The Unusual Little Book

My mother-in-law was a sweet little lady, but she was a bit of a hoarder. She entertained herself by crocheting doilies while she bought things on the Home Shopping Network. She also bought everything that any store put on sale. The rest of the time she was picking up all kinds of things at garage sales.

When she passed away five years ago my husband Ray and I inherited a house full of everything under the sun. There were over two hundred shoulder pads (she had told us one time, “you never know when you might need one”), at least one hundred purses (most of them brand new), hundreds of hand crocheted doilies, and a dozen comforter sets. Three rooms had clothes hanging from racks covering the entire rooms. Half of the clothes still had the tags on them. There were boxes of vitamins stacked all the way down the stairs into the basement. We didn’t have to buy toilet paper for two years, and there are still lots of bottles of shampoo and conditioner waiting to be used. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture by now.

One day, as my sister Diane and I were walking through the basement being amazed by what we were seeing, I noticed a little clear plastic box that measured about 6” X 8”.  It caught my attention and I decided to see what was in it. There was something wrapped in white tissue paper sitting inside the box. When I took out the item and unwrapped it, I was looking at a small book.

This little book measures about 5” tall, 4” wide and 1” thick. It has a blue hard cover and binding with gold flowers and print on it. It has the publisher’s name at the bottom of the binding. It says, “T Y Crowell & Co, New York”. Inside it says “Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Selected and Arranged by Robert Browning”, and it was copyrighted in 1895. The edges of the pages are gilded in gold.

What really makes the book unique is that attached to the front cover is what looks like a yellow sheet of Bakelite.  It has a raised wreath of flowers that look like they are bursting out of the cover. In the center of the wreath it says “Mrs. Browning’s Poems”, hand painted in decorative writing.

One of these days I am going to have it appraised. It probably isn’t worth a whole lot, but it is very special and cool.

We found a lot of really neat things in her basement, but this is my favorite.

No matter where you go or what you do, always keep your eyes open. You never know what you will find or where you will find it. Who knows? One of these days you might be telling me about something special that you found in a most unexpected place.

Who knows, the special thing that someone finds could be something you did. Maybe it will be a book you wrote, a picture you painted, a statue you sculpted or whatever it is that you do. One thing is sure, you will never create that special thing if you give up. Good things come to those who try.

Good luck.