Forgotten Bookmarks is an unusual blog in that the site features objects and items left in books. The writer works in a used bookstore and checks each of the books for left materials. And there are some interesting things left behind in books. I have not been through the entire archive yet but I will. There are postcards from family members, letters of apology, photographs, recipes, and tons of other interesting bits of ephemera. The blog's author always includes both a photo of the item found and the cover of the book it was found it.
Some of these items are pretty old, going back to the 1800s. The librarian in me is just fascinated by this collection of odds and ends history. As a reader I'm always excited to find notes or dedications in the used books I pick up. I have found the occasional library slip in some of my library books and find that fascinating. But this is a wonderful hodge-podge of personal items that somehow got overlooked. Some are old, some are new. Some are very personal, some are just advertisements. And of course even more interesting is which books they get left in. Below is a great example. The boar picture is actually a card that used to be included in cigarette packs.
I am truly excited about this blog. I've always loved found art and this has something of that appeal. I know that I tend to use whatever I have lying around as a bookmark. I'm not sure if I've left things in books although I try to check. But there is something incredibly personal and interesting about what other people just happen to use and then forget. I'll be adding this to my virtual bookmarks and checking out the great history that people have left behind. For those readers, librarians, or historians out there, here is an odd little blog that's definitely one to check out.
2 comments:
That's kinda cool. I recently got to a bag of books I picked up from my folks' house, books that had been owned by my uncles in their youth, and presumably, had been passed to me (and my brothers).
They were books on sports icons (Johnny Bench, Pittsburgh Steelers), something I'd never taken a ken to, so I'm sure they stayed on a shelf.
Now, my son is reading them, and...the bookmarks ranged from yellow slips of notepaper, of a size I'd never seen, to tags from dress clothes (suitcoat, I think). I need to check the rest of them for baseball cards, now. ;-)
That's awesome. A little view into your uncle's young lives. Even if these little bookmarks were nothing more than what was handy they give you a bit of a personal history.
And it might be good to check for baseball cards. Some of those can be pretty valuable.
Post a Comment