I want to share with you these beautiful volumes that I purchased at a used book sale at the Cascade Library. (KDL-Cascade) The date? July 4, 1975. Our son, Aaron, was only two months old. I was only 27. Now, at 65, I still have these books stored in an antique, mission oak, bookcase, with sliding glass doors.
Each of these volumes is 5" X 8" (13 X 20 cm), and, as you can see, embossed with exquisite design and styling. Look at the three-dimensional depth, the texture, the fine detail within the vines, the roots, the gold etching inside the wreathed circle.
You are looking at John Burroughs Complete Nature Writings.
They were published in 1879, 1895, 1904, 1907, and 1921.
Would you like to read some excerpts? Okay:
"...can there be anything more delicious than the first warm April rain, -- the first offering of the softened and pacified clouds of spring? The quickening spirit of the rain is needed... charged with the very essence of spring."
- Vol. III Is It Going To Rain?
" I am always at home when I see the passenger pigeon. Few spectacles please me more than to see clouds of these birds sweeping across the sky, ... They are in such multitudes, they people the whole air; they cover townships, ..."
- Vol. IV A Bird Medley
"... love of nature has high religious value. .. It has given people an inexhaustible field for inquiry, ... It has made them contented and at home whenever they are in nature -- in the house not made with hands."
- Vol. V The Faith of a Naturalist
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Even the spines exhibit depth, design, and dimension.
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"How completely the life of a bird revolves about its nest, its home! In the case of the wood thrush, its life and joy seem to mount higher and higher as the nest prospers. The male becomes a fountain of melody; his happiness waxes day by day; he makes little triumphal tours about the neighborhood, and pours out his pride and gladness in the ears of all. How sweet, how well-bred, is his demonstration! But let any accident befall that precious nest, and what a sudden silence falls upon him!
- Vol. VI Glimpses of Wild Life
"Some time in October the crows begin to collect together in large flocks and establish their winter quarters. They choose some secluded wood for a roosting-place, and thither all the crows for many square miles of country betake themselves at night, and thence they disperse in all directions again in the early morning. The crow is a social bird, a true American; no hermit or recluse is he. The winter probably brings them together in these large colonies for purposes of sociability..."
- Vol. VII Nature With Closed Doors
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For 38 years I've owned Volumes III-IX. I'm still searching for Volumes I & II. Any help?
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"I think I was born under happy stars, with a keen sense of wonder, which has never left me, ... One of the best things a man can bring into the world with him is natural humility of spirit. About the next best thing he can bring, and they usually go together, is an appreciative spirit -- a loving and susceptible heart."
- Vol. VIII An Outlook Upon Life
"Oh, the worlds and systems of worlds that the night reveals, -- the outlook off into infinity which the darkness brings! When the day is done, when the night falls, how are the heavens opened! how is the universe extended! how are the glory and the sublimity of creation multiplied!
- Vol. IX The Summit of the Years
Important Note for local readers:
CASCADE LIBRARY - part of the extensive Kent District Library (KDL) will again be holding its annual FOURTH OF JULY - USED BOOK SALE. This year- 2013; every year. Be there! (Cascade Library)
(click on photos to enlarge)
Photo Location: Home Library
