Local school libraries in my area have been purging their stacks recently, asking folks to give the books a new home.  I have acquired quite a few delightful hardbound books recently.

First up is the OXFORD BOOK OF ESSAYS.

I almost passed on this, but the “Oxford” sealed the deal; when a book is tagged as such, it has been meticulously edited for content.  Remarkably, this book is brand new, having never been checked out of the library.

I often purchase used books through Amazon, and the vendors will let you know if a book has been circulated out of a library- I love those!  They are invariably in fine condition, often have the rugged plastic cover protectors, and the stamps and card pockets make them unique.

I recently had some friends over to the house, and one of them picked this gem up for me from a library culling:

I have never known of this book’s existence out in the real world.  Some remarkable information in here.  I was 13 years old when this was published (1974).  It appears that this title was checked out a grand total of two times.

Turning real pages, flipping through a book and skimming physical pages – these are things you simply can not do with a kindle or an iPad.    ~TH~