I Judge Books By Their Cover

See, I told you I couldn't hold myself to too high a standard.  But, I really do want to turn this blog into something so I'm going to try and be lots better at posting.

Guilty as charged.  Being the bibliophile (or maybe even bibliomaniac [defined as: one having the extreme preoccupation with collecting books]¹) that I am, I can't help it.

The cover of a book is designed to draw you to the book, to make you want to read it.  Granted, I have been known to collect books that I can't read, but that's beside the point.

For example, here is the most recent addition to my collection:

The Young Franc-Tireurs: and their adventures in the Franco-Prussian War, G. A. Henty

    Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what it's about.  But what a great cover, right?  Titled The Young Franc-Tireurs and their adventures in the Franco-Prussion war, the preface starts by saying, "My dear lads: the present story was written and published a few months only after the termination of the Franco-German war." There is an inscription on the first page that reads "To Freddie from Robert Jones Christmas 1905." (Notes, pieces of history, like that are one of my absolute favorite things to find in books.)  If you are interested in reading The Young Franc-Tireurs, it's available on Project Gutenberg.

Here are some other gems from my growing collection:

The Alhambra, Washington Irving

[read here]

Hadji Mourad Etc, Tolstoi (in French: translation of Leo Tolstoy's short story)

[read here: French, English]

Hilt to Hilt, John Esten Cooke

Again, I had no idea what it was about when I bought it. (for a dollar at Ken Sanders Rare Book in Salt Lake.) Come to find out [just now, as I am writing this, as I never thought to look earlier], John Esten Cooke is a famous Virginian author and Civil War veteran.  Oh hey, I currently live in Virginia.  That's cool.  What's even cooler: Hilt to Hilt is subtitled Days and Nights on the Banks of the Shenandoah in the Autumn of 1864.  I live near the Shenandoah! Go figure.

[read here]

My Lady Laughter: A romance in Boston town in the days of the Great Siege, Dwight Tilton

This one was a gift. I love that my family and friends know me well enough to know to buy me random, obscure, old, and beautiful books.  Any book will do.

[read here]

Peter Wiffle: His Life and Works, Carl Van Vechten

This one has a map of Paris on the cover.  So cool, right?

[read here]

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

engravings by Fritz Eichenberg

Maybe one of my favorite finds,

I'm on the lookout for this guy's matched pair, Jane Eyre

[read here]

Some of these books I bought having no idea about the contents of the book and honestly no intention to read, but purely for aesthetic reasons.  After finding out a little bit more about the contents of the books, I do want to read them, but that's not going to stop me from judging books by their cover.

I confess.  I am a bibliomaniac.  I have an extreme preoccupation with collecting books.  But I don't see that as a bad thing.

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1 "Bibliomania." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. .^↩