Clad in armor of steel, a somber and sorrowful figure!
Why does the bridegroom start and stare at the apparition?
Why does the bride turn pale, and hide her face on his shoulder?”
The Courtship of Miles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1903 (first published 1858); illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
I already have several copies of The Courtship, and this was over priced at Off Square Books— $12.00!– but I bought it anyway. It’s a fine specimen of an ordinary old book. Beautiful color and black & while illustrations. Heavy paper. The book is roughly 150 pages and it weighs in at 2+lb! The gilding has worn off the front cover and spine, but it’s still on the pages. Beautiful, if a smidgeon worn. Too bad it’s not worth anything, being more than 15 years old and all. [Reference to the fact that our Friends of Library folk had stopped taking donations of books more than 15 years old.]
The illustrator, Howard Chandler Christy is pretty famous! He’s the guy behind the Christy Girl. (Do NOT search images for this. Trust me.)
Here she is encouraging women to join the US Navy. Sassy, don’t you think? An icon to a new generation of American women. An American Classic.
Our house guest, The Guest Speaker, was right impressed with Oxford’s Square Books collection of bookstores. And rightly so. They are American Classics, too!
Originally published at Bigfood.com on September 21, 2018
I’m thinking I’ll start taking book donations. Particularly those over 15 years old. The way I see it I’ll be doing society a favor. Book donation drop off address to follow.
Be careful. You forget I have your street address. Somewhere. How did you like the love-in-the-mist flowers?
Ha! I’m game. Start sending. Maybe I can get something started. I know, be careful what you wish for… Sorry, I didn’t see love in the mist and can’t find it. Help! I’m still floundering around here. I go somewhere and then can’t find my way back to where I was. Probably, in reality, my life’s story.
Love-in-the-mist. The flower seeds I sent. Thought you planted them? And by “floundering around here” you mean the blog?
Lol. I thought it was a poem. No, 2 reasons. 1. It was so hot and dry I worried they wouldn’t flourish. 2. I worried about the chickens eating them all. I only have 7 chickens. However my neighbor/landlord has about 60. She’s talking about trying to contain them in one of the pastures. Have to put small logs in potted plants to keep them out. Hopefully next year. And,yes I get lost in the blog.
It does sound like a poem. Mine are coming up all over the place again. They like fall weather.
I’d try to help but like I said, except for simple comment posting I’ve never tried to do anything on my phone. iPad is a little easier b/c it looks more like a desk top if it’s in landscape. Sorry. The posts you do look great!