As I am organizing things around here, I've been coming across some very interesting things. This old Arithmetic book was published in 1855 and used by my Great Aunt Anna in 1898. Actual size of this book is 4 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 inches.
Ok, call me a nerd for getting excited over this. 😆
On the inside cover of this book is written: Anna Reynolds, Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Oct. 30, 1898.
I never knew my great aunt, only heard tid bits of different stories over the years. What I remember is that she spent many years in and out of the Indiana State Hospital in the 20s, 30s and 40s. When not in the hospital, her brother, my great uncle Everett (I think) would keep her locked up in a room because she was prone to fits and rages. At one time, she DID live in a house and I remember reading in one of my grandmother's letters (this was her sister) that someone needed to get Anna out of the house so they could get into it and get rid of junk. Apparently, it was so cluttered you could hardly walk in it.
During some geneology research a few years ago, I attempted to contact the state hospital to find out the nature of Aunt Anna's illness. This brought up nothing because the old hospital is now gone and all records sent elsewhere.
On the back of this book, is an advertisement for the publishing company's Drawing book. I thought it interesting. 
A close up of the bottom part shows the prices of books 150 years ago. 
thesnakeandiandthebutterfly 
Carlos, I just knew someone would call me a nerd. 😆 But that's ok. I did ask for it. I still have a few papers I wrote in summer high school. I failed sophomore and junior English classes and had to retake them. That's the first time I said that out loud to anyone. In those fifty minute classes during the school year, we were supposed to write one page essays on whatever subject the teacher asked for. It was impossible for me. I'd clam up and couldn't write a thing. Summer school classes were longer and we were allowed to take the assignments home. I did much better, getting an A each summer.
Thanks Danny. Yeah, it would be interesting to find out more about my Great Aunt. My sister once said it might have been schizophrenia but I doubt it. Schizophrenia runs in families. If one person had it, it will turn up again in the next generation or sometimes skip a generation. To my knowledge no one else has been affected by this in 100 years.
Thanks Jill. Organizing is very hard for me. It takes a great amount of patience and focus, so I love it when I find a treasure. That's one of the problems of organizing, however. I'm easily distracted.
I only have a little bit of knowledge of it as I worked as an Administrative Assistant in a residential treatment facility for the mentally ill. I had to type their psycho-social histories for the State agency that oversaw the facility. Shizophrenia usually starts in adolescence. Don't quote me on that though because I no longer have my book on diagnostic criteria and am only going by memory.
What a neat old book. I have several old books from accounting and other subjects from way back then. I love to collect them,& when I find them I really enjoy going through them. It is a quirk of mine. (at least my friends and family say it is a quirk.) Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes to find them.:up: 🙂 Hope all is well with you Pam.:D :heart:
😆 Nope, that's my alter ego. I'm the bee in everyone's bonnet. :p
Does your new avatar means you're going to start bugging the hoods? 😀
I'd be curious to see some of my writings from back in school to compare them to my writing now. To the best of my recollection, I think I still have the same style. Well, of course, if it was a serious subject, it wouldn't have humor oozing out the Wazzoo. :right: 😆
D, it really is a neat old book. If it was worth anything though, I'd sell it. Carlos, back in my day, it was only the 'finks', 'hoods', 'oddballs' and 'goofoffs' who went to summer school. It was in quite a diverse class. I was one of the oddballs. The hoods never showed up, of course. It was mortifying to have to go. I think my writing is similar to those papers. The TA said to write as if you are sitting and talking to someone. No one had ever suggested that before. Plus, we weren't given a time limit of 45 minutes. Timed papers and tests were killers for me.
Originally posted by PainterWoman:
OMG! :yikes: And I've been fraternizing and cahootinizing with you? You should have told me this before. Just Kidding! 😆 And to think that now you do it so well … Ummm, the Writing. 😀 Oh what the heck, the fraternizing and cahootinizing too. :jester:
I guess that's how most of us write our Blog Posts … as if we're sitting down talking to someone or several someones. While we might not be talking to them in Real Time, it's only a delayed effect. As soon as we release our Posts, our readers WILL be hearing what we had been saying, written as if we had been sitting down talking to someone.I'd have to say that it IS different writing my Posts vs. writing something back in school. Oh sure, you had to write as if you were talking to someone because after all, teachers are also someones. 😆 But, there was no escaping the Albatross on your shoulder of having to follow the grammar rules and shoot for a good grade. As far as I recall, the odds were that most of the time, only the teacher would see our papers. Only rarely did we end up having to read our papers for the class. Thus, our papers really weren't written with the intent that the audience would be more than ONE person.Here on our Blogs, most of us shoot for fun, diversion and entertainment, Etc.
Hello Pam, I love old books and history. Thank you for sharing. :sherlock:
Thank you Nevin and you're welcome.
this is awesome!!That reminds me of the time I was surfing the old things on the attick, and I came across my grandpa's diaries. Maybe I should mention the my grandpa passed away 12 years b4 I was born..It was so nice.. I luv old papers!
Mays, did you get to keep your grandpa's diaries? That would be a treasure to read. Even though you never knew him, what he wrote would be a glimpse into who he was.
I love the smell of old books!!! 🙂
Me too!