May 8, 2025 By Maria
This post is not quite about children’s literature, but more about finding books in odd places. While almost a hundred years old, our home has history and charm with lots of work and sometimes surprises. In one unfinished attic space between two rooms, an abandoned box of books was left by the previous owner. No one goes into that space, and I almost forgot that box existed until last year when a contractor had to go in there to check something.
When the contractor saw the dust covered creepy box of books his comment was, “So is that for the witchcraft?” I gave an embarrassed laugh and mumbled a, “Yeah maybe” and then explained how they were left in that space. His comment solidified my resignation that I needed to deal with that box of books. When we had some surprisingly beautiful warm weather in the first weeks of spring, my husband helped carry the box outside. Donning a mask and gloves, I started to go through it one afternoon while the kids played near me. Going through those books was like opening a time capsule from the sixties or seventies; it was a peek into what a young teenager may have been reading at that time.
There was a partial set of Women Alive books, which was a series of books aimed at providing women with information on different topics including careers, health and family life. It was published in 1974. There was also a partial set of children’s illustrated encyclopedias with duplicate volume 9’s. The artwork in the encyclopedias was varied and interesting.
There were childish scribbles and writing on the page edges of a Webster’s Dictionary. I found some middle grade novels from the 1970’s, including a young adult horror novel. I also found a really sweet and beautiful Prayers for Children illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. This book is still in print in the Golden Book series. I also found a very old edition of Moby Dick. I couldn’t figure out when it was printed. It had no print date, yet it was definitely a reprint because it seemed to be from a series called World Famous Literature. The book made an interesting antique, but it was old and battered.
Unfortunately, some of the books including the Woman Alive series and all the encyclopedias had mildew on the pages, so they had to be trashed. The dictionary had also succumbed to mildew. There were about five books I was able to dust off and donate to the local library used book sale. Two books might actually be valuable, so I decided to keep them and investigate further. A few middle grade books were claimed by my son who came home from school while I was in the midst of cleaning and sorting.
After sorting out the books for the trash, I decided to commit a terrible book crime. I took a box cutter and removed the covers from the mildew encyclopedias and dictionary. I thought the covers might make an interesting craft project since they were intact and the mildew had only affected the pages. My nine year old said it felt very wrong to see me slicing a book. Personally, I have to agree with him.
I’m glad I finally went through that box. It sat gathering dust in our attic space for far too long. Judging by the dates on the books, the box could have been put together sometime in the seventies or eighties. Maybe it even sat there that long. Have you ever found books in an unexpected place?
More Bookshelves Please 