Cuppa recently uncovered three old books in the basement when she was clearing some shelf space. We would have taken the books from my mother's place when she died in 2003. Then, they came across province with us in 2005. But we certainly lost track of them until just last week. I assume they all came from my paternal grandfather; one of them certainly did, as you shall soon see.
Surprisingly, none of these has a publication date although the most recent copyright notice in
The Book of Knowledge reads 1923.
As you shall soon see,
The Pilgrim's Progress was given by my grandmother, Phillis, to my grandfather, Stan, in 1904. This was years before they were married and perhaps before he emigrated to Canada: either that or she shipped it to Canada from England. I do know that he emigrated before she did, but I'm not sure of the exact time frame. They married after she also emigrated.
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| Left to right: The Book of Knowledge, The Pilgrim's Progress, and The Life of King Edward the Eighth. |
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| The inscription from my grandmother in The Pilgrim's Progress, April 11 1904. |
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| A closer view |
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| The inscription in the King Edward book. I don't know who the old gang is, and I am unaware of any of my antecedents inhabiting Bridgnorth, which oddly enough is where Cuppa's maternal grandparents come from. I also can't make out the penultimate word, the one before Eng. |
That word is probably 'Shrops', abbreviation for 'Shropshire'; Bridgnorth is in the county of Shropshire, not far from where my grandparents used to live.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful surprise in finding these old books with the inscriptions that offer a glimpse into the last, AC.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice find of a family treasure. You lovely gramdmother's handwriting shows that she learned penmanship when she was in school. My grandmother also have a very neat readable script.
ReplyDeleteI confess to having had enough of old books. I have spent much of the past month plus preparing my parents to move from their cottage (in a retirement village) to so-called "enhanced" living. What that really means is sheltered living.
ReplyDeleteAnyway--many many books and other items to go through. I gave up on reading inscriptions and such. Pity--of course--since no doubt small treasures were lost.
I have relatives in England and a pen pal in Scotland and honestly AC their writing is exactly like the last inscription. It makes me wonder if they all had the same teacher in school.....:-)Hugs
ReplyDeleteI have my grandmother's entire library and it takes a wall in our family room. I love old books. I will have to look up the date on her copy of Pilgrims Progress. The cover is different.
ReplyDeleteI kept getting drawn back to what I'm sure is a typo---wouldn't it be Edward the Eightth? No, apparently not, but the Eighth seems so wrong.
ReplyDeleteI Love the old books! The smell and texture is fabulous...
ReplyDeletehughugs
Nice things to keep. Nice writing your grandmother had, too.
ReplyDeletelovely re-find. Shrops makes far more sense than my guess of a postal code.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Shropshire...and love old books...
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