BOOKS BY MAIL

While preparing for a small first person event, I thought if I "read books of the period 1850's" I would have some food for conversations. BTW...this only works if "others" also participate in the prep-work [easier said than done]. Luckily two other ladies had read the same on I listened to. I actually listened to the books on librivox and got a lot of sewing done for the event. I also had an issue of a Godey's printed up at my local office supply store to be used as "mail" and so the ladies could discuss the magazine. It was a hit. Plus I have a "souvenir" from this event. While searching for the issue online I read in a Godey's, Vol. 55 1857, under Literary Notices about books being sent by mail. This notice appears in each month.

Now I'm on the lookout for reprints of fiction and non-fiction to use at events and to listen to more literature on Librivox.org

BOOKS BY MAIL.--Now that the postage on printed material is so low, we offer out services to procure for our subscribers or others any of the books that we notice. Information touching books will be cheerfully given by enclosing a stamp to pay return postage.

When ordering a book, please mention the name of the publisher.

There follows in the actual book, a list of books with a summary and review (fiction and non-fiction) and their prices.

Here is just a list of the titles:

THE OLIVE BRANCE; or, White Oak Farm

COUNT OF MONTE-CHRISTO

THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN: A Popular Hand-Book of Facts and readily accessible in Literature, History, and Science

AMERICA AND EUROPE

THE AMERICANS IN JAPAN: An Abridgment of the Government Narratives of the United States Expedition to Japan, under Commodore Perry

THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE   [I have this one :) ]

ILLUSTRATED SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES and Adjacent Parts of America, from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time.

HANSFORD: A Tale of Bacon’s Rebellion

LIFE PICTURES: From a Pastor’s Note-Book.

GRACIE AMBER

SCANDAL

MARYATT’S WORKS. PETER SIMPLE AND JACOB FAITHFUL.

RANDOM SKETCHES; or, what I Save in Europe From the Portfolio of an Artist.

EDGAR HUNTLY; or, Memoire of a Sleep-Walker

THE NORSE-FOLK: or, a Visit to the Home of Norway and Sweden

LIVE SCENES FROM MISSION FIELDS: A Book of Facts, Incidents, and Results, the most Material and Remarkable in Missionary Experience, Condensed and Arranged fro Popular Use.

THE EXHIBITION SPEAKER.

Paper rugs

 This would be great to try. Have to find some period paper.

The Cultivator, 1864
[Article on Papering-walls, screens and rugs, my interest is in the screens and rugs]
    Screens, &c.--By the bye, if you have any fire screens, bed canopies, or rugs, to make, it is well to do it while your hand is in. [papering] The screens or canopies must have a firm cotton cover, tacked on smoothly and tightly. The paper is then pasted on them as on a wall, and their good looks depend on the neatness with which the border and centre piece, if they have any, are put on.
    Cheap Rugs.--Very good rugs for hearths, washstands, or bed-sides, may be made by stretching a stout piece of cotton cloth, the size you desire, on a clean floor or table; paste a pretty paper on it, and a suitable border around. When dry, give it two or three coats of varnish, and bind and fringe, if you like. These rugs are quite pretty, and will last astonishingly, and may be cleaned just as oil cloth. they do very well for plain, spare chambers, and they have the recommendation of being very cheap.

Literary notice of Tempest and Sunshine

I found this literary notice in Godey's today. I listened to the audio book a while ago and quite enjoyed it.

Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, July 1854
Literary Notices.
From D. Appleton & Co., No. 200 Broadway, New York, through C.G. Henderson & Co., corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia:--
    TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE; or Life in Kentucky. By Mrs. Mary J. Holmes. The characters and incidents of this novel make us acquainted with many interesting features of Western life. We hope, however, there are no more such strong-minded young women left in Kentucky as our author has described Julia to have been. Throughout the book, great care appears to have been taken to sustain all the peculiarities which distinguish persons of Southern and Northern birth with education, and at the same time, to abstain form introducing offensively any of those "vexed questions" which have  lately been made the basis of similar works of fiction. We must also give the author credit for unusual force and originality in her delineation of several of the principal actors introduced. We may say, too that the moral tendency of the work is unexceptionable.

Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
http://librivox.org/tempest-and-sunshine-by-mary-jane-holmes/

Little finds during the week...

Hit the thrift stores this week and came away with some delightful little treasures. First a beautiful blown glass vase. It is actually a light amethyst color, a few bubbles and a rough pontil mark on the bottom. 

This morning my husband and I did our usual Saturday rounds and I found two small books in very good condition!
The Moss Rose - 1844
and Thoughts in Affliction 1837

Unexpected Treasures

Yesterday a friend and I checked out an antique shop near her home. I found two volumes of The Plays and Poems of Shakespere, Vols 12 (Antony and Cleopatra & Cymbeline) & 14 (Hamlet & Othello) from 1853! Woo Hoo !
BUT...and there is always a BUT...they are both missing the front and back covers :(
BUT...they were cheap and in remarkably good condition  :)
So as a Civil War re-enator...I can always say the soldiers tore the covers off as I seemed to treasure these books so much as they went about ransacking my home!

Plus I hope to make some new covers as I'm going to participate in an antebellum event in March and I can read from them in the afternoon while the other ladies are sewing or some such things.

A Valentine

Here is a lovely little poem I read in Godey’s Magazine, Vol. 56, 1858

A VALENTINE

BY  E. B.

By the breeze that sways the pine,

By the oak that lifts the vine,

By the lights above that shine,

Vow that thou art only mine,

My own true Valentine

By the sunlight streaming through

Heaven’s ethereal arch of blue,

By each sparkling drop of dew,

Swear to be forever true

To me, my Valentine.

By the rifted rock secure,

By the fleecy snow so pure,

Say that none shall e’er allure

Love I fain would have endure

My own, Valentine.

While the moon beams soft and free

Lightly kiss the earth and sea,

While shale last Heaven’s firm decree,

Pledge undying faith to me,

To me, my Valentine.

While the restless oceans roll,

While the needle points the pole,

While unfolds time’s lengthened scroll,

Treasures in thine inmost soul

My image, Valentine.

Many years ago some girl friends and I spent an enjoyable afternoon making Victorian Valentines...after reading about them in Ruth Webb Lee's A History of Valentines. 

This is one I really enjoyed making, it is called a cobweb valentine.

Listening and Sewing

I'm doing quite a bit of hand sewing and listening to an audio book. The book I'm currently listening to is Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
http://librivox.org/tempest-and-sunshine-by-mary-jane-holmes/

I've only two more chapters to go.
Then on to the next audio book which is American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens
http://librivox.org/american-notes-for-general-circulation/
I recently acquired an 1857 version of American Notes.

Finished listening to the above books and I'm currently listening to; 
The Missing Bride, E.D.E.N. Southworth, 1855
http://librivox.org/the-missing-bride-by-eden-southworth/