in what is surely a sign of insanity with an upcoming move and all, i seem to have acquired several large and rather heavy books lately. but there is little i love more than the touch, feel and experience of a book. (i shall never be a kindle convert, as one of the best parts of packing for a trip is selecting the books to go along with it. usually an old friend, and a few new.) between the covers of these books are some truly exceptional pages.
what i really want is to sit side by side on the couch with you, a volume across our laps and flip slowly through the beautiful pages so we can feel them between our fingertips. books are for sharing, natch. but i will settle for sharing a few glimpses of my favorite pages. i wish i could truly translate the texture of the pages, the near reverence these books evoke.
from right to left (and in the same order below)
1. alice - as illustrated by leonard weisgard
2. the annotated alice - a lovely compendium of notes on the author, era and illustrator, along with segments from his original manuscript. (and here i must confess a bit of guilt, as i haggled a ridiculously low price for this volume for the reason that i already owned a copy. once i opened it, the paper stock almost makes my fingers shake and it's nothing less than pure joy to read. i shall not dicker over my next find from that dealer.)
3. mother goose - passed down from a good friend. gyo fujikawa illustrated one of my favorite childhood books and i still love her work today.
4. wildflowers - huge illustrated plates on paper that is both heavy and vaguely translucent all at once. this is the kind of book people part out plate by plate... but that would clearly be a tragedy of epic proportions.
5. and 6. beautifully illustrated bird books filled with full color plates. i consider these a necessity as they are such a great reference when i'm working on a particular bird species.
i hope you enjoyed these. i hope someday we can reach up on our tiptoes and make a gorgeous mess pulling all the books of the shelves. with cups of coffee balanced on the stacks, of course.
r
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