Old Fashioned Treasures// Volume I // Classics

Hello everyone!
I'm so excited to be sharing the 'classics' category of Old Fashioned Treasures today!





Isn't this little number just darling?
 I was so delighted when I found this delightful little pocket edition of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell at an estate sale! I've watched and enjoyed the BBC television series many times and I've been wanting to read the book.  There is no date on the inside, so I cannot be excatly sure how old it is, though I did find some books on ebay which look almost exactly alike and are from 1889. I like to think about the first who bought this book and held it in their hands- if they enjoyed it, laughed and cried over it, and who they passed it on to. That's part of the fun of vintage items, isn't it?

Next we have Bleak House by Charles Dickens.  The edition which I have is a 1950's Everyman's Library, which was bought at a local charity bookstore. I'm in the process of reading it, and I'm about halfway through. (it's a little confusing...)

The pages are super thin. You'd never imagine that this book is over 800 pages, would you?

Here is an interesting one. I'm not exactly sure if this is considered a classic because I've never heard of it before, but it's written by Mark Twain so I decided to include it in this category, since he is the author of many books which are considered classics. The title is Following the Equator and this edition was printed by Harper & Brothers of NY in 1925.

The book has quite a few beautiful illustrations (all black and white except one) and the cover is just lovely. I haven't read this one... yet. Apparently it is a non-fiction book with added fictional stories, and quite a humorous read. One more book added to my "to-read" list, hehe!

This next one is a lovely edition from the Modern Library of War and Peace. There is no date on the inside cover, so I really don't know how old it is. There are several similar ones on ebay, but they don't have dates on the inside, and the sellers don't seem to know the date either. There was one on Etsy from the 1940's which looked older than this one, so I'm guessing the 50's or later is when this one was printed.

 I'm looking forward to reading this ginormous book sometime, hopefully soon.

Lastly, is The Bridge of the San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. This one was published by Albert & Charles Boni Inc. in 1927. 

 The print is nice and big (though not too big), and the pages are sturdy. This one was given to us by a friend who was getting rid of some old books, and though I already have a newer copy of the book, my soft spot for old books convinced me to keep this one.

That brings us to the end of my small collection of vintage classics...

I hope you enjoyed volume I of Old Fashioned Treasures!

Now tell me, Do you own any vintage books? What's your favorite classic? Have you ever read War and Peace or any of the others which I shared today?