Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Meet The REAL Jane Austen

6:32 AM | Labels: , , , ,


I know that many of you reading this are fans so prepare to be amazed - as this portrait is said to be a recently discovered portrait of Jane Austen. I'm going to let Mary Jenkins from Wales tell you the rest of this fascinating story.
Read the Jane Austen scholar's story here as reported in The Guardian. She owns this portrait. 

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UK Celebrates Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday

4:45 PM | Labels: , ,


He wrote about life in the modern city, with its lawyers and criminals, bankers and urchins, dreamers and clerks. He created characters still known to millions — Ebeneezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim, Pip and Miss Havisham, Fagin and Oliver Twist. And it made him a star, mobbed by fans on both sides of the Atlantic.


His Bookplate
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, joined Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, actor Ralph Fiennes, a host of dignitaries and scores of Dickens' descendants at a memorial service Tuesday (2/7/12) in London. Prince Charles placed a wreath on Dickens' grave in Westminster Abbey's Poet's corner.

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Vintage Bookmobile from Chicago Public Library

6:14 AM | Labels: , , ,


One of the joys of my childhood was the bookmobile! The other was the ice cream truck.

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Still Life with Globe and Books

2:50 PM | Labels: ,


A lovely still life by Todd Casey
Have a great weekend.

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Ex-libris with Swans Circa 1907

5:43 AM | Labels: , , ,

From A collection of book plate designs by Louis Rhead, Boston, 1907. via

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The Library by Elizabeth Shippen Green 1905

4:30 PM | Labels: , , ,


I would love to have this painting hanging in my cottage! via

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Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds

12:52 PM | Labels: , , , , , ,


click photo to enlarge
This iPhone photo snapped from my third floor window doesn't even begin to show the number of blackbirds flying into the woods. What a sight to behold at my cottage this afternoon. Blackbird pie is not on tonight's menu.

click photo to enlarge
This happy family appears to be thrilled to see such a pie on their dinner table. Here is another Randolph Caldecott drawing from one of my antiquarian books illustrating the nursery rhyme Sing A Song for Sixpence.

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Cottage Bungalow Circa 1923

5:47 AM | Labels: ,

I love this tiny cottage with a front porch and an upstairs sleeping porch. I want the plan book too!
This house and plan were shown in the 1923 plan book, The Books of a Thousand Homes. It featured 500 small house plans. Most of them really were small by today's standards. This one reflects the post WWI movement away from the horizontally oriented Craftsman-style to the more modern and very romantic aesthetic of the 1920s. This particular plan was by Olsen & Urbain, Architects.
The Books of a Thousand Homes: 500 Small House Plans edited by Henry Atterbury Smith.
via ©American Vintage Home on Flickr

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Recreating Print Rooms

1:04 PM | Labels: , , ,


Print rooms were popular in 18th and 19th century England where they served as charming exhibit rooms for prints.


An unusual way for those returning from grand tours abroad to display a sort of souvenir album of visited landmarks, print rooms often featured engravings of favored classical ruins and city scenes.

I photographed these two print rooms from one of my design books: Decorating with Paper by Donna Land and Lucretia Robertson. They were created by English artist Nicola Wingate Saul. What a fun way to display old prints and engravings.

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Wonderful Wall of Books

6:29 AM | Labels: ,

I love books and I love cubbies so this bookcase wall really caught my eye. I'm not at all comfortable with an open fire surrounded by all that wood though. Something like that would send the building/fire inspectors into orbit around here. via

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Please Use A Bookmark

1:15 PM | Labels: , , ,


Folded over pages in books are another of my pet peeves.
WPA poster showing a boy ironing down the page of a book. Chicago, WPA art project circa 1936-40. Artist: Arlington Gregg. From the collection of The Library of Congress via

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Cleaning Frenzy

12:54 PM | Labels: , ,

I  don't know about you, but I'm feeling an intense cleaning frenzy coming on. I never did get a good job done before Christmas because of Piggy, the little white French bulldog that was my houseguest through the New Year. I pinned a site this morning with 25 DIY Green Cleaning Recipes for the Whole House. Now mind you, I said I could feel it coming on but it hasn't actually started yet. I photographed this pic from one of my books entitled Spring Cleaning, the spirit of keeping home by Monica Nassif. I'm off to do some marketing first remembering to take my own canvas totes with me. I need to pay some bills too. Life really is getting back to normal, isn't it?

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Wonderland Fungus

12:49 PM | Labels: , , ,

This fungus is getting curiouser and curiouser. I wonder if it's one that Alice ate? I'm certainly not going to taste it to find out. It's been growing on a tree at the edge of my woods for quite a long time and is a perfect subject for iPhone photos.

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My New Year's Wish For You

5:47 AM | Labels: ,

Who could ask for more?

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Cranberry and Chocolate Squares

12:02 PM | Labels: , , ,

Made for each other -- that's the contrasting flavors of tangy-sharp cranberries and sweet chocolate.

 

DIY Self-Rising Flour: In a one cup measure, place 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt, then fill to top with flour. Mix well and store in an airtight container if not used right away.

 

 
You probably have all of these ingredients on hand right now. Don't these look delicious? I was too lazy to type everything so I just photographed the recipe from my book: 
COOKIES irresistible biscuits, brownies and bars by Hilaire Walden published by Hermes House in 2002 

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Posted by exotic

Interior Shots at My Cottage

11:59 AM | Labels: , , ,


Nothing monumental....I just liked the way the sun was shining on an antique splint basket early this morning. The wire basket underneath is filled with fire wood.

A client gave me this iron pot rack. I already have one in my kitchen so I put this one in the living room and I find it to be very handy and it doesn't take up much space.


A closeup of the titles of a few antiques reference books.

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If You Love Diane Keaton, Read Her Book

9:59 AM | Labels: , , ,

I can't decide which would be better, reading her book or having Diane Keaton read it to me on an audio book! I found a great review of 'Then Again by Diane Keaton' at The New York Times. This biography had me at the dust jacket. I love her and blog about her often.

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Posted by exotic

Lost in A Book

2:40 PM | Labels: , ,


Young girl reading a book she got for Christmas.

'Christmas Books For Sale Here' circa 1895 via

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Give Books for Christmas

7:28 AM | Labels: , ,

Books are the perfect gift. via

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Wonderful Bookplate

10:33 AM | Labels: , ,

This is great, isn't it?
via

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