With the Hay Festival starting this Thursday, how about some book focused vintage shopping this week? We at Your Vintage Life can’t resist buying a beautiful book and by choosing a vintage books they can give you something visually beautiful as well as a gripping read. Obviously there are millions of wonderful books out there new and old and today we share 5 different types of book to kick start a literary buying spree! All items available on-line now.
1. Buying an antique book is always a good place to start. Look out for iconic authors and their greatest novels or beautifully designed and gilt detailed less popular titles. Many versions can have beautiful covers, spines and illustrations and are incredibly decorative. We love the cover of this Victorian one on Etsy…
Etsy 1886 Poems of Schiller via beachbabyblues
2. A vintage inspired coffee table book can look beautiful displayed in your home and be a great source of information. Look out for glossy, chunky ones and have inspiration at your finger tips every day. This substantial design book features 100 of the most spectacular interiors across the world, spanning the entire 20th century to the present day.
The Iconic Interior: 1900 to the Present by Dominic Bradbury via Amazon
3. Children’s books make wonderful collectables whether they be Ladybird books, classics illustrated in iconic images or vintage versions of great kids tales. There is something wonderful about sharing a much loved story with a younger generation or just re-reading it yourself. This 1902 first edition version of Rudyard Kiplings Just So Stories is just stunning.
Just So Stories For Little Children – 1902 First Edition via Oxfam UK
4. If you have a quirky sense of humour, look for fun retro books from the 1950’s and 60’s. Sleazy, exploitative and usually terrible, some of the pulp fiction titles from that era are a hilarious vintage shopping buy and there’s no way they’d be allowed now! How about completely un-PC 1965 erotic lesbian pulp novel “No Man’s Land” !?!
Etsy vintage 1965 Erotic Pulp Novel “No Man’s Land” via EscotericandEclectic
5. There are many amazing (and often under-rated) vintage titles being re-issued. After last years amazing re-issue of Stoner: A Novel by John Williams by Vintage Books have become known as a great publisher for finding books you really should have read but havent! ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov is seen as a classic of the 20th century and well worth any vintage shopping fan discovering now.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov by Vintage Books
Did you know our director Kate wrote a book too? Style Your Modern Vintage Home is available at Amazon now and features real homes, styling ideas and information on buying vintage.
The Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts celebrates its 27th year in Wales this year and runs Thursday 22nd May to Sunday 1st June 2014. Find out more about the Hay Festival here.
Written by Sarah Gorlov
