Turn me loose at Half Price Books with a 15% off coupon and what happens?

I end up with a basket full of books.

So what did I end up with this evening?

You can probably see the large set of book and are wondering what they are.

Here is a better picture of just the set of books.

This is a set of the Complete Audubon. The set is only a little over 30 years old and is the 75th Anniversary Edition. However, for only about 25 dollars it was hard to pass up. I now have a set of wonderful reference books on the Birds and Quadrapeds of America. I am now thinking about a few posts where I can use these books and also tell a bit more of the story of John James Audubon. I also have several sets of Audubon prints.

I also found another Penguin Classic from Europe that I didn’t have on my shelf. This is from a specific Penguin series that I am collecting. They have a picture at the top of the spine and look great on the shelf all together. Maybe more about this series later with a few pictures. They now fill almost two shelves. This one is Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe. I am sure there are some familiar works in it, but also some I haven’t read.

The Boy’s Story of Lindbergh The Lone Eagle by Richard J. Beamish was another nice find. The book was published in 1928 and is in fairly good shape. I really like the picture on the front of the book and there are also some nice pictures inside.

Charles Dickens, The Last of the Great Men by G. K. Chesterton joins other Dickens biographies that I have. I also found a nice hardback with dustcover of Hans Brinker. Mary Mapes Dodge and I are both descendants of Thomas Mapes and Sarah Purrier who were married in 1650 on Long Island.

I saw this book on the shelf and had memories of one of my first Boy Scout camp outs and the Scoutmaster reciting a poem by Robert Service while we were around the campfire. I quickly looked to see if the Collected Poems of Robert Service had the poem in it. I can still remember the beginning of the poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Imagine hearing this on a dark moonless night with coyotes howling in the distance.

When I picked this up I thought I was getting just Laura Wilder of Mansfield by William Anderson for three dollars, which I was more than willing to pay.

When I got to my car and started taking pictures of my purchases I noticed that the package had more than one book in it. Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Westville Florida Years by Arlene M. Warnock was also included. I decided to take this packet of books in with me when I had dinner at Wendy’s. When I started to open the package I found a third book, Laura’s Rose which is also by William T. Anderson. Since Laura is one of my favorite authors this was a nice bonus for me.

Well, I have rambled on for too long, so will get this posted before my midnight deadline.

Now, which one to read first 🙂

Steven