William's Antique Nature Guides

Last weekend when we had a routine Sunday night dinner at a friend's house, out of the blue he gave me this little set of antique nature guides. I love books and wildflowers and have a small but growing collection of antique wildflower books. So for me, this is a spectacular combination and an incredibly lovely set of books.  

Many of the flower names have changed but all my old favorites are in there and I love perusing the small picture plates.The copyrights range from 1909 to 1915 and inside each cover is a little handwritten inscription indicating that these were a graduation gift to William N. Gahr from his brother Edmond W. Gahr in 1929.  It made me wonder what William was graduating from and why he might have been given these particular books.   

I googled William N. Gahr and what's strange is that the friend who gave me the books said that he received them from his brother who lives in D.C.  The only William N. Gahr that comes up in google was born in 1910, died in 1978 and was a WWII veteran.  And he's buried in Denver, which is where I am and where I received the books.  It's a mystery as to how William's books ended up in D.C. more than 30 years after he died.

It's strange too how I somehow have his books now and they have come full circle.  But I love them and plan to keep them forever.  I hope William would approve.

Vintage Illustrations

I've started a second shop on Etsy to sell vintage, because I love vintage. One of the things I particularly love in all its vintage forms is vintage books. It's the illustrations that stand out for me. They are simple line drawings, perhaps water colored, from a simpler time.

I have a thing for trees and found this vintage book called 'How to Know the Trees' from 1946. These are some of my favorite illustrations from it:

I found what I thought to be a rather scary book, I mean scary if I was 5, called 'The Man with the Moon-Eyed Horse'. The illustrations are great, but the horse is scary, and so is the man. Of course, he's in jail here, so no need to worry that he really IS going to rob the train:



I also found two lovely little vintage books about various wild animals. They both had amazing illustrations, one in color, one in black and white:

I don't have kids, but if I did, they would definitely have a few of these vintage books in the mix. After all, who doesn't want to ride a tiger or hug a little quetzal after seeing those pictures?

Andrea at Studio 6