… or Adventures in Used Bookstores

Being an author, a love of old books comes with the territory. The yellowing pages, the artwork on the covers, the smell of old print. And there’s something odd about holding a thing in your hands that’s older than you are.

Spring is springing in the Lower Mainland. This is usually the time of year when I get the itch to not only rearrange, but to go expanding on my collections (aka time to buy books!).

Moss grows all year round here.

I’ve picked through the used bookstores in Calgary, so now it was time to begin the invasion of local used bookstores in our new hometown. Metro-Vancouver had a ton of them to choose from, and I had a long weekend calling my name.

Photo by Samer Kayali, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Used books are like a treasure hunt for me. I have my collections that I always strive to add to, although they’re all in storage at the moment. I have pictures on my phone to reference, that way I can still collect even if I don’t have shelves to fill (yet).

The first book I found was a missing volume in my Time Life Books: The Enchanted World collection. They’re not necessarily rare or old (late 1980’s), I just like them. I collect them because of the fairy tales and mythology theme of the series. Of the 21-book series, I have 18. And today I got to add a 19th book to that collection: Spells and Bindings.

Mochi is not too happy about being used as a book prop.

In addition to finding neat books, when in used bookstores I have a handful of authors I look for to see if I can add some old editions of their novels: Jordan, McCaffrey (specifically the Pern series), Williams, and Tolkien.

This time around, I found a paperback version of The Hobbit I didn’t have!

Here it is, in all it’s … glory?

The cover is–let’s be honest–hideous. But that’s kinda what I liked about it. Unique doesn’t always mean good, but I didn’t have this version, so I was willing to look past the my-five-year-old-drew-this cover. For $6, what did I have to lose?

Once we move (which is hopefully in 2 months), I’ll be able to unite this guy with the other old paperback Tolkien books I have from the 60’s and 70’s.

What is this, and why is it touching me?

I was a bit surprised to see this version was from the early 70’s, and the more research I did, the more I found this version is considered rare due to the *ahem* unique cover, which was drawn by Tolkien himself.

The 1974 version is the 3rd Edition (and last edition) of this cover art, which began printing in 1966. I’m somewhat surprised the cover design held on that long!

For now, these two treasures will be packed safely in an old delivery box for transportation to it’s new home. I’m counting the sleeps until we get to start packing for that move. Although moving is such a pain, I’m more excited to get into our forever home.

This view is why we moved here (downtown Vancouver from the Shipyards District)

Until we move, I’m going to spend my nights designing my bookshelves for the new house, and maybe I’ll acquire a few more books along the way.

Take care!

-Rissa