Part of my Saturday routine is to visit the library. I return books that I have read and either pick up books that are on hold for me or search the shelves for something that catches my eye.

I also visit the library book sale that is run by the Friends of the Library.

I will often find some interesting books, and today was no exception.

Here are a few of my finds.

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb was written in 1807. The book uses simple English to tell the tales of Shakespeare. This made the writing of Shakespeare easier for children to understand.

This volume was published in the early 1900’s by A. L. Burt Company. I am looking forward to reading it sometime, as when I read Shakespeare I often lost track of the storyline. Perhaps some of the plays will make more sense by reading this version 🙂

Next we have a volume of poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

This is The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge with Memoir, Notes, Etc. and is published by the John W. Lovell Company. I could not find this exact edition, but it is not the one from the early 1880’s. This is a later reprint from probably the very early 1900’s.

You probably know Coleridge from his poems, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.

The following are probably known to most of you:

“water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink”

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree :

This was an interesting find. This is The Oratorical Dictionary by John Newland Maffitt. The book is not in great shape, but it is very interesting to look at some of the definitions.

The book was printed in 1835 at the Western Methodist Office  in Nashville. Reprints of this book are available, but it is really cool to have this old copy.

I also ran across a book that I have been looking for since I saw it featured on an episode of Pawn Stars. I was surprised that this copy of “We” by Charles A. Lindbergh had a red cover, as the one on Pawn Stars had a blue cover. In fact, most of the copies that I saw for sale on-line had a blue cover.

This is an early printing of the book. The book was very popular and went through six impressions in the first month of publication in July 1927. This is the eighth impression.

The book was published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. George P. Putnam, the grandson of the founder George Palmer Putnam was responsible for the publication and promotion of the book. The book sold more than 650,000 copies in the first year.

George P. Putnam then helped promote the first ever flight by a woman over the Atlantic and ended up marrying Amelia Earhart in 1931.

I recently found out that I have Putnam ancestors and George Palmer Putman was a fourth cousin of my great-great grandfather Benjamin Hotchkiss.

Now for a teaser.

I also received Christmas at a Grand Hotel in the mail today. The author, Wini Frances, is a family friend. I will be reading this after Thanksgiving and will be writing a review.

I have a rule, no Christmas posts before Thanksgiving, except this teaser 🙂

Have you found any interesting books lately?

Steven