#inviciousx

As promised to @inviciousx here is a selection from my collection of antique books. In a second post, I’ll spotlight a particularly cool old medical reference book that demanded its own photoset. Pictured here, in order, are:

Poems of the Intellect and the Affections - A book of poetry published in 1865

The Five Books of Moses - A Hebrew/English book of scriptures published in 1931 in Austria

A Pictorial History of the Second World War, Vol. I - A book of war photography, remarkable because it was published in 1944 while the war was still ongoing.

And an heirloom scrapbook kept by my great-great grandmother that she began in 1877. It’s mainly a collection of poetry from newspaper clippings

As a bonus, here’s one that didn’t fit in the photoset. 

Peter Rabbit and the Fairies - A 1921 first edition of a children’s book by Alma Hudson, based on the further adventures of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit.

      The man was sat on the opposite side of the couch, pointedly holding a book in such a direction as to block out the sight of her. Not because he was angry (not yet, at least, though recognised the distant possibility) but because he could just sense a familiar switch in her mood. She was not doing anything other than lying there and he knew what that usually led to, for he had rarely known her to simply lie and do nothing. Perhaps by blocking her out he could avoid whatever was coming, too, or maybe it had only incited a need for her to get his attention.

      Already awkwardly perched on the couch, Copia lowered his paperback when he felt toes prodding into his thigh and thwacked her knee with it at her little demand.

       “What? I am already holding on for dear life with one cheek, and you want more space?” He responded, gesturing dramatically at the length of couch she had taken up. “Go and sprawl yourself somewhere else. Maybe I want to lie down for five minutes, eh?”

The undertaker slid the document back to his side of the desk and signed and dated the needed portions in his neat, spidery handwriting. The nib of the pen scratched loudly against the paper in comparison to the quietness of the office.

@inviciousx

Continued from X

Will blinked for a moment, noting that she definitely wasn’t a morning person. That said...

@inviciousx​

The good ship Idris sailed smoothly into the harbor of  Arcadia, a beautiful port town with cobblestone streets, bustling docks, and a friendly face at every turn. As his crew secured the ship and prepared to disembark, Jonathan Smith, ruthless pirate with a military mind, was suddenly struck with mournful nostalgia. He’d run up and down these streets as a boy, nicked sweets from shopkeepers who he’d later realized knew of his crime, and charmed a handful of women until a curly head of hair and sparkling eyes captured his heart for good.

None of his crew knew about it. It was a long time ago, and that woman who ran away with his heart had since proven she considered it worthless.

      She’d given him a time limit of thirty minutes, but he was there in five, having excused himself from the infirmary and the small gathering within. He had found Cortez, the wretched creature of a man who had started this, and promptly lost his temper. It was a mistake. No doubt the Cardinal would seek a way to enact vengeance before long. His schemes to uncover, well, whatever the relationship was that the Papa and Caroline shared would no doubt strengthen in resolve an cruelty. 

      Cortez was lucky he wasn’t dead. As soon as Copia’s influence was ample among the Clergy and he could begin to act without backlash, he certainly would be. 

      Making sure the corridor to Caroline’s room was empty, he quickly ventured down and knocked on the door, clad in a form-fitting day-to-day attire and his skull paint. He quickly ran his hands back through his hair so it appeared less as if he had been involved in a scuffle. As soon as the door was opened, however, he looked at Caroline and found his mind suddenly falling blank.