Got Some Old Books

I got some old books at a garage sale in the neighborhood.

I didn't really need any of them, but they were a quarter each, so I picked them up.

One is a signed edition of a book by a guy named August Derleth. I wasn't going to buy this because it looks just like a generic novel from the '40s, "The Shield of the Valiant." But I thought, If I get home and look him up and he's really popular, and I had a chance to get a signed book by him, etc., and I don't do it... I'll be kicking myself, since it was only a quarter. It doesn't look especially gripping, and it's part of a series that I'll likely never own.

Next is "War Sketches and Incidents," with Iowa Commandery and Vol. II on the spine. Copyright 1897, looks to be about the Civil War. Doesn't look especially interesting either.

3rd: "My Four Years in Germany" by James W. Gerard. He was an ambassador to the German Imperial Court. The book was published in 1917. Too bad he didn't look up Hitler and kill him.

4th: "Wings" by John Monk Saunders. this is a book based on a movie by the same name, starring Charles Rogers and Clara Bow. There's a picture of them next to the title page. Clara Bow was the "It" Girl. And looking at the picture, she was very cute.

5th: "Creative Evolution" by Henri Gergson, translated by Arthur Mitchell. I have this book in the Modern Library edition. This book has a bookplate. It was No. 258 in "The Private Library of Charles Harrison Becker," dated Feb. 1918. The bookplate says this as well, "Books Are Among My Best Friends." Mr. Becker purchased this book on Feb. 23, 1918.

6th: "The Gold Rock of the Chippewa" by D. Lange. This is an Indian story, and it looks like D. Lange wrote several of them. Basically for kids.

7th: "Ginger Rogers and The Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak" by Lela E. Rogers, published by Whitman. A kid's story maybe. There's a sexy line drawing of Ginger in bed.

8th: And this book is considerably newer than the others, "Jesus" by Deepak Chopra. From 2008. Hope it's worth a quarter. I will probably actually read this one.