Today I was sorting through some old books that I've had for a while and as I am always on the lookout for anything interesting between the pages, I was pretty thorough when looking at some particularly older books.
As I leafed my way through a dusty 1827 copy of
Hume and Smollet's Celebrated History of England, I noticed something small nestled between the pages. I almost missed it and went back. It looked like a scrap piece of paper at first but I decided to take a look. Sure enough a previous owner had inserted a notable piece from a newspaper report reporting on the health of William I King of Prussia.
It reads:
William I.,
King of Prussia, it is reported met with a fall from his horse, lately, by which he received severe injury. As he will be seventy-one years old on the 22d of this month, such injury may be followed by serious results. His son, the Crown Prince, husband of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, is in his thirty-seventh year. His name is William Frederick Nicholas Charles, and he was greatly distinguished in the late war against Austria, and had a leading part in winning the battle of Sadown.
I love to find these types of things in books, it showed that the owner really had a passion for the subject of history and probably would very much appreciate the fact that their book is still in circulation and that they themselves contributed to history in a very small way.
As I rescanned the pages I found quite a few more little paragraphs all as interesting and strategically placed between the pages.
I was glad to see that this fall did not lead to the death of William I who went on to live for another decade plus.
