A book with a story behind it

This past winter, I was able to enjoy a rare pleasure of mine: poking about in a new antique shop. Well, it was new to me, though like most antique shops, it has been standing there for years and years again. And like most antique shops, it had my favorite sort of antique of them all. Old books.

The book pictured in these three photographs is (sadly) not my own. I had to leave it at the shop where I found it due to lack of means [and] the sense in me that told me that I don't need yet another copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (one of my dearest reads), especially one being held together by a silk ribbon.

Though I would have loved to bring it home. Loved to! This book was apparently in a fire at some time. It looked so fragile, I hardly inspected it at all beyond my photographic documenting of it.

I just cannot stop wondering...who snatched it out of a burning house? It must have been precious to someone and now, in a way, we're appreciating it again.

Long Live Old Books,

Everly Pleasant