Featured Things left behind in books....

As a book collector I regularly find stuff that reader leave behind between the pages. As someone who is interested in the archaeology of the book it adds an extra layer of historic value. Here are some examples I found.

What did you find in books?

A dried plant in a herbal



An instruction for a priest



A letter with an old stamp



A praying card for a deceased person


A not so good sketch of a face



A watercolor painting of a forest

 

I've heard plenty of stories of people finding money in books, but not me.

Samples of 19th C ribbon from a mid-19th C Bible that has come down through the family. (I imagine church ladies swapping them over tea):

 

A great find! I love them!

 

Found a Photographers business card in an old book once.



Someone wrote in their blog about it. https://www.antiquecameras.net/blog/blog86.html Scroll down to the May 25, 2013 entry.

 

I find only crumbs. And don't think they're vintage, much less antique.

Debora

 

I've found recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers stuck in old cookbooks, but that's about all. I did see someone actually find money once. Once, but it's enough to keep you looking. I did find a few ounces of silver bar stock in a bedroom drawer once!

 

I have found things in cookbooks too. Some recipe cards, some old magazine tear outs, some bills from utilities, list for grocery stores, etc.

But in a recipe card box, I found a receipt from a dr to the lady patient telling her she had a bun in the oven. It was a bill I think.

I did find cash in a biscuit jar many years ago.

 

I love business cards like that. (I'd love to have some of the 18th C examples of engraved trade cards.)

What does it say under "Boston"?

 

I did find money once - it was a Confederate dime. Paper. Sold it on eBay for more than I paid for what it was in.

 

I've found money.......but that's cuz I put it there.....and forgot about it for years !!!

 

I love finding old bookplates!
I was discussing with a friend who is also a bibliophile about ink-stamping my name in books (she does it, too)... we both had come to the conclusion that we enjoy seeing previous owners' names in books so someday in the future someone might enjoy seeing ours! I have an Ex Libris stamp with my name, and I write in under it the year I acquired the book. I will do it with vintage books, too, adding my name under the previous owner's name.
I dream of one day commissioning a custom bookplate of my own with original artwork...

 

I have a paper stamp too.....from the collection of......in the 80's.....when my ego was ......... larger !

 

Nothing as old or impressive as the ones above, but the most fun thing I ever found was the one below, photographed on top of the book it was found in.
Especially fun when I read "We have always considered British Airways to be a topless carrier", which it doesn't actually say:



There were also the home address and email address on the form, which was never handed in. The poor passenger must have been even more upset that she never got a response from BA.

The book is about Balkan silver, although more of a travel book, and the flight was from Tirana (Albania) to London, appropriately.

 

Playboy Airlines?! Who'da thunk?

 

Took me a moment to realize that it actually said "a top class carrier"!

 

I think it was the engravers/printers name. I don't have the card anymore so I can't check.

 

I have a book by Nathaniel Dearborn who was an engraver, on Washington St., in Boston, at that time, but I can't see Dearborn there. Looks like somebody & somebody.

 

Me too!

 

When my grandparent's passed, an auction company was hired to sell the estate. There were shelves of books that they sold by choice, and then by the remainder per shelf. My mother told the auction company that my great grandmother was known to leave money in books. The books had been somewhat searched by the family over the years and some money was found. She was assured that the books would be leafed through before selling. Day of auction, the books had probably not been touched. I don't know if any additional money was found but one man did find the original deed to my great grandparent's medicine company. He would not give it back, nor let us buy it.

Jump ahead 20 years when my mother's cousin passed. When we cleared his apartment, several hundred dollars was found in books. Must run in the family

 

No sense of honor!