Things I Find

One of the fun things about buying books is seeing what you find tucked inside the pages. I  think people have been sticking things between the pages of books and forgetting about them since the dawn of time.  Bibles are just about the best for hidden treasures.  (More on this in a minute.)

All of the items in this post were found inside books from my large church sale book buy.  Talk about a never-ending source of fun and treasure.  Follow me!  Much awesomeness awaits!

I don't get the greenish cast on this page.  I've tried to edit it out to no avail.

It's a reproduction of the Gettysburg address!

When  I was a kid, I had a copy of the Gettysburg address, the Declaration of Independence, and a large copy of the Constitution hanging on my bedroom wall.  The Declaration and Gettysburg Address were printed on this wrinkly, yellowed parchment paper so they would look old.  I also had wanted posters for the James brothers and Billy the Kid.  Looking back, I'm not sure where any of them came from.  I just kind of had them. but they were cool.

Do you ever make up odd little stories in your head based on things you find?  Or ask questions that end up creating strange scenarios?  I found these in a cookbook, and they started my mind to working.

 

First thought that crossed my mind?  Why did they stop recording any of the baby's stats?  Did it really only take nine months for them to lose interest in their baby's progress?  Then I noticed that the immunization record just stopped as well! I hope they were more diligent in taking the baby for shots than they were in writing them down.  I'm not even going to get started on the fact that they never got around to putting down any important phone numbers!  They must have been new parents, easily overwhelmed by all the responsibilities.

See what I mean?  Does anyone else do that or is it just me?

By the way, there's no need to worry about the baby.  She made it to camp-attending age, at least.  I found a letter home from her in the same book.

This is the flipside of those record pages above. Wouldn't it be fun to find that Dr Spock record in a thrift?

It's the ideal baby shower gift!

It's no secret by now that I love religious items.  I buy them,  I sell them.  I collect them.  While my collection is exclusively Catholic in nature, I am decidedly more ecumenical in scope when I sell.  Footprints in the Sand?  I'll take it! Pat Roberston books on tape?  I'll (hold my nose and) take 'em!

Through years of careful purchase and study, I have come to understand the true nature of the  difference between Catholics and Protestants.  Laying aside issues of doctrine, theology, ecclesiology, and discipline, there's a much more practical issue at hand:  what they choose to save in their texts.

Thumb through any prayer book, missal, or Catholic Bible at an estate sale and you'll find tons of holy cards, prayer leaflets, and the like.  I once bought a huge stack of prayer books and missals at a sale, most of which I already had, just so I could get at the cards that had been tucked between the pages.  The person running that sale asked if I were a seminarian.  (Ha!)  That was back in my collecting (not dealing) days.

Flip through a Protestant Bible, and you might find a prayer or a pic of Jesus or some sermon notes, but you're just as likely to find someone's senior picture:

This poor guy's almost 40 now, sitting around wondering how that happened!

You're also likely to find Jesus in some odd places, like a cookbook:

Seriously.  In a cookbook.

I guess that might be appropriate.  There is a lot of praying that goes on whenever I'm in the kitchen.  Oh wait.  That's cursing, not praying.  Come to think of it, there's a lot of cursing that goes on whenever I do anything, like scan these pics for this post.  I still don't know why they saved as PDF files the first time, dangit.

Anyway,  now you know the real difference.  Feel free to call the Pope and let him know.  Let me know if he gets back to you.  In the meantime, I'll be thumbing through books, looking for more stuff!