What Have You Found in a Used Book?

March 31, 2009 in used books by Kim | 4 comments

The drag queens are the large black and white photo

The drag queens are the large black and white photo

When I visited Capitol Hill Books, a used bookstore in Denver, CO, I noticed a collage running down the entire side of a bookshelf.  It was made up of all the things found in used books.  My favorite was an 8 x 10 photo that at first glance is a group of 1940s “pin up” girls, but on closer look is a lineup of drag queens. 

Joel Eis, owner of Rebound Bookstore, described in an interview some of the interesting items found in books in his store:  a World War II book with a Dear John letter; stationary with the Union Army logo in a Civil War book; a coffee table book containing two huge marijuana leaves; a $100 bill (flip through the used books you buy, you could find lunch money); and, stacks of airline boarding passes (I use them as bookmarks when I travel, helps me to remember where the boarding pass is located).

In one of my book groups we’re reading the Rabbit series by John Updike.  One of the members is a John Updike fanatic and owns almost all of his books, many of them she purchased used.  She shared with us an old Book-of-the-Month Club summary of Rabbit Redux and a review from 1971 she found in a used copy of Rabbit Redux, it felt like opening a literary time capsule.

What have you found in a used book?  We’d love to hear, leave a comment and share!

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  1. unconfidentialcook’s avatar

    unconfidentialcook on March 31, 2009 at 8:52 am

    I know a library book isn’t considered a real used book, but….One night, looking through gorgeous music manuscripts in the basement of Frost Library and Amherst College I found…yes…and ounce of dope in a sandwich bag!

  2. unconfidentialcook’s avatar

    unconfidentialcook on March 31, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Of course…I didn’t do anything with it….

  3. soccer mom in denial’s avatar

    soccer mom in denial on April 2, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    What a terrific idea – creating a collage of items found in books! I am guilty of leaving items in books – airplane and train tickets (great book marks), museum passes, cool-looking stamps off of envelopes. Anything that makes for a different looking bookmark.

  4. Kelly’s avatar

    Kelly on April 11, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    I often have the experience of finding relics of my own past in books I haven’t opened in a long time! The other day inside the front cover of Enemy Women I found a list of addresses written on a post-it note from when I moved to New York and was looking for an apartment. It’s been seven years and four cities since then!