HOME SCHOOLED...

When I first started blogging,

 one of my posts was about books

 from my mother's library (here), 

that are now in mine. 

 I don't know how old 

some of these books are

 although she had

 marked 1948 in one of them, 

I just know that 

my mom was an avid reader 

and as far back as memory serves,

 

 

 I can see her sitting in her favorite chair,

 a book opened on her lap 

with a bobby pin marking her place.  

I think I have inherited that trait,

 although the coming of the age of television

 has dampened my indulgence somewhat.

In those days, before computers,

 there were only a few ways

 that a person could 

find out pertinent information. 

 There were trips to the library,

 there was the teacher in the classroom,

 and there were your elders

 whose minds held much of the information

 that you needed to know.  

Of course, it depended on 

what kind of books you had access to 

and what kind of information 

you got from them.  

My mom's books were mostly fiction, 

romantic novels probably written

 for women's eyes only.

 There wasn't too much knowledge

 to be gained from them

 if a school paper was due.

  For those kinds of projects 

there were encyclopedias

 and that is where this story plays out.

Back in the day, 

and I can remember as far back 

as my elementary school years, 

there were jobs that fell into

 the category of "sales".  

These were not sales

 as we know them now

 in Home Depot and places like that 

but sales that were made, 

in person,

 between you and the salesman 

from your very own living room couch.  

There were numerous products 

sold this way

 and one of the biggest and most expensive 

were books 

that were touted as must haves

 for your child's education.  

The Book of Knowledge

 was one of the most well known.

My parents spent time on the couch

 deciding which set of books to buy

 so that myself, my sister and brother,

 could have a well rounded education,

 and when certain information 

in those books became outdated,

 there was always the "annual" 

you could purchase at the end of a year, 

to bring it all up to speed. 

In the above photo 

you see my Dad 

with many of their purchases 

in the bookshelves behind him. 

The Book of Knowledge, in red covers,

 on the very top shelf.

When the Captain and I

 started our family, 

we also were inundated 

with these door-to-door visits. 

Looking back

It seemed as though

 those times were the forerunner

 to today's robo-calls. 

 We did buy a set of books

 (and a vacuum cleaner and pots and pans, but that is a story for another time) 

that are still lined up on 

Tami and Tim's book shelves, 

left with them so Jake 

could have access to 

the knowledge of the world. 

 Of course, by that time, 

computers were here 

and no one has ever looked back.

When my parents left their home, 

I was the recipient of the

 Collier's Encyclopedia set.  

This set was published in 1921.

  I don't know

 when my parents purchased this set 

but it probably was in 

the late 20's or early 30's. 

 It had been a part of their library 

as long as I can remember,

way before any of those salesmen

 that I was aware of 

had knocked on the door. 

 Although I never thought about it then, 

the reason I chose 

to bring the set home with me 

was because of the covers and bindings which appeared to be 

hand tooled leather

 in a rich warm butterscotch coloring.  

They are a very impressive set of books,

 but then, as my parents before me, 

I placed them on the

 very top of the bookshelf 

where they couldn't be seen to advantage 

or to be read, for that matter.

One day, it dawned on me

 that they could be a 

beautiful part of the decor

 at the Cottage,

 so we brought them down, 

dusted and oiled the covers, 

and now they grace the parlor mantel. 

 The covers and text

 are still in pristine condition 

but the spines are darkened 

from being exposed

 over a period of what

 could be close to 100 years.

The end pages are done

in a beautiful

gold, mottled marblelized effect.

I think the salesman

that sold them to my parents

would be surprised

that not only were they a teaching tool

(obviously, but I don't ever remember using them)

but an elegant decoration as well.

I wonder if any of you 

remember the days

 when door-to-door salesmen, 

as they were known,

 trudged up to your home's front door, 

pedaling heavy books 

so that you might become 

a world's scholar?

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...Judy...

Right after writing this post, 

we happened to see the sweetest movie

 on Amazon Prime called

 The Bookshop.

"When we read a story we inhabit it.

  The cover of a book is like the roof and four walls of a house. 

 More than anything else in the world,

 I love the moment when you finish a book

 and the story keeps playing like a dream in your head."

These were the words of a young widow

 who follows her lifelong dream

 of opening a bookshop in a 1950 English town.

We enjoyed this movie so much

 and thought you might too.

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