Things Found in Used Books

[G. S. Carnivals]

Buying used books is always an interesting experience. What's better is discovering hidden treasure left behind by a previous reader. Between the pages I've found decades old sales receipts, bookmarks, a Polaroid photograph of a cat sitting on a chair, an unused hotel postcard (in a late 1940s issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine), and a guide to the now defunct J. L. Hudson department store in Detroit (found in Alfred Hitchcock's Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV). I keep the latter artifact with the book as a kind of talisman.

What have you discovered between the pages of a used book?

[Acutely decayed]

In a copy of Borges Labyrinths (an english language copy) purchased secondhand in Budapest in 2004 I found what looks like a communist party health-care card (apparently, it actually looked more like a small pamphlet), one can only speculate on the current health of the previous owner.

I also, when browsing in a secondhand bookshop in Australia, found a hand-written note in a Tanith Lee book informing me of a forthcoming Dark Crusade which must be averted by immediate and secret convening of likeminded individuals – I destroyed it discreetly of course, hopefully the crusade now progresses apace.

[simon p. murphy]

The most memorable thing I think I found in a second-hand book was an old business card of a family friend.

I have found two second-hand books, purchased in different cities, that both formerly belonged to the same woman. One of the finds that really made me laugh was a monopoly-style card saying 'get out of hell free' in A Confederacy of Dunces.

Also had a Christian bookmark featuring some long-winded Psalm inside a copy of Beyond Good and Evil! The reader mustn't have been quite ready to take a philosophical hammer to their idols...

[Dr. Valzer]

A second-hand copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology yielded a photograph of a young couple dining at a restaurant. On the back of the picture the woman had scribbled "Like my eye?" Upon closer examination I discovered that the woman's left eye must've caught the camera flash, because it was infernally red; a detail that made her smile appear more than a little sinister.

More amusing was opening a rare occult book I'd acquired through eBay, only to find that the previous owner had used a packet of rolling papers as his or her bookmark.

If the pungent, alien smell of the book's leaves was any indication, I shudder to think at what this person had actually been smoking. Fungi from Yuggoth perhaps?

Richard

[Freyasfire]

The most interesting thing that I found in a used book was in a late nineteenth century printing of Milton's Paradise Lost illustrated by Gustave Dore given to me by my ex-boyfriend. Inserted within it's somewhat crumbling pages was a pencil drawn sketch of a ghostly looking woman in a rocking chair.

[Brendan Moody]

Two stories:

1) In a copy of Ellen Datlow's cat horror anthology Twists of the Tale ordered off the Internet, I found a typewritten letter from a woman to her mother. It described her discovery that someone in her life was using her checking account without her consent, and also included allusions to someone's probation officer and other law enforcement types. I saved the letter, with the vague thought that it might provide the basis for an interesting short story and the even vaguer thought that I might try to find its author and return it, but at the moment I can't remember where I put it.

2) At a used book store in the city where I went to college, I bought a secondhand copy of the Joyce Carol Oates collection The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque, which proved to have this inscription covering half of the very first page:

"To [male name]--
the most inspirational professor of my acquaintance. Thank you for all you have taught me. I never want to stop learning and you have always encouraged me not to.
This is getting rather long-winded, no? [smiley face]
Hope you enjoy the book
Your witch,
[female name]"

The cynic in me loves the fact that [male name] found neither the book nor the inscription memorable enough to keep it in in his collection.

[gveranon]

Things I've found in used books include pressed leaves, a feather used as a bookmark, and someone's car insurance card. Some readers evidently like to save a clipped-out newspaper review of a book within its pages; I've seen this several times. I'm always reluctant to throw away these newspaper clippings, even though the reviews are usually perfunctory and dull, because there's a time-capsule quality to old clippings.

From a bookseller in Portland, Oregon I ordered History, Civilization, and Culture: An Introduction to the Historical and Social Philosophy of Pitirim A. Sorokin. Inside the book in neat handwriting it says:

Charles A. Le Guin

Mercer University
February 1953

This immediately got my attention, because I know that Ursula Le Guin's husband is named Charles, and they live in Portland, and he's a historian, so this is exactly the sort of book he might have owned. I don't know about the middle initial or any connection to Mercer University, so this is just conjecture. The book, which may have recently been a part of the Le Guin household, now resides in my humble (nay, squalid) apartment.

From a bookshop in the UK I bought the two-volume "Fourth edition, revised" of Isaac D'Israeli's The Literary Character; or The History of Men of Genius Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions (1828). Despite their age, these volumes are in remarkably good condition, and I only paid $50.00 for them. Along with the books I received two live and well-traveled silverfish. I'd like to think the silverfish were also from 1828, but I suppose they weren't. Bookplates in both volumes say Horatio Noble Pym. Fortis Est Veritas (whatever that means). By the way, this great work is now available at gutenberg.org, and the long, detailed table of contents is a marvelous thing to read in itself.

I bought a copy of John Cowper Powys's The Meaning of Culture for only $8.00. To my surprise, the book was autographed by The Man, a fact that the seller hadn't bothered to advertise. JCP signed his name on a dark violet page at the front, in what looks like pencil. But surely it isn't pencil -- wouldn't it have faded or smudged by now? The only way to know for sure would be to try an eraser on it, which I'm NOT going to do. Oddly, JCP put a period after his name, as if he'd just written a sentence. Being a man of vehement temperament perhaps he really meant it that way: John Cowper Powys period. The signature is not as nice-looking as the one Bleak&Icy posted here, but it's recognizably by the same hand.

In a local library I picked up a biography of Emma Goldman, and some photos (perfectly innocent) of a young woman dropped out. I was startled because I recognized her immediately as someone who worked at a nearby grocery store. This young woman bore a strong resemblance to Emma Goldman, and she was posing in a hat similar to that worn by Goldman in some pictures in the biography. She seemed to be deliberately playing up the resemblance to Goldman in her poses. I did not check out the book, and I left the photos where they were.

[DoktorH]

nothing yet, unfortunately. When I was younger and more mischievous, I'd go into bookstores and slip little notes reading "it's all true" into the pages of any HP Lovecraft books on the shelves.

[hypnogeist]

Dessicated, flattened insect corpses (spiders and moths mostly), ashes (probably from cigarettes), coffee stains, miscellaneous stains, crumbs, and powders of dubious origin - that's what I usually find, if anything. And lots of bookmarks (makes me wonder what percentage of people are in the habit of reading books all the way through). Nothing anybody who buys used books dosen't occaisionally encounter.

Once I found a makeshift bookmark woven from strands of hair. Another time a small collection of roaches (the non-insectile kind). A tarot card. Those are the most unusual things I recall.

The previous posts are fascinating. If you could somehow know the top ten most bizarre or valuable objects ever recovered from books I feel certain it would be an astounding list. Looking forward to seeing what others have found.

[gveranon]

Quote Originally Posted by gveranon

From a bookshop in the UK I bought the two-volume "Fourth edition, revised" of Isaac D'Israeli's The Literary Character; or The History of Men of Genius Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions (1828). Despite their age, these volumes are in remarkably good condition, and I only paid $50.00 for them. Along with the books I received two live and well-traveled silverfish. I'd like to think the silverfish were also from 1828, but I suppose they weren't. Bookplates in both volumes say Horatio Noble Pym. Fortis Est Veritas (whatever that means). By the way, this great work is now available at gutenberg.org, and the long, detailed table of contents is a marvelous thing to read in itself.

Holy ####! Wondering what the inscription on these bookplates meant, I just googled "Horatio Noble Pym" and found

this

Horace_Pym

Wikipedia entry. Horatio Noble Pym, also known as Horace Pym (1844-1896) was a "confidential solicitor, book collector and the editor of the best-selling private journal of the Quaker writer, Caroline Fox: Memories of Old Friends, published in 1881." Apparently he owned these volumes way back when! Since they were published in 1828, he probably wasn't the first owner. I wonder how many other owners they've had over the years? Despite signs of age, these volumes are completely intact and pristine; they've been well cared for. I'm feeling a real sense of responsibility toward them. Pardon my excitement. I own a lot of books, but I'm not a "collector," so very few of my books could be considered valuable in any way (aside from their contents).

Note: When I'm logged in, I can see the actual four-letter word I typed above. When I'm not logged in, I see "####." It's just as well. Surely neither Isaac D'Israeli nor Horatio Noble Pym would have even thought of using such a word!