I love to visit thrift stores and antique shops! Recently I have been intrigued by 1800 era books that are historical in nature. These types of books don’t usually fetch a large price even in antique stores so they are economical to explore. Usually less than $5 each max. I have an overhead scanner specifically made for old books so I can scan them in for my tiny living style and then re donate the paper version when I am done with it.
Recently I picked up a a book titled “A Strangers Guide to Philadelphia” written in 1854 for $2. I was intrigued because this is essentially a standard tourist book which lists all the sites to see when visiting a particular city. I thought to myself; how fun would it be to scan this book in and do some research on the sites they recommended seeing back in 1854 and see if those sites still exist today… then make a road trip based on those places that are still standing? For history buffs like myself with a guide from 1854 to give me a time traveling self guided tour… that seems like an amazingly fun trip!
Another fun book I found was published in 1895 and is titled “ The Leading Facts of American History”. I only paid $2 for this book as well. I thought to myself how over time history seems to be rewritten (and to use a contemporary term of “cancel culture”) I wondered how and what facts were taught to students of American History (since this is a text book of sorts) during that time period and how it has changed as recently as my public education (1970’s and 80’s) vs todays public education formats. With the removal of statues and renaming of streets and riots etc we have seen lately… I wonder what this old text book has to say? This should be a fun and interesting read! It was a truly different culture back then as compared to today for sure! But just how different? Do “facts” change as cultures change? Hmmmmmm? Right?
The other thing I am thinking about doing is a bit of research on all the books I picked up (for a little bit of nothing) thru the library of Congress and see if I can determine if they have a copy write still in effect (which is truly doubtful because of the subject matter and publication dates) and if not then perhaps exploring scanning some of these books in (if they are not already available for free elsewhere online) for others to read … and if that is legal? But that’s a question for another day as I have 4 “new” books to read and ponder about our society and changes therein over the last 100-150+ years!
Lesson learned… the next time you go antique shopping or thrift shopping or even yard sale shopping you may want to look at some of the really old books and think about an epic time traveling road trip adventure, or maybe just broadening your horizons a bit. You may be surprised at what you may discover and learn on your adventure! Conestoga Chuck says to remind everyone; Don’t forget to take your favorite canine companion with you on your adventures!
Conestoga Chuck 