So on Sunday I was walking down the street carrying dirt and clay pots and various seeds. The sun was beating down. I was hot and tired and hoping I didn’t trip and break the pots before I reached home which seemed to be a million miles away. I came to a fork in the road and for whatever reason I took the left fork — a path different than the one I had taken before. Along the route I passed a table set up on a small front yard, and on the table were those most magic of items — used books.
They were not in great shape to say the least, but there was a lovely antique-ness about the mound on the table and the ones just visible in boxes across the yard. Most had dark non-descript covers. A young man kept trying to put books in my hands, flipping to the colorful lithographs inside. A lot of science scenes.
But it was the German children’s book that caught my eyes with its fading colorful cover. When I cracked its bent frame, crispy yellowed pages slid into my hands, but all the pages appeared to be within. I tucked them back and flipped through as gently as I could, enchanted by the imagery inside.
German I do not read and so I will have to find a translator to help me make out the title and cover page information. An 1880′s creation for sure, combining short story and myths, and even a play at the end. Some images are clearly signed like this one by C. W. Allers …
… but most are not.
More research to be done on the contents, and to learn how to conserve such a literary treasure. I’ll be sure to share what I find. 
