support your local library!

I love libraries!! I do admit though to being thoroughly overwhelmed when I enter them. SO many books, SO little time! If only I could learn through osmosis...

My local library, like so many around the country and world, operates a small shop to raise funds for its upkeep and expansion. This small shack is a treasure trove of discarded books - both donated and those removed from circulation. I try to stop by each and every week to peruse the new arrivals and recently was thrilled to find this stunning two edition set of Scripture Natural History from the mid 19th Century. Not only are the books bound in green (my favorite color) leather, they contain a treasure trove of colored plates depicting all of the animals mentioned in the Bible. The plates are gorgeous and the informational blurbs are quite astute given the time in which they were written. I have yet to read through them but am going to go for "an animal a day" goal.

I picked these up at the library store for a fraction of their estimated value and am thrilled every time I spy them on my bookshelf. More importantly, the library raised some much needed funds.




So be sure to inquire at your local branch as to whether they hold books sales, if you can donate unwanted books to their fund-raising cause, or offer to do some investigative work for them regarding items that have been donated. My two editions were marked down quite a bit from when they were first donated. But a volunteer had kindly included some bibliographic reference material inside the cover for the future owner's (ME!) reference.


Here are some of the plates.



The Saint Bernard (I adore this picture because it reminds me of the fantastic French animated show Belle et Sebastien from the early 1980s)







The Red and Black Squirrel (note: the Victorian-era book was printed in England when the Gray American variety had not yet invaded creating an environmental nightmare.

I used to have two black squirrels that lived in my yard and I have no idea why but they are about 1,000 times more adorable in both looks and movement than the grays..





The huge and frightful Cassowary (native to the islands of New Guinea and Australia). This mammoth bird (3rd in size behind the Emu and Ostrich) it was referenced in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Most Dangerous Bird"









And lastly...the arachnids...I've blogged about my "Arachnophilic" tendencies before...but I love spiders, and spider webs...haven't seen a Scorpion outside of a contained environment and I hope never to have that experience but they are incredibly fascinating...