WE, the people

One of the items that I like to keep when I find them are bookmarks.
I have a nice little collection which are mainly of bookstores where the last owner purchased the book. It is interesting to see if the bookstore is still around or if they have gone out of business.
I also wonder sometimes, depending on where the bookmark is located, if the previous owner ever got a chance to finish the book at all.

One of my favorites is this one: It's a simple leather fringed bookmark, probably mass produced and contains the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America. it's just a reminder of the freedom people have to read books not just in the United States but around the world and I mean the freedom to write books too. There have been many times throughout history when this could have been changed but luckily for most of us those attempts were stifled.

I would love to hear what your favorite item is to bookmark pages.

"Hey Good Looking ... Whatcha Got a Cookin"

This morning I was flicking through a number of cookbooks when I noticed that one still had a piece of wrapping paper attached to the rear cover. Usually a sign that a book has been given or received as a gift. Perhaps as a Christmas or Birthday present. Maybe a housewarming gift or a gift from a parent to a child who has recently grown and moved into their first apartment. The possibilities that surround the gifting of books are endless but I bet that Hallmark have come up with a card for each possibility.
My interest was piqued and I flipped through the pages of this particular cookbook noting that it was in perfect condition. I was looking for a dedication, so often inscribed in the first page or two that identify that unique event that would solve my self-created puzzle.

I found no such inscription but I did find attached to the cover inside a gift card. I will head to the store that issued the gift card later today as I have to mail some books that people have ordered and I will update the blog with the value if any of this gift card.

I would normally contact the owner of the book but in this particular situation there is absolutely no way for me to determine who the owner was.

Very curious today :-)

Plastic money

No real update today except to say that I went to my local HomeGoods store with the gift card I found in the cook book and low and behold it was worth a whopping $20. Not enough to retire but still fascinating to find it inside a used book.

I found this fascinating video on youtube that shows what $20 would get you around the world to feed whatever vice you may have. Personally I spent it on clothes :-)

A Comedy of Errors

 “If the skin were parchment and the blows you gave were ink,
Your own handwriting would tell you what I think.”
― William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare tells the story of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth.

Today's find is a ticket to the 2011  run of "The Comedy of Errors" by the Huntington Theater Company of Boston (@huntington) I hope that the owner of the ticket managed to enjoy the show because Shakespeare managed to write some fantastic comedies and it would have been a shame for them to pay more attention to the book than to the play. After all, while there is a certain amount of emphasis placed on "Reading Shakespeare", we must remember he originally wrote it to be performed in the theater and watched by an audience.

You have to love the internet. I managed to find small little review online from someone that attended the play 2 days after the owner of ticket I found. You can read that here.