Second Hand Gems

I have two new additions to my TBR pile and they are books that when I saw I knew I had to have and frankly didn’t care what they would cost me. In the end they only cost me £1.50 each. Normally in second had book shops or charity shops I don’t tend to look at the really olde-worlde books. I don’t know what it is about them that puts me off, maybe they frighten me a little, not frighten… intimidate may be more the appropriate word which is odd because I have dreamed of having one of those stately home style libraries. Now thanks to my latest two acquisitions I can actually start that stately collection.


The book that I saw first was one that I have been hankering after for ages in any form and that was Madame Pompadour by Nancy Mitford. You will all probably know by now how much I have come to love the Mitford’s and went on a bit of a collecting spree (I really want Jessica’s non-fiction books but they are really difficult to find) and this is now the latest of their works to join my collection. The second caught my eye because it’s so yellow. I have to admit that I wouldn’t have purchased this book as I have never had the urge to read it. Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (and this also has Through the Looking Glass in it) wasn’t a book I had read as a child and hadn’t considered as an adult until Simon Stuck-in-a-Book blogged all about the wonderful pictures in differing versions. This one has some wonderful images inside it.

This edition is actually from the 1920’s and to me it’s a real find. What I couldn’t help thinking was ‘I wonder who has read this book before me?’ there must have been loads of people with their own stories that have turned the pages and now its ended up with me and will be read fairly soon. By the way before you tell me off for more shopping, its my birthday tomorrow and these were little treats for me! Moving on...

What’s your best find in a charity shop or second hand book shop?