Oct 6, 2010: Lighthouse Literature

C'mon, fess up, at some point you thought it would be cool to live in a lighthouse. Of course you grew up with radio, most with TV, and even some of you young'uns, with internet. But what about being posted to a lighthouse all alone, or with a bagpipe player, before any of those things?

Books.

In 1876 portable libraries were first introduced in the Light-House Establishment and furnished to all light vessels and inaccessible offshore light stations with a selection of reading materials. These libraries were contained in a portable wooden case, each with a printed listing of the contents posted inside the door. Proper arrangements were made for the exchange of these libraries at intervals, and for revision of the contents as books became obsolete in accordance with suggestions obtained from public library authorities.

A sampling;
Ripley, M. M., CAPTAIN FRACASSE FROM THE FRENCH OF THEOPHILE GAUTIER. New York. 1880. 411 p
Willert, P. F., THE REIGN OF LEWIS XI. New Yord. nd. c.1880. 300 p
Lamont, James. SEASONS WITH THE SEA-HORSES; OR, SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. New York. 1861. 282p
Taylor, Bayard. AT HOME AND ABROAD – A SKETCH-BOOK OF LIFE, SCENERY AND MEN. New York. 1893. 500 p
Torpelius, Z., THE SURGEON’S STORIES – TIMES OF CHARLES XII. Chicago. 1884. 349 p.
Frazer, R. W., BRITISH INDIA. New York. 1897. 399 p
Chaillu, Paul Du. MY APINGI KINGDOM: WITH LIFE IN THE GREAT SAHARA, AND SKETCHES OF THE CHASE OF THE OSTRICH, HYENA, &c. New York. 1870. 254p
Duffy, Bella. THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS (FLORENCE, SIENA, PISA, AND LUCCA) WITH GENOA. New York. 1893. 456 p
Mahan, A. T., THE GULF AND INLAND WATERS. [Volume III of the Three volume set of The Navy In The Civil War. New York. 1883. 267 p

No Playboy. :(
By the looks of that case and books, I think I'd want more than one handle.

link

via

Fixed the missing handle for you, check the pic on the right side again :-)

That kind of lighthouse?

I think I just had a bookgasm! That cabinet didn't hinder me, either.

Kolbenfresser;686805 wrote:

Fixed the missing handle for you, check the pic on the right side again :-)

Yeah, but where's the Playboy?:p:

That list goes to prove that when you're bored enough, you'll read anything.

It's not just the material...it's the look and feel and smell of an old book. I've had a lifelong love affair with old things (I hear the jokes already), but old books especially.

Shhh, Shawnee, don't let our secret out.

You know how the stomach has a separate compartment for desert that isn't affected by how much savory stuff you've eaten. Well, my finances work in the same way. No matter how many bills there are, I will never discount the possibility of buying a book because there's always money available for that and it has no impact on the rest of my budget.

Shawnee, I've got a whole big bookcase full of old books I inherited dating from the 1870s. I'm not interested in reading them, but they're cool to have. My mom was so happy that I fell in love with books same as she did, so she could be sure I'd hang on to them.

Pete Zicato;686886 wrote:

That list goes to prove that when you're bored enough, you'll read anything.

[YOUTUBE]S636lyBunY8[/YOUTUBE]

Shawnee123;686889 wrote:

It's not just the material...it's the look and feel and smell of an old book. I've had a lifelong love affair with old things (I hear the jokes already), but old books especially.

I just turned 54. I'm just sayin'. :D

Juniper;686957 wrote:

Shawnee, I've got a whole big bookcase full of old books I inherited dating from the 1870s. I'm not interested in reading them, but they're cool to have. My mom was so happy that I fell in love with books same as she did, so she could be sure I'd hang on to them.

Treasures! :)

Elspode;686988 wrote:

I just turned 54. I'm just sayin'. :D

Yeah, but how is your spine? :p:

My folks have a copy of the ORIGINAL Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. I think my grandfather bought and it got passed on. From reading this I learned not only how to make food for invalids (i.e. toast), but also that a housemaid should lift chairs and dust the bottom of the legs. BTW, has anyone read the children's book Susannah of the Mounties?

Susannah of the Mounties? No, but I saw the movie.

Was there a movie? Seriously? What year was it made? Was it any good? I loved the book when I was a kid. It was up there with The Faraway Tree.

It's a Shirley Temple movie, which means it's been on TV here a gazillion times.

My folks have a copy of the ORIGINAL Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.

I would love to see that book, Casi.

I have a book about the history of America. It was written after WW1 but before WW2. It's really interesting to read about The War to End All Wars. They were saying that it was too early to judge the effects of that war (just called THE World War) and how it would take time for history to look back and make proper assessments.

So fascinating.

xoxoxoBruce;687033 wrote:

It's a Shirley Temple movie, which means it's been on TV here a gazillion times.

I'll look out for it. Cheers Bruce.

Shawnee, I'll grab a pic of the original and also the republished edition that I bought a couple of months ago.

Shawnee, I started reading the republished version of Mrs Beeton's last night. What it has over the original is that it provides explanations of various things.

e.g. "Drawing room decor was a miasma of ornamentation and colour. A bare room was not acceptable and householders liked to cover every surface with objects and bric-a-brac reflecting their particular aspirations and interests, while making sure everything was correct and nothing would jeopardize their place in 'polite society'. Often the room was adorned with heavy drapes and equally heavy mahogany furniture, bought to last and 'selected because it was correct, moral, worthy, not because it was attractive.' The drawing room was generally so full of furniture and bits and pieces that moving around often proved to be a hazard.

Pretty much every explanation is interesting. I chose this one as it's one of the first and I've always wondered why Australians (for example) have so much more clutter in their houses than say Latin Americans. The above is one possible reason. The other possible explanation is generally people have more money.

That does sound interesting!

Google found a PBS Masterpiece Theater show about her:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/mrsbeeton/index.html

Cool. Thanks for that. The website looks great.

ooh, alone with a bagpipe player . . . I can think of a few things to occupy the time