Vintage childrens books

My earliest memories of favourite pastimes as a child revolved largely around books. Reading them or colouring them in, hours spent in activity books, even writing and making my own. For the last little while, I've been quietly obsessed with collecting vintage children's books. Cursing my lack of storage space and lack of foresight in my twenties, I've found myself wishing we hadn't given up so many beloved books to garage sales or the charity stores. Everything from Enid Blyton to The chronicles of Narnia to The Babysitters club, I want them all back in my life. Am I just being overly sentimental? Does this feeling pass?! One comforting thing about letting them all go in the first place is that hopefully they've been capturing the imaginations of other children all this time.

We have a healthy stock of new and wonderful children's books in this house, but with the little one getting ready for 'big' school next year, I've been feeling the need to share with her some of the stories I fell in love with at her age. So far I've managed to find some lovely, sometimes non-pc, old school Australian classics like Blinky Bill and Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. My favourite Enid Blyton books, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair, perhaps it's the rose coloured hue of nostalgia but the illustrations of the Georgina Hargreaves editions are so beautiful they make the effort and purchase worthwhile.

My latest and most extravagant find has been The Value Tale Series. I've been keeping an eye out for these in the thrifts, second hand bookstores, on Etsy and eBay for a while and finally came across this lot, available as a set and in amazing condition. Not a single one has been written in, stained or torn. I agonised over the expense of shipping them from the US but knew I'd always regret it if I missed the chance to bring them all into our home. Finally looking through the pages at these familiar images after all these years, I'm thrilled. I couldn't put a price on them. The Value Tale stories each tell a biographical tale about a prominent person in history who demonstrated a particular strength in character. They are wonderful educational stories, illustrated beautifully and I couldn't think of a better gift for a very special five year old girl this Christmas. I'm SO looking forward to reading each one with her. I hope she loves them as much as I did.

Did you have any of the Value Tales? Did you love them too?

Hope you have a happy week!

Belinda x

Woman's World

I've said it before, if there's one thing I'm really rather good at, it's shopping. It may actually be a bit of a problem but that's beside the point (!) One of my all time favourite things to do is shop for vintage. It always has been. It was born out of necessity, hitting the charity stores and markets for great clothes on a checkout chick's budget as a teenager. These days, in addition to the Thifts (yes, I've wholeheartedly adopted this Americanism) I've also got a stack of vintage and antique stores on high rotation as well. I will drive out of my way to visit a store I've heard about or driven past, or I'll spend hours scouring Etsy or my favourite online vintage stores. I just cant resist the urge to hunt for treasure. This particular kind of shopping takes patience and perseverance. Two things that I wouldn't normally use first to describe myself but it's finds like these that keep me hunting.

Last week I popped into a store near to where I work that I had caught my eye driving past. To say I was thrilled with these purchases is an understatement! It was emotional, we'll always be together (together in electric dreams)

So I bought two of those chairs, one now lives on our patio in the filtered sunlight and the other sits beside a little girls bed for story time. That beautiful vintage Mexican bedspread is soon to be laid out on her bed for the warmer summer nights too. 

Then there's Woman's World, the self proclaimed "bible" for the woman "who cares" and is as vital to her as her femininity. This beautiful hardcover tome published in Melbourne, has guidance for the modern '60's woman on everything from buying a car, business etiquette, domestic bliss and grooming to sports explanations and how to address important people "May it please Your Majesty..."

It is one of my most favourite finds ever. It now takes pride of place on the bookshelf in the dining room, at arms length for reference and giggles during (or preparing for) dinner parties.

Hope you're having a lovely week!

Belinda x

Come with me on a journey through time and space

NYC Grand Central Terminal, ca 1935 - 1941
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

I'm so inspired by photography. But there's something especially magical about vintage photographs. I have a box full from my nana that I'm planning to digitise for her. I lose hours going through them, poring over the details. You can see some vintage photo's of my beautiful nanas Elsie and Joan, in previous posts here and here.

The New York City Municipal Archives have recently released a huge collection of 870,000 images to the public which offer us a glimpse into life in the city of dreams in the early twentieth century.  I love seeing what life might have been like, extraordinary landmarks and the most ordinary of daily activities lit with the warmth of nostalgia.

The images below were sourced from The Atlantic, you can see the rest of their collection here. I had a hard time choosing which pictures to post. Once immersed, you could resurface from this collection and realise the moon has risen many times over.  You have been warned ;-)

6th and 40th Street, 18 May 1940
Look closely, the newspaper headline reads "Nazi army now 75 miles from Paris"
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Original City Hall station, 1904
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Bleeker Street, August 1937
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Boys playing stick ball, 1916-1920
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Times Square, January 1938
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Traffic jam in Manhattan, 29 January 1923
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

Trolley car driver, 25th September 1924
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

View from NY Tower Bridge, 22nd December 1936
(Source: NYC Municipal Archives)

And, since we're in flashback mode, I was delighted to discover some online archives of my home. I mentioned you could get lost in all this vintage photography right?

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has published a number of amazing interactive collections online. Many images have been determined by the Museum to have  ‘no known Copyright’ and are being made available for public download through the Commons on Flickr.

Riding a pony to school.  LOVE that the girl is in charge!
(source)

King & George Street, Sydney
(Source)

Middle Harbour Bridge
(Source)

Bondi Bay, Sydney
(Source)

Queen Victoria Markets, now Queen Victoria Building
(source)

Manly Beach, Sydney
(Source)

Sydney Observatory
(Source)

So gorgeous! If you're not suffering from vintage photo fatigue by now, The Tyrrell Collection is another stunning record of country and city life in Australia during the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Belinda x

* Post title, a quote from The Mighty Boosh.

Pleasure Bound

Pleasure Bound! Ha, I bet that got your attention ;-)  *hint - be very careful with the google search on that one!*

This Easter long weekend we decided to head up to the NSW Central Coast to stay with some friends.  I was lucky enough to steal away a few hours on Saturday (thank you darling husband!) to check out a few vintage and antique stores that I had spied on our way in.  Who knew a little seaside town could be such a treasure trove!

So much so, I'll be making this a destination drive again soon, once we've moved and I know what it is I'm looking for to furnish and style the new digs.  I could have spent ALL DAY in these shops, check out my bounty:

- Advertisement for the 'Pleasure Bound' Vaudeville Revue at the Grand Opera House (formerly the Princess Theatre, then became the New Tivoli) in Sydney.  This poster is EIGHTY years old !!!!

- Polaroid Land Camera, Colourpack 82 (circa 1971 - 1975)

- Folding Box Brownie Camera (Introduced in 1937 -  discontinued in1940)

- 1950's Pyrex glass baby feeding bottle. Latest addition to my growing glass bottle collection.

- Early 1900's flat iron.  Will be used as a door stop!

Heck yes!  I'm SO thrilled with these little pieces of history, I can't even tell you. As a result, I've primarily spent the last few hours since getting home researching Australian Vaudeville (variety) Theatre. And it's fascinating!

Vaudeville didn't have the prestige of 'legitimate' theatre but it was quintessential Australian theatre in the early 1900's. The depression and the introduction of radio and talking pictures (movies) in the late 1920's meant that our colonial theatre industry suffered terribly, especially the performers, actors, musicians etc.  In the early 30's, J C Williamson was arguably the most prominent and successful theatre manager in Australia, his company was a bit of a powerhouse and was able to secure international artists and reduce prices of theatre tickets (you can see Matinee prices start at one shilling on the poster) to encourage people back to the theatre.  Otherwise in Sydney, traditional vaudeville gave way to revues and amateur productions or 'peoples theatre'.

George Wallace and Ella Shields were the headlining performers in the Pleasure Bound revue.  Both were very successful and much loved.  Larrakin George Wallace in particular was a very popular Australian comedic performer.  I've watched and listened to a few of his clips, I just love him. Check this video out! 

There isn't too much to be found on the Pleasure Bound revue itself, aside from ad's in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1932 describing it as a 'lively, laughable revue.  Pretty girls, funny ideas, beautiful costumes, brilliant dancing' - definitely worth a bob entry fee!

I am loving this beautiful keepsake of a lost art form. Vaudeville theatre officially died in the sixties when television completely took over as the popular form of entertainment. 

It feels a little like I'm in an episode of 'Who do you think you are?' This is part of my story as an Australian. I don't know whether I would ever have known all this if not for the discovery of this poster. How wonderful a gift it's proving to be.  Cant wait to have it appropriately mounted on a wall in our home and tell what I know of it's story to my guests in years to come!

Another cornerstone of Australian entertainment history.  But, a girls gotta draw the line somewhere ;-)

Belinda x

PS. I'm just as enamoured with the cameras and other amazing pieces but I have to stop myself from prattling on here, seriously I could go on about all of them all night!