Sorbetto top I wrote about last time, I tried a few buttons just below the neckline in front. I rooted around in my large button coffee can, and rustled up a few possibilities. Some of my buttons are strung or on cards, so they are easy to locate, and I always know how many I have to use. The rest of them were (!) in a miserable heap at the bottom of the can. I inherited our late Grandma's button stash, and while I'm sure she knew what was in her tin, I had only a faint inkling from previous rummagings. I thought of this as I tried the buttons out on the blouse, and today I set about making them all visible and tidy. Would you believe it took me a good portion of the day? Turns out, I have buttons....

 And more buttons....

 And, yes, more buttons....

 And, well, even more buttons....

There are more buttons that I didn't photograph here, because they were in my "to get rid of" button bag already. But don't call "Hoarders" just yet. I now have one tidy coffee can full of the buttons I intend to keep, and the ones I am getting rid of are on their way out. I will probably list them on eBay or Etsy. How did I organize this off the chain collection? I pilfered a wonderful idea from a fellow seamstress (Jenny of Kerrfect) over at the Sew Retro blog. I reproduced one of my own vintage button cards (you can have the download for your personal use here free), and printed several with which to wrangle these little beasties. I wish I had looked back at Jenny's files first, because she has some really cute button cards! Oh well, when I was out scouting the thrift and antique shops today, I spied some fabulous vintage red and gold buttons that I probably have to buy. And, I will probably have to put them on Jenny's adorable button card.
Here is my collection being wrangled:

Recognize these lovelies Portia? :)

Aren't they purty?

And just for fun, here's what I am doing with the odd buttons out:

I had some adhesive magnetic tape in my craft cabinet, and we can always use fridge magnets. Plus, they make me smile.