Book Collection Contest Entry

Hey, ya'll! (wow...totally had a Paula Deen flashback just then....lol) So yesterday while I was doing my homework I was also putting together an entry into a book collecting contest here on campus! You can read the full rules here if you like: http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/CollectingContest.htm. Basically all you had to do was write an essay describing how you developed your collection, give a bibliography with notes on your collection, and include a list of 5 books you hope to someday add to the collection. Below is my bibliography, and at the end I will include some pictures of my books! I called the collection "Books on Nature," because, well, it is a collection of books about nature! lol some are on flowers, some on trees, many on birds, but the overall theme is outside. They range in date of publication from 1899-1950, and 1950 is my "cutoff" date for the latest a book can be published and still be included in the collection. Keep in mind I am a total amateur and that most of these books likely have no significant monetary value, this is just for fun! :)

COLLECTION

1. Harvey, Jane. "Wild Flowers of America." Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing Company, 1932.
I chose this book because I liked the art-deco feel of the title font on the cover. In addition, its tiny size and interesting color illustrations prompted me to add it to my collection as a unique item.

2. Lemmon, Robert S. "How to Attract the Birds." Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1948.
The title of this book is initially what drew me in. I also really enjoy the line drawings and diagrams of various birdhouses one may build to, as the title says, attract the birds!

3. Moseley, Edwin Lincoln. "Trees, Stars, and Birds: A Book of Outdoor Science." Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY: World Book Company, 1925.
I will admit that I totally judged this book by its cover, but in a good way! The cloth cover is printed with a nighttime scene of trees, animals, and stars (or maybe it's snow?), and I thought it was really beautiful! It also came with a supplement "with key to trees" tucked inside. The book also contains pictures and illustrations of tress and wildlife, and several star charts.

4. Peterson, Roger Tory. "A Field Guide To The Birds." Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1934.
I liked this book because of the silhouettes of birds printed on the endsheets of both the front and back covers. Inside the book there is also a "life list" of birds which one of the previous owners has begun checking off, which I really enjoy as it shows the history of the book's use. There are also several more illustrations and silhouettes of birds throughout the book.

5. Thompson, Ernest Seton. "Wild Animals I Have Known." New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.
Once again I was drawn to this book because of its cover! The cloth cover is printed with several little animal faces and some pawprints. There is an interesting bookplate inside that looks like it is covering up an inscription, which adds to the historical feel of this, the oldest book I have acquired so far. This is also the only fictional title in my collection, but I feel it relates to the others due to its subject and inclusion of photographs and line drawings.

6. Walker, Margaret Coulson. "Our Birds and Their Nestlings." American Book Company, 1904.
The cloth cover of this book has a cute printed illustration of a cardinal in a tree with a child looking on. Again, I liked this book because of its many photographs and illustrations inside. In addition, the book includes some cute poems about birds.

7. Zim, Herbert S. and Alexander C. Martin. "Flowers." New York, NY: Simon and Schuester, 1950.
I liked the fun line drawings of flowers on the endsheets of this book. In addition, as with the other flower book in my collection, the full-color paintings prompted me to buy this book. Though it was printed in 1950, it looks and feels a lot older, perhaps because of its exclusive inclusion of paintings over photographs. I would have thought that by this time in history photographs instead of paintings or drawings would have been the norm in guidebook publishing, but as I actually prefer the paintings and illustrations I was happy to collect it!

Finally, here are some pictures for your entertainment :)


^ this is the inside cover of "A Field Guide To The Birds"

What I Like About You

Okay. A lot of you have heard me complain (a lot?) about Champaign. Though it definitely has its downsides (it's no Chicago!), there ARE a few things that I have found here that I enjoy.

Insomnia Cookies

I have ordered from them a few more times than I'm willing to admit....but it can be pretty expensive, and since the end of the semester is approaching I probably won't be ordering again any time soon! Confession: once I ordered from them just because I was out of milk and it was really cold and I didn't want to have to walk to the grocery store. lol

Cakes on Walnut

Yes!!!! I don't know if you know this, but I LOVE cupcakes! A friend and I once spent an entire afternoon doing a cupcake-tasting of several cupcake stores in Chicago. Now, it's no Cupcakes (which is now out of business, sad sad), but it's pretty delicious. I really like their regular chocolate cupcakes (below) and their black & white cupcakes (also below). The black & white is kind of like a Hostess cupcake, and was really delicious.


Used Bookstores

I hate to admit it but I actually don't know the name of my favorite used bookstore here! It is right next to Cakes on Walnut, though :) I'll probably post pictures of some of my favorite finds there in another post. I like to collect books, although the ones I've bought are probably not very valuable because they were priced pretty cheaply, lol. I also just read an online pamphlet about rare books and what makes a book rare, so maybe I will apply those standards to what I've found. The store is really neat, though, they also have a large selection of records, and a cat lives in the store!!

What else is good about Champaign....I do really love my apartment, and my wall of Playbills! I have been getting outside a lot and walking the dog, and walking to class, and now that the weather is (mostly) nicer it isn't too much of a hassle. Though I can't wait to get back to a big city, it has been interesting living in (what I consider) a smaller town in a rural area!

First Post!

So my friend and I were talking the other day about a few blogs we really enjoy reading, and decided it might be fun to start our own! This is actually my....second or third blog I think, but the rest of them are lost in cyberspace somewhere. I had a Xanga back in the day...does anyone use Xanga anymore?

In any case, I think it will be fun to have somewhere to share my thoughts on, well, anything and everything! Most of you reading this are probably my friends, so I may not share too much about me at first, but just in case...

I am a library sciences grad student interested in rare books and special collections. I LOVE books and musicals, and don't have cable because I am pretty broke right now, lol. I have a dog, Zoey, who is a lab/beagle mix, and a calico cat, Rory, both of whom I adopted from shelters. I cook often but not with much variety, so one of the topics of this blog may be my increased interest in cooking things that don't come from a blue box with a KRAFT label. I like to travel and have been out of the country 4 times, and most recently visited Washington, D.C. I may post some pictures later!

So that's about it for this first post. I may update later tonight because I am procrastinating doing homework, although another blog I just started reading had a post about that, and I agree, why should blogging be any less important than homework? lol :)

Until next time...