Some Stories of Old Books

As I am downsizing I am having to explore my collection of books and note that some of them are very old.

The oldest book I have is one that my mother won at St Mary’s Church,  at St Mary’s in Adelaide in 1923, so it is 100 years old.

100 Year old copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales

Certainly the book looks a little worse for wear, and one naughty girl many years ago, wrote on the cover and some inside pages. (Oh, that was me!)

It was awarded to “Joyce Ragless from St Mary’s Sunday School, Christmas 1923” and below it says “Girls First Prize Class II” – written with pen and ink.

There are one or two pages missing, but it is still readable for such an old book that shows its wear and tear.

My Old Books

Good Wives by Louisa M Alcott was awarded to me in 1955 when I was 11 years old for “Regular Attendance and Good Conduct” at St Elizabeth’s Sunday School Warradale.

“Good Wives”

I find it amusing that they gave a book about Good Wives to an 11-year-old!!  I don’t recall reading it at that time, but I may have done so.  I read a lot of books in my younger days.

Another book I have is missing the page at the beginning, but I do have a vague recollection that I think I was given for attendance at the Methodist Church at Warradale, around 1954, as we went to that church before St Elizabeth’s was built.

An old copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

I still have the old school books, the ones published at the end of the school year.  I have the 1957, 1958, and 1959 issues of Brighton High School (Adelaide, South Australia), and the 1960 issue of one from Adelaide Girls High School, which I attended for my last year of high school.

There is no mention of me in any of them, and of course, I have only vague memories of that time.  I was not in any special sports team or any event, so there is no need to keep them, but I am not sure anyone else will want them.

Maybe I can post them to the State Library in South Australia.  I wonder.