Shopping for Old Books

While trying to keep my son occupied today, I promised him that I would take him up to the local Goodwill shop (similar to Salvation Army thrift shops) and see if I can buy him some new (second hand) books. He needs new ones as he is bored with his old ones. When we got there, he found the toy section, so he stopped to play. That kept him occupied for an hour, while I looked through the entire books section. I found some very interesting OLD books for me, as well as some good books for him.

Several years ago I found a book called Dragon Hunter, a biography by Charles Gallenkamp (2001). I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a biography about Roy Chapman Andrews, who some people claim to be the REAL Indiana Jones. He was famous for discovering Dinosaur eggs in Western China in the early 20th century. Andrews wrote several books and today I found a first edition of his 1921 book called Across Mongolian Plains. I can't wait to read it.

I also found a first edition of Charlie Chaplin's autobiography - called My Autobiography published by Simon & Schuster in 1964.

I grabbed a 1949 (expanded) edition of H.G.Wells book called The Outline of History first published in 1920. The expanded version means that it includes coverage of World War Two, and was published AFTER Wells died in 1946.

This book has a Canadian connection. I also happen to have on my TBR pile a book called The Spinster and the Prophet by A.B.McKillop. In 1927 a Canadian citizen, Florence Deeks, sued Wells for plagiarism, claiming that much of the Outline was lifted from her unpublished manuscript, "The Web of the World's Romance", which spent over a year in the hands of Wells' North American publisher, MacMillan & Company.

I also picked up a 1932 Modern Library edition of Eight Famous Elizabethan Plays. None of which are Shakespeare. Plays include -
Dr Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe
The Shoemakers Holiday by Thomas Dekker
A Woman killed with Kindness by Thomas Heywood
Volpone, or The Fox, A Comedy by Ben Jonson
The Maids Tragedy by Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher
The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster
A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Philip Massinger
'Tis pity she's a Whore, by John Ford

Its about time I read other plays from Shakespeare's time. Especially Marlowe.

The last 2 books I picked up, had connections to World War Two. I don't usually read war stories, but these were personal stories, not actual war stories. One is the Diary of the Nuremberg Trials by GM Gilbert, a psychologist who was in charge of the prisoners mental health during the trials. The other book is called Forever Liesl, by Charmaine Carr. Yes that's right, she was the young actress who played Liesl in the famous 1964 movie Sound of Music.

I will write reviews of these books, whenever I get around to reading them. I spent about $25 total for my books, and another $15 on my sons books and toys. It was a good day today - for both of us.