On Having a Love for Vintage Books

A world without books is unfathomable to me (an avid lifelong bookworm), just as I know it is for my very dear friend and fellow vintage blogger, Inky, who shone the spotlight on her deeply rooted passion for vintage books in her wonderful guest post today.

For many who are both bibliophiles and vintage fans, combining these two passions is as natural as drawing breath, and such is definitely the case for the endlessly lovely, Inky, who frequent posts about the books (old school and contemporary alike) that she reads on her site. As someone who is never without at least a couple of books on the go and an ever expanding collection of vintage titles on my shelves, this post is that's entirely after my own heart and I sincerely want to thank Inky for penning it for Chronically Vintage while Tony and I are enjoying the tail end of our splendid trip to Vancouver Island.

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Hi everyone, I'm Inky from On Shoes and Ships and Sealing-Wax! First of all, I want to thank lovely Jessica for having me do a guest post today, I feel so honored to have been invited! When Jessica asked me to do this one of the first things that came to mind, knowing that we both enjoy reading, was the topic of vintage and antique books.




While I love vintage in general, for me there’s something special about vintage books and, unlike dresses or jewelry, I feel like we get to know just a little bit more about the former owner. In many cases, names grace the inside covers written in perfect cursive or a childish scribble. Some come with things tucked inside them. Letters, receipts, newspaper clippings, each telling us something about the person and the time they were from.




Often you find a new friend in these books. They may have been long abandoned by publishers in exchange for newer more popular titles, but someone treasured them enough to keep them over time. Several such books I’ve picked up have become favorites, such as a Soap Behind the Ears by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Rich Girl, Poor Girl by Ruth Dewey Groves both which delighted me to no end.




Some of my books are for more practical purposes, while others I’ve bought on a whim having taken a fancy to the lovely illustrations or an amusing first line. Others still, have made their way into my collection just because I loved the book to begin with and was thrilled to find an older copy, such as with many a fairy tale book.




I adore how you can learn so much about the time period in which they were written whether it be through the style of the writing, the details in the book itself, or, if it’s non-fiction, the way the information is presented. Each offering a great way for us to take a peek into the past and a look at the way they perceived what was going on in the world around them.







From an early age I’ve had a love for these books starting with a handful from my parents’ childhood and with the Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton books that belonged to my grandmother and great-aunts. In no way has this love lessened over the years and I’m sure it will only continue to grow.




Thanks again for having me, Jessica, and thank you Chronically Vintage readers for reading what I have to say about vintage books!

♥ Inky

The nostalgia and joy of collecting vintage books

Old books have always fascinated me. Perhaps my interest in them was first sparked by my mother’s extensive collection of original Nancy Drew titles (which I read voraciously, often by moonlight when I was a wee little thing), perhaps it came from the fact that reading was encouraged and fostered in my home. Whatever first planted the bookworm bug in me, I have loved reading and vintage books for as long as I can recall.

As a child I had a rather odd (for someone my age at the time, I mean) assortment of medical books that ranged from 50 to 100+ years old. It wasn’t the largest collection, but at one point I must have had at least eight or nine heavy duty, hard cover medical text books (at that stage in my life I was interested in going into a career in medicine) of the very sort that would have once sat on a doctor’s shelf. Many of these books were lovingly given to me by elderly neighbours, one of whom had been a nurse for many years.

It wasn’t just medical tomes that caught my eye though. I’ve always scoured second hand book shops, garage sales, flea markets and library sales (when libraries sell of their old books) for literary treasures. Though sadly at one point in my life I had to sell off most of my book collection to help raise funds to move overseas, I still have the wonderful memories of the times I spent sifting through stacks upon stacks of books, some older, some newer, endless piles of inexpensive paperbacks and microwave cookery books (seriously, why is there such a glut of microwave cookbooks almost anywhere retro and vintage books are sold?), to find an early printing of a Steinbeck or Hemingway novel.

There is something almost transcendent about holding an older book in your hand, its paper often yellowed as if dipped in tea by the passing years, a slightly musty smell emanating from each page, its typesetting done up in a classy, concisely sized font. As you flip through the pages of any book that’s lived with someone else before, it’s hard not to catch yourself wondering what sort of memories that book would have to tell, if it were alive and able to speak. Did it cross over on an ocean liner, ride around in the back of an old roadster, sit beside someone on a Hawaiian vacation, provide a moment of respite for a weary WW2 factory worker? What thoughts did those who owned the book before you think as they absorbed its knowledge or tale, how did what they read shape or impact their lives – and what impression will it leave on your own?

There is indeed something marvelous and valuable about vintage and antique books; their worth lies not only in their age and content, but in the place in time when they were first released into the annals of history to which they will forever belong. It is this essence of time and distant place, that I feel weaves itself through so much of my love of vintage. When I don a 40s inspired outfit, a pair of 50s heels or a 30s hairstyle, I am reaching somewhere deep into my soul to connect with a world that I while I did not experience firsthand, I can sense I belong to.


{A stylishly well dressed literature fan from a 1941 Vogue spread. Photo found via myvintagevogue’s Flickr stream.}

If you’re a fellow bibliophile, what memories and thoughts do vintage books invoke in you?