OUR LIBRARY

In the bookcase in our entryway there are various sections. One of the four sections has books on medical advice; another section is on the books written by and about members of our family, national magazines with articles about our artist daughter and a catalogue of paintings in an art museum done by a famous brother. I showed these precious items to our grandson, who was overwhelmed by his renowned uncles and aunts. My cookbook plus the printed version of my first year of blogs and my husband’s book “Seeking” are in another bookcase.

However, the most interesting section of the bookcase is what our granddaughter found on Christmas Eve, our collection of very old books some of which had belonged to my Mother and my Mother-in-law.

There are six books in all. Victoria became enamored with my personal favorite “Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics” from 1928 written by several doctors and with special drawings. Every chapter is advice to the modern woman such as How to be a Good Wife, Childbearing without Pain, Other Sex Disorders and Perversions and detailing what makes a woman a “slut” such as wearing too much makeup. Vickie spent a great deal of time giggling at all the hilarious advice.

In the meantime, Kevin sat on the floor reading to us from the 1923 book “Toasts and Anecdotes for All Occasions”. He also took phone pictures of his favorites, maybe to use at a very elegant event in New York City.

My daughter-in-law was reading   “The Book of Etiquette” by Lillian Eicher dated 1924. Others in the old books section were a novel “Charles O’Malley, The Irish Dragoon” dated 1894 with very fragile pages and “Writing Magazine Fiction” dated 1948 belonged to my husband.

My other personal favorite “800 Proved Pecan Recipes, (their place in the menu)” was published in 1925. This was my mother’s only cookbook compiled by 5,083 housewives for the Keystone Pecan Research Laboratory. It was actually very useful because you could leave out the pecans when using most of the recipes. The cover is worn and the pages discolored but it contains recipes written on some of the pages in my mother’s own handwriting. Born in 1906, she would be 107 years old this July. It’s remarkable to know that all of my children and six of my grandchildren actually knew her. She was 96 when she died.