More Vintage Autographs

The history of autograph books would be worth researching. One wonders if it was it a backlash to Victorian prudishness?

"When you are old and in the tub,/Remember me with every rub/And if the water's not too hot/Lather away and Forget-Me-Not. ~
~ Now any old fish/Can drift along and dream/But it takes a regular live-one/To swim against the stream. ~
~ Apple pie without cheese/Is like a kiss without a squeeze. ~
~ When you get married and have nine/Bundle them up and come see mine. ~
~ I thought and thought/And thought in vain/And now I think I'll sign my name! ~
~ Many a man with many a mind/ Many a bird of every kind. ~
~ I wish you health/I wish you wealth/I wish you gold in store/I wish you Heaven after death/What could I wish you more?" ~
~ Then there is this one: "Grandpa's getting old and grey/Whiskers always get in his way/Grandma eats them in her sleep/Thinks she's eating Shredded Wheat."

Vintage Autograph Books

A yellowed autograph book recently sold for $17 Canadian at an estate sale. Apparently, no family member wanted it. It contained candid inscriptions of close family and friends. Each hand-written, dated and signed for the moment and posterity.
Remember the penned tokens of affection from the 40's and 50's? Poetic, romantic, philosophical, inspirational, often humourous or wry.
"Your future lies ahead of you/Like a path of driven snow/Be careful how you tread it/For every mark will show." ~~ "The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity/The optimist, the opportunity in every difficulty." ~~
"May your life be like a piano, Grand, upright and square. ~~
I wish you luck/I wish you joy/I wish you first a baby boy/And when his hair begins to curl/I wish you then a baby girl. ~~ True friends are like diamonds precious but rare/False ones like autumn leaves/Found everywhere. ~~ When you are tired of the world/And all its pretty scenes/Just go down into my garden/And hide behind the beans."

Future of Books

Bill Casselman, author and former CBC journalist, recently proclaimed books to be on their way out. A dismal proclamation from a successful writer.
There is a different feeling in a used bookstore. People like ourselves look for a bookstore everywhere they travel. We meet these book lovers everyday. They prefer the tactile aspect of paper and the camaraderie of other readers. Box bookstores have added easy chairs, tea and coffee and magazine racks in an effort to link books with leisure time and socializing.
Speculation about Google's goal of scanning forty million books (they have scanned over 10 million to date) has sent shock waves around bookstores and library tables.
The improved quality of scanning and delivering books to the masses via electronic gadgets is certain to play a significant role in the future of books. However, whatever the format, our need to share ideas and thoughts and the pure pleasure of reading guarantees the survival of the book.

Nine Lives and Counting

Neat Little Bookshop customer, Grant, holds a corrugated shipping parcel obviously protecting a prized volume. Meanwhile, he hands me a burned copy of Mrs. John Graves Simcoe's Diary. I have read this diary - a captivating record of the challenges facing early pioneers in Upper Canada. My worn paperback is at home somewhere.
Have books ever had so many lives? Grant holds a neatly bound, be it sterile, hard-cover, scanned copy of Elizabeth Simcoe's diary. He researched, sent away his money and received this newly-bound book. Approx. $35. During his research, he discovered a free download of this treasured volume in the Toronto University Library. Burned to CD for the L'l Bookshop!
http://www.archive.org/details/diaryofmrsjohngr00simcuoft
Readers expect a book worthy of reading to be reprinted, by more-than-one publisher, over the decades. However, today, a book can be scanned, printed, burned to disc, viewed in what was at one time unimagined technologies.
Tomorrow: Thoughts on the future of books. Tell us your thoughts. lwalker@mountaincable.net

New-Book Promotion

Book stores don't sell books. Authors sell books. Customers buy books that people are talking about.

Too often, would-be writers miss the obvious: a successful book does not just happen. There is a laborious followup of promotion and marketing.

The reader needs to relate to or bond in some way with the author.

If you are James Patterson, YouTube helps. Video clips of various famous interviews allow potential fans a glimpse into the personality behind the stories. When Patterson reveals that he grew up surrounded by women ~even his cats were female ~ with that "buzz and purr" still in his head, it becomes clear that the success of his women's murder club series is no accident.

If you are not James Patterson, it takes more than simply putting the book out there on a bookstore shelf.

Photo of The Neat Little Bookshop window sent to us by Carol O'Handley of Kingston. Thanks, Carol.

Everyone Loves Marineland

Yesterday, we spent the day at Marineland.

We often wonder about the logic of our store hours. From the beginning, it was important to maintain consistency so a lot of thought went into which days best served the community and still allowed us time away. A survey of the retail businesses in Cayuga showed that typically everybody did their own thing. A mistake that perhaps small towns often make.

Our Business hours:

Hours are posted on the door; also on bookmarks and business cards:

Wed. 11-5; Thu. 11-8; Frid. 11-8 and Sat. 11-3.

Two evenings accommodate our students and 9-5 people. Whatever your routine or lifestyle, take a minute and come by The Neat Little Bookshop.

Photos: by Lorna

Dave Pearson and The Cottonwood Brass Quintet

Cottonwood Mansion hosted a Peach Social on Sunday with outdoor entertainment provided by the Cottonwood Brass Quintet.

In the photo, Dave Pearson playing the Cayuga Two Step ~ music written in 1906 to honour the Cayuga, a stylish ship that conducted lake tours from Toronto to Buffalo.

Built between 1865 - 70, Cottonwood Mansion is a sixteen room, Italianate style home. Visit the mansion at www.linetap.com/cottonwoodmansion

Photos: by Lorna

Summertime and the Two-Step

Dave Pearson didn't know if he would have the brass arrangement ready for Sunday. He did and the audience tapped their toes to the HAMILTON CENTENNIAL March and Two-Step ~ a piece of sheet music that Dave discovered in The Neat Little Bookshop. Copyright 1913 by Charles Wellinger.

l - r Graham Young, cornet; Ryan Baker, cornet; Dave Pearson, tuba; Mary Ann Pearson, trombone and euphonium and Michael Hindricks, french horn.

Photos: by Lorna

Lest We Forget

Today was a gentle reminder of how swiftly time is passing and we are losing generations of stories, too frequently untold.

Kirk Du Guid has preserved twenty-five veteran's stories in his newest book, Soldiers' Stories. Ordinary men and women who answered the call are telling - for the first time in some cases - extraordinarily modest stories.

Today the author visited The Neat Little Bookshop, signing books and listening to folks reminiscing about their own families' wartime experiences.

Photos: by Lorna. Kirk signing a book for Cathy Pelletier, editor Dunnville Chronicle.

Sunshine and Freedom

The Literature Network has a translation of Hans C. Andersen's, The Butterfly. http://www.online-literature.com/hanschristianandersen/3895

Our thanks to the reader who has provided us with this information and this comment:

"Lovely sentiment and 'The Butterfly' is a bit of a grim (though certainly not Grimm) one from old H.C.A. Typical of him, bitter-sweet, but the elegance of his writing survives even in a good Translation." ~ L.Miller

Thought-provoking and moving. Please pass your comments on to us at lwalker@mountaincable.net

"Just living is not enough said the butterfly. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Sunshine, Freedom and a Little Flower

"Just living is not enough said the butterfly.

One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

~ Hans C. Anderson 1805 - 1875 Denmark

Novelist, Short Story and Fairy Tale Writer

If the reader knows the work from which this quotation is taken, we welcome your comments.

The Pilots M.A.A.C.

Model Aeronautics Association of Canada

Meeting at what is known affectionately as Tapleytown International, Hamilton, ON, dozens of remote-control aircraft-enthusiasts out-manoeuvred the rain this weekend.
http://www.maac.ca/

Soldiers' Stories "In Their Own Words"

Author Kirk Du Guid will be at The Neat Little Bookshop on Saturday, August 15 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. His latest book,"Soldiers' Stories" is certain to become a cherished addition to personal libraries everywhere especially among military families.

"Soldiers' Stories" in their own words, tells the stories of twenty-five Canadian servicemen and women. List $25.

The Neat Little Bookshop is open on Saturday, August 15 from 10:30 - 3:00 p.m.

Surprises with Cake

Surprises "with cake!" We are reopening today, after a two-week holiday, with renewed energy ~ and cake. Well, cookies. The famous butterscotch crunchy cookies and ~ ~ the coffee pot is on.

Number 905-577-5635 is again activated. The guy at the phone company with the slogan, "No one likes surprises ~ unless cake is involved," laid the expired phone battery on the marble counter, gave it one flick with his finger; it spun like a top. The demonstration was wasted on us; we knew it didn't work. Lots of surprises ~ coffee and cookies too.

Unless There is Cake Involved

The Neat Little Bookshop will reopen tomorrow, Wednesday, August 5 at 11:00 a.m.
A brand name mobile-phone company with catchy phrases, states, "No one likes surprises ~ unless there is cake involved."
To our customers who have tried to reach us and couldn't, we extended our holiday from one week to two. Our cell phone is down because in addition to the battery expiring, we mislaid the cord for recharging. We are activating a new phone today with the company that claims, "no surprises."

Call us 905-577-5635 The Neat Little Bookshop