2.12.2008

My grandma's devotionals

My grandparents, my father's parents, were Quakers. Even though I'm not particularly religious, I inherited quite a few devotional books from their bookshelves. And I treasure them.

(More recently, my dad gave me his childhood books about Quakers and William Penn. I'll share them in the future.)


These three books are from the turn of the century -- 1898 and 1899 -- and have entries for each day of the month. The two smaller ones are companion books, Women's Thoughts for Women and Men's Thoughts for Men.


Each month has daily entries by one writer, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, John Ruskin and Robert Browning.


The bigger book is my favorite though, Roses and Lilies from Longfellow.


I adore everything about it.


The soft padded cover.


The smooth feel of the paper.


The lovely typefaces.


The beautiful words.


The gorgeous illustrations.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I can not get over what wonderful conditon your grandmother's devotionals are in. What a wonderful piece of your family history to have.

Anonymous said...

What a treasure. I've never seen anything quite like them -- they are exquisite. I am interested in seeing the books your Father left behind too.

G.L.H. said...

What treasures! and how did they survive so beautifully?

You lucky, lucky girl!

--Barbara