Or, How I Found Two Laura Ingalls Wilder Books
I saw a wooden “BOOKS” sign as I exited Paulina Springs Bookstore (a review of that store soon), it was hanging from the eaves of the porch overhang on a wood sided building lined with a wood plank sidewalk. The entire scene was straight out of “The Rifleman.” Loaded down with my Paulina purchases, I walked over expecting to see a mish-mash antique store with a few books. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Peeking inside the window, the store was momentarily closed, I saw rows and rows of bookshelves.
After meandering around Sisters–when you are there you must, must, must stop for handmade ice cream at Sno-Cap, even if it’s freezy and you have to eat the ice cream with a scarf and gloves–a cute little town with fabulous views of the Cascades, I stopped back at Lonesome Water Books. The first thing I noticed was a sideline never before witnessed in a bookstore: vintage buttons. Lots of buttons. They almost made me wished I sewed. The owner’s wife loves buttons and a portion of her collection, I learned that many were still at home, were offered for sale. Momentarily waylaid, but then remembering I don’t sew on buttons, I started roaming the shelves. All neatly arranged, the store has every category of books imaginable. My favorite: Autos, Fire Engines, Tractors, Small Engines and Bikes, this category of books was new to me, but it took up two shelves.
In the memoir section, I tripped over a hardback early edition of On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a diary of her move with Almanzo and Rose from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri. I thought I had read everything by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I devoured the entire series multiple times as a child, then couldn’t wait to read them to my children (it was so hard not to sob when Jack died), and finally read much of the series again in a sod house when Leslie and I took our daughters on a Little House on the Prairie trip from one Ingalls homestead to another. I explained to the clerk how excited I was to find the book, how I had traveled to the places Wilder lived. Prior to this conversation, the clerk and I had run into each other in the aisles, but hadn’t spoken. He listened to me, nodded twice, asked me to wait a moment, then walked to another part of the store. I heard books moving around, a few humps and then he returned with a first edition of West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco 1915 and placed it in front of me as if it was a gift. And it was. I didn’t know she was in San Francisco (visiting Rose apparently) and can’t wait to read her impressions of it. This taciturn elderly gentleman knew exactly how to please a customer.
221 West Cascade Ave
Sisters, OR 97759
T: 541.549.2203
Tags: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Oregon, Oregon bookstore, Sister bookstore, Sisters, used bookstore
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I’m so glad that you came across those 2 gems. I loved them both and through these books you can really get a glimpse into her later life and how very observant she really was!! Enjoy!
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