I Love Collecting Cool Stuff

I collect antique books. Not the pristine kind, more the well used, usually written in kind. Mainly because I prefer a book with a visible history, as well as potentially clues to the previous owner's life.
One of my favourites is a set of leather Shakespeare books that I got in a charity shop, that belonged to a Lillian J Merry, which according to the message inside the cover, got the books as a Christmas present from her friends (also named) in 1895.
I like to look the people I find in books like that on Ancestry.com, and it turns out that Lillian Merry was born in 1865, and was a botanist, amongst other things.
It's these little things, as well as the way that marks like handwriting or fingerprints are so distinctive that make me collect these things. I love the sense of immediacy they give me, as if their time and mine are running parallel to each other, just a step away.

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hellsinfidel · M

I collect arrow heads and I also think about how the head got here, was it a wasted shot, was the man killed because he missed, or did he eat thanks to this head. Arrow heads are beautiful pieces of art in my bumpkin eyes. I can learn a little about the person that knapped the stone. I see in some stones where the person searched for some time to find a rock which held a pattern he connected with. Then that same person takes the time to get every detail, using a great deal of patience and even more skill. Some leave me wondering, how can something so delicate, so fragile, so beautiful kill. So many details. I don't see anything primitive, I see the work of an artist.

Gauntlets28 · 26-30, M

That's fantastic! There's not a lot of that sort of thing where I am, but it sounds fascinating. Have you ever tried flintknapping yourself? You might start to understand them even more if you do.

KaysHealingPath · 36-40, F

That's a beautiful sentiment

Gauntlets28 · 26-30, M

Thanks. ☺ I like to think I'm keeping something of them alive, even if I never knew them really.

KaysHealingPath · 36-40, F

@Gauntlets28: I wonder if that's why my oldest niece likes to keep the books I don't read anymore?
I usually highlight things that make me think or etc or write notes for her in the page because I know I'll be sending her the book eventually....
Never thought that I was leaving something of myself there for her.

Gauntlets28 · 26-30, M

@Tristemuneca: Maybe. It's a nice thought though.

SethGreene531 · M

A rare and beautiful soul unique to SW. Id like to pick your literary knowledge sometime.

Nebula · 41-45, F

That's really cool

Gauntlets28 · 26-30, M

Thanks!

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