Old Paper Show & Sale
Another half year, another Old Paper Show and Sale has come and gone. I didn't get my usual update this season, but luckily our friend Chris not only alerted us to the show, but drove me there as well!
As usual I found plenty of paper products to bring home -- many of which were plant related. Of the plant/nature items, I bought an entire lot (47 issues) of "Canadian Nature" magazine from 1940 thru to 1964. Most of the issues were from the early to mid 40's. I think it was meant to be a children's magazine but some of the articles are quite sophisticated and some are just downright BLAND. What kid wants to read a boring article about Primroses in the garden? Here's an excerpt:
"For centuries the Primrose has aroused the sentiment of poets and gardeners alike -- and most gardeners are poets at heart -- so that few other plants are held in such affectionate regard by English folk wherever they may be, redolent as they are of the woods and hedgerows of the old land."
Bleck! A friend pointed out that they were published in a time when children either read books or listened to the radio (no mind-numbing TV or video games) which would acocunt for the level of sophistication. I would add that they also had some crazy ideas about how to entertain children back then (not that they don't now i.e. Barney). However, we are talking about a time just before the baby-boomer era when children were merely "miniature adults in waiting".
Despite the obvious drawbacks I've been keeping myself entertained, while watching television (I'm a bit of a multi-tasker), flipping through the stinky pages, looking at the photos and illustrations. Note that I haven't yet read any of the articles. But I am sophisticated enough to look at pictures and watch TV simultaneously). There are lots of nice colour plates that could easily be framed for display -- if I had an inch of wall space available!
Another one of my big plant-related paper purchases was a small stack of my beloved cigarette cards. My favourites are from a few different sets issued by Player's Cigarettes. I had been collecting the "Garden Hints" series which feature gorgeous old-thyme illustrations of bulbs and garden contraptions and men in full suits bending down with shovels and whatnot very refinedly gardening. On this particular trip I discovered two new series issued in the same rich illustrative style -- "Struggle for Existance" and "Hidden Beauties". I'm not sure what the "Struggles for Existance" theme is all about but the card I found featured the carnivourous plant Sundew. "Hidden Beauties" features microscopic or magnified plant life.
That's it for the plant-themed items, but that alone is enough to keep me occupied for months. Or days after which I will shelve the mags and forget about them entirely but never allow myself to get rid of them because I keep everything.
Read about my other trips to the Old Paper Show and Sale:
May 2002
November 2001
April 2001
posted at 07:41 PM
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