Things Written In Used Books

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Different from the “things you found inside books” thread.

What things have you found written in books?

I just now saw this message in my copy of Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson, in pencil, after the first paragraph on page 23:

—Sun + 90 This Day. 8-14-21

 

[Vince W]

In my copy of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne:

George Cline, From Mother
Christmas 1892

 

[smellincoffee]

I picked up a copy of The Cat Who Walked through Walls to find an entire (scathing) review written in its inside cover, in very nice but scolding cursive.

 

[beccabear67]

A few autographed by the author with some sort of note... a nice bonus when unexpected although never dedicated to a person with my own name. And a few "To: _______, Merry Christmas, Love: _______. Sometimes somebody has underlined text or written a word or two next to it, if it's in pencil I might try and erase it. That's about all I can think of.

 

[Extollager]

"I have been bothered and pestered, and threatened, until I gave this book to D. Quine to save my head. To you who dont know him, never refuse him anything that he may want. If you do you will never have a moments peace. From one who knows H. (or A.) Campbell"

This inscription appears in a Grosset & Dunlap edition of Ayesha: The Return of She by H. Rider Haggard, which I bought 19 September 1977 at Garvin & Levin in Portland. Oregon. The book appears to have been printed in 1905. I seem to have paid $1.50 or $2 for it. I don't suppose it is a first American edition, and I have treated it accordingly, writing pencil notes on the front pages.

 

[Matteo]

If signatures count, then Robert Silverberg in this (limited to 525 copies) edition of Lion Time on Timbuktoo. And Norman Spinrad inside The Solarians (with a fantastic cover).

 

[farntfar]

Not in, but on the cover of a school book, 'First steps in Latin"

By addition of a couple of horizontal lines, and the letter g, it became "First steps in Eating"

 

[HareBrain]

This reminded me of one of my favourite Onion headlines: "Highlighting in used copy of Plato's Republic ends on page 8."

 

[Danny McG]

I'd got a library book many years ago (mid 80s perhaps) about DIY household repairs, I was trying to learn about central heating.
Anyway I was glancing through the other sections and one chapter caught my attention, it was about preparing walls for wallpapering.

Every time it mentioned the word 'scraper' (a god few times) a previous psycho reader had neatly blocked in the sc at the start of the word , they also did the same with the r at the end of the word.

So there were about thirty DIY pages that all had rape written on them.

There's some strange and scary people out there

 

[Peppa]

It's like the old Benny Hill show where the sign that said 'therapist' suddenly became 'the rapist'.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Inside my copy of The Weapon Shops of Isher. Apparently it used to belong to some bloke called Brian Stableford.