Yesterday I went to the Christian Aid booksale in Edinburgh, and was pleased to find lots of interesting things. The prices are amazing, something that is especially noticeable now that many of the charity shops have increased the prices of their vintage books. Things that would reach high prices in the charity shops can still be picked up at the booksale for next to nothing. The prices were so good that I picked up a few items I knew I might already have, like Ladybird books at 40p each. The prices seemed to be particularly good for vintage illustrated children's books.
Palissy dish 50pEgyptian wooden doll 20p
Chinese bamboo tea scoop 20p
M&S reproduction Cheery Families playing cards (still in the plastic) 20p
Thistle pendant £1
Blue beads 20p
Black beads £1
Springs of Persian Wisdom 50p
Springs of Oriental Wisdom 50p
Grannie's Little Rhyme Book 10p
The Language of Flowers (illustrated by Kate Greenaway) £1
Ah Fu, a Chinese River Boy 50p
Ladybird - How to Make Dolls 40p
Ladybird - Tricks and Magic 40p
Ladybird - Hymns and Songs 40p
Ladybird - Knots 40p
Ladybird - Sewing 40p
Ladybird - Learning to Sew (same content as the above book!) 40p
Ladybird - Handwriting by Tom Gourdie 40p
A Book of Toys by Gwen White 20p
Graphic Art of Japan by Owen E Holloway £2
Empress by Shan Sa £1.50
Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein £1.50
Waterside (photographs by a Japanese photographer) £1
Heijo (photographs of Japan) £1
Glasgow Stained Glass £1
Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer £4
Kyoto £3
Japan £1.50
Vanishing Japan £1.50
Each and every one of these items is so exciting to me that it could have its own blog post!
The Palissy dish has a design that reminds me of Scandinavian folk art painting, and also the designs on traditional style Japanese kokeshi dolls.
Springs of Oriental Wisdom I already had, but could not resist another copy of such a beautiful book at that price - then when I got home I realised the copy I already had was in German and the new one is in English!
The thistle pendant reminds me in style of Ceard jewellery, but is not quite as good quality. I wouldn't usually buy anything quite so Scottish, but I love its shape.
I love the design on the cover of Grannie's Little Rhyme Book - it has an almost Japanese aesthetic to it with the circle and the screen in the background. Unfortunately the book has been scribbled on inside, and some pages are falling out, but what can you ask for 10p!
Ah Fu reminded me of a story in a vintage book I've had since I was a child, also featuring a character called Ah Fu, called Children of Other Lands. It turns out that both books were printed in 1926 - perhaps that was the stereotypical Chinese boy's name of the time!
The Ladybird books are ones I had as a child, and were very nostalgic to look at, especially the sewing one. I only managed to buy a couple of duplicates of what I already had - must remember to take a list of these next time!
The three hardback books about Japan were purchased with a quick glance at the cover, and without even looking inside them other than at the price. So I was delighted to discover when I looked at them today that Vanishing Japan has sketches and watercolours as well as photographs.
No comments:
Post a Comment