When used books are brought into the store, we find all sorts of things inside them. Usually, they are normal items, such as bookmarks from various bookstores all over. Other common items found include business, gift, and greeting cards. Often, there are even scratch, pull, and 50/50 tickets, as well as receipts, coupons, and gift certificates. Sometimes there are old movie, concert, and plane tickets, and less often, there are photos, letters, notes and postcards. We have even found pressed flowers, leaves, candy wrappers, and the occasional dollar bill. Anything handy to mark a page.
The things I find most interesting that are found in books are newspaper articles related to the book or the author. These include book reviews, human interest stories, and even obituaries. For example, in May, we brought in a used copy of Too Many to Mourn: One Family’s Tragedy in the Halifax Explosion by James and Rowena Mahar. Inside it, we found 2 newspaper articles. One was an article published in the Halifax Harold shortly after the book was published, written by Susan LeBlanc (author of The Nowhere Places), discussing the book. The second was published on November 26th, 2014, about family descendants from the Jackson Family who, after reading Too Many to Mourn, came to Halifax looking for relatives.
When we find newspaper articles related to the book inside, we generally keep them there with the idea that it will add interest to the book. The original owner saved the newspaper clippings for a reason, and if they thought they were of interest or related to the book, so would the next owner.
Last week, a copy of Sweet Ride by Mahone Bay author Ann Barry came in. Sweet Ride is a creative historical non-fiction set in the summer of 1943, during the height of World War II. It is about a great bicycle adventure of a lifetime. Four ladies bicycled from Blockhouse, Nova Scotia, to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to see their musical hero, fiddler Don Messer and his band, perform live. The distance of more than 400 miles/ 644 km was done on one-speed bikes, including an older one, fondly known as Woody, having wooden rims. With the book, we found an 80-year-old Souvenir booklet for The Don Messer Show!
Ann Barry in Mahone Bay. Of special note, Sweet Ride, which was published in April 2018, was turned into a musical play and performed at the Bluenose Lodge in Lunenburg this past April.
Have you found anything interesting in a book that you purchased? We would like to hear about it.