PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Friday 8 February 2013

More Bookmarks

I spent much of this morning dusting and cleaning some of the older books on my bookshelves - I found some nice surprises and one rather nasty one.

From the pages of a beautiful old atlas fell some old papers.

One is a 1917 receipt for a baby carriage - an expensive one, for it cost the princely sum of £6-6s-0d...a lot of money in those days

The other, far more interesting, was a bill from a general carter to a Mr Adams,  for work undertaken in April, May and July 1908, some in 1909 and then yet more work in August 1910.

The work undertaken was for hauling 'muck'. cutting hay, carting hay, ploughing, more work with hay, carting oats and straw, etc.   It took two and a half years for the carter to finally get his money - all that work was done for the sum of £3 10s 0d.    I hope he charged interest.

Yet again it shows you just how expensive that baby carriage was!

An old cookery book which I purchased recently had a clutch of four-leaf clovers held within the pages.
Some are a little the worse for wear, but there is no mistaking what they are.

Another book yielded this very pretty card...
...it looks very old and has been hand trimmed around all those delicate flowers and tight corners.   It is really pretty and, although fragile, it has been well protected within the book for many years, by the look of it.

I have replaced it, let it be a lovely surprise for someone else further down the line.

I didn't take a photograph of the nasty surprise.    It was a large spider which had settled on the back inside cover of a rather nice book...and had been squished at some point.   Most annoyingly it has left a large black mark.
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24 comments:

  1. The Owl Wood8 February 2013 at 20:43

    Two and a half years to pay a tradesman's bill! Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose (or something)!

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 08:40

      Hello Owl, I find that little piece of paper fascinating - I imagine quite a few others were presented to Mr Adam before it. Thank goodness he finally got paid.

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  2. Ms Sparrow8 February 2013 at 21:12

    I wonder if the spider was smashed deliberately. It would be one way of getting rid of it quickly. You find the most interesting things in books. I hope you keep it up.
    Do English schools teach French to all students or is it something you just acquire over the years?

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 08:51

      Hello Ms Sparrow, We live in an old converted farm building, spiders have squatters rights. I keep putting them outdoors and they keep on coming right back indoors, they know I am a softie.
      When I was a school girl, back in the 60's, I was taught French and German, as a matter of course. I'm not sure what is taught these days.

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  3. Molly8 February 2013 at 21:12

    What a find. Those bills are amazing - especially when that poor man, for all his hard work was paid only about half the amount of the price of the pram. And then he had to wait two and a half years to get his money - how times have changed.

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 08:57

      Hello Molly, I hope Robert Everett's other customers were better payers than Mr Adam. Was Mr Adam merely a skinflint, forgetful, or a procrastinator. I'll never know, but it is interesting. As to the baby carriage...it must have been a luxury one!

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  4. Doc8 February 2013 at 21:54

    Just two days passed my wife who works in a school Library brought home a book that someone had smashed a very large spider within and entombed its body with a good covering of scotch tape. I get all the disgusting jobs.

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:00

      Hello Doc, Horrible, horrible! This one was a dried-out thing trapped between the mylar cover and the inside cover - I removed the protective cover and made a fresh one. He certainly left his mark.

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  5. Joanne Noragon8 February 2013 at 22:53

    What great finds. And what great re-finds they will be. I am totally unable to stir up interest among my township residents for hundred year old relics. So I put them in a box for the next clerk to find.

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:03

      Hello Joanne, Old papers like this are so interesting. Someone further down the line will see what a fascinating resource you have preserved for the township!

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  6. Bonnie8 February 2013 at 23:17

    Oh I do love finding surprises in old books and some not so old books. Thanks for sharing. I hope you are having a safe weekend. Bonnie

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:06

      Hello Bonnie, I am often surprised at the things I find in library books. Just a fortnight ago I opened one and found a piece of paper covered in writing and diagrams. Something about the writing looked familiar and it turned out to be some plans for a cupboard which my husband had drawn up... It was a book he'd read a few months ago. A mystery was solved that day!

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  7. Susan Lindquist8 February 2013 at 23:55

    With the sweet comes the sour ... yuck to the spider guts! Ahhh to the Valentine-like card and the slice of life seen in those receipts!

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:08

      Hello Susan, That card is so very beautiful, the photograph doesn't do it justice. I hope that whoever finds it next will take good care of it. The receipts are great little windows into a different time.

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  8. Cro Magnon9 February 2013 at 05:28

    The cook book could well have belonged to my mother; every book she owned was filled with four-leaf-clovers. I still have them, of course.

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:13

      Hello Cro, Isn't it funny how some people find them so easily? I seem to have the same knack - and, presumably, so did the previous owner of that recipe book. I'm glad you kept your mother's four leaf clovers.

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  9. Lynne9 February 2013 at 10:10

    I enjoyed this . . . ahh . . . the stories from Four Leaf Clovers, baby carriage purchases, hand cut edges of the flower card! What fun to dream and imagine . . . old books and book marks . . .

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:15

      Hello Lynne, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love books, especially old books, but then I rather like new ones too - fresh and pristine. I suppose I just love books. The hidden treasures are a real bonus and send my daydreams off in so many different directions.

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  10. Susan9 February 2013 at 16:52

    I place "odd" bookmarks too in the books I read...maybe one day someone will come across them and have a peak into my life. What great finds Elaine! XOXO

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:17

      Hello Susan, It is one of the joys of reading older books. How nice to think that your bookmarks will be found and enjoyed in years to come. I also love finding dedications and inscriptions, pencilled notes, etc. xx

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  11. Jan10 February 2013 at 09:03

    Ooooh - I hate it when spiders get caught up in books! Thank you for sparing us!!! Jx

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    1. Elaine10 February 2013 at 09:21

      Hello Jan, I hate to say it, but that spider picked one of my more valuable books to die in - darn it! I have a great-nephew who loves all things creepy crawly. Sometimes I wish he lived a little closer, he'd be a great one for dealing with things like that! x

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  12. Little Blue Mouse10 February 2013 at 17:18

    What interesting finds! If you were going through my books you'd find lots of pressed four leaf clovers too.

    I think spiders must creep into books when they're small and then get squashed because there's no room to grow!

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  13. A Colorful World14 February 2013 at 18:59

    Aren't books wonderful! Not only do they give you fascinating information and whisk you away to other worlds, they can yield little treasures of some past time for you to ponder...and maybe also arachnids! :-) Awesome post!

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