For every book lover one of the most important things you own will be your bookshelf. I have moved a lot in the past few years as I have mentioned before in previous posts, but not matter what I always make sure I have a book shelf.
For me book shelves aren't just somewhere for books, they are a place where I also keep little trinkets, post cards photos note people have given, anything that I feel is important tends to end up on their either tucked into a book that reminds me of the person who gave it to me, or set next to some books that I feel reflect the item. When I moved I had to take all my books off take away all the trinkets and ferry them over to my new place, but I took some photos before I took it down and I wanted to take you on a little bookshelf tour.
Please forgive the terrible photos but I panicked last minute remembering that I wanted to take some photos before it all came down, so they aren't the best. but here it is my old book case.
As you can see it is totally jammed packed. Like many people my collection had outgrown the case and although there was some order there at some point it has very much disintegrated into a mess! But a very much loved mess.
Now I wanted to take you few a through of my favourite bits starting at the very top
This is my collection of vintage books, I do have a couple more on the other shelves as well, but the main bulk is kept at the top. All of their books are either gifts from my Dad or I inherited from my Great Grandparents. my favourite one is Homers Iliad, third from the top as well as being a wonderful book in itself steeped in historical importance this old copy has a beautiful cover, and it is in wonderful condition.
My other favourite is a copy of Little Women, pictured just below The Iliad, that was passed down to my when my Great Grandparents passed away, the reason I love this book so much is because on the title page in a child's hand the name Nita is written, which was the name of my Great Grandmother, now I don't know if this was written by her, or later on by a child or grandchild but I love that it is there none the less. it give the book such meaning to me that makes me cherish it so much more.
Another great book is Mrs Beeton All About Everything,below Little Women in the photo, which was a gift from my Dad on my 22nd Birthday, he gave it to me after we had spent the day at the Harry Potter Studio Tour. This book is fantastic as it is literally a book about how to do things like, make jam, polish shoes and also has how to treat medical ailment, and basically not matter what this issue is, part of the treatment will always involve giving the patient Gin.
Now my bookcase was covered in little trinkets such as these, these were just little gifts given to me over the years which I liked and wanted to display, the Harry Potter Lego was a gift from someone at work, and though I love it constantly fell off my shelf, the trunk use to be filled with gold coins but every time it fell they would scatter across the floor and now only one remains.
The little jars of spices again came from my Great Grandparents, they were something that were uncovered during the clearing of their house, and given to me, they remind me of something you might find in a potions class, or maybe a Victorians doctors cabinet. Although I never saw them in the house, I liked that they had been hidden away for all those years and felt it about time they were put on a shelf for all to see.
Now these a little puppies that I make in my spare time. I was bought a kit by my boyfriend last Christmas, and once I masted the first one, the Pug, I was off. It is great fun and I love hand making things but don't always have the space or even the confidence to give it a go, now that I have moved space won't be an issue. But I was proud of these little creations and wanted them on display so up they went on the shelf, though towards the end I did end up with a few too many up there.
Now you may have noticed that one of my all time favourite book series Harry Potter is missing from this self. That is because when I first moved out to uni I did't want to take all my books with me, as my room was only small and I needed space to keep my books I would need for my course, to the Potter books along with The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials all got packed away and lived in my Dads shed for the next five years, a decision I started to hate myself for because I often found myself wanting to go back and read them, but just simply didn't have access to them, but I now have them all back up on my shelves where they belong.
And finally this is my over spill from my bookcase. I didn't have room to buy a new bookcase so as my collection grew it became too big for the selves and leaked out onto the floor, so they were caught up with the internet routed and always covered in dust. When I moved I did donate two bags of books, which although it is great that others will get to enjoy those books I always find it hard letting go of books. Especially as I do dream of one day having a room dedicated to the books I have collected over my lifetime, and even if I hate a book I want to keep hold of it, so when peple see it on my shelf I can tell them what I really think of it, but I did finally let some of them go and I now have a much neater book case, though there is still an over flow issue that may still give me an excuse for a second bookcase soon much to my Boyfriends dismay
In a few months I will do a post about my new arrangements but right now I am still not happy with the lay out of it and it fill be reshuffled a few times before I am happy with in. But I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my old book case. there are so many more interesting little bits and pieces on these shelves that I just didn't have time to photograph in the mad rush to get packed away, but I am so glad I took some to look back on my collection in a few years and hopefully it would of grown some more.
Rella Xx
