Sunday 27 May 2012

Plunder



I hope we're not yet at the point where you're boycotting my posts due to an overload of vintage teacups and books . . . although that being said if those things don't tickle your fancy you've strayed onto the wrong blog! Floradora is one of my favourite china patterns but until recently I'd never found a piece priced reasonably enough to tempt me into making it mine; the trio and sugar bowl going for a song (£3!) worked it's magic though. Love at first sight you could say.

Books on all things botanical/wildlife seem to be cropping up everywhere I go at the moment, a little Ladybird came home with me for it's beautiful butterfly and moth illustrations - there's actually a paperback I've been meaning to buy for a while called 'The Behaviour of Moths' about an obsessive collector living alone in a crumbling mansion. It promises plenty of intrigue!

I loved the film Sleepy Hollow, Johnny Depp is hilarious and the set design/forbidding atmosphere made my skin crawl in a deliciously creepy-but-not-too-scary way. I'm usually a book over film sort of girl but actually had no idea it was based on literature before I spied the green booklet peeking out from behind a stack of Mills & Boon novels of all places. Planning to set up camp on the sofa for an hour with a jug of iced tea to read and enjoy.

I picked up the little square box frame for something crafty on but have taken a liking to the little white daisy-like flowers although the frame itself might get a couple of coats of white paint.

The Penguin Poets series are all gorgeous books, they're the sort of vintage literary loveliness you see stacked in eclectic, haphazard piles on the pages of interiors magazines. Aesthetically appealing obviously but beyond looks alone I've read each volume I've bought in the series and I'm keen to collect the lot which is probably a mission and a half as I think there are around 100 altogether.

The Folio Society publish great keepsake editions and Anne of Green Gables is one of those childhood reads that really stuck with me, I've never seen a Folio Society edition of anything in a charity shop before now - they're like catnip for book lovers so I can't say I'm surprised! Getting my mitts on this one made my week!

This week I've mostly been melting into a puddle of sun-dodging pale face goop, I'm such a gloomy weather girl - I blame being an Autumn baby - I'm all about chai tea, snuggling under blankets, layering up and crisp wintry walks. Summer evenings and barbecues I love, but sunstroke and a major sunburn to the face a couple of weekends ago (it was only 12 degrees and overcast!) have made me rather cautious about venturing out of the shade in the heat of the day. Maybe I can figure out how to rock a wide brimmed hat and gigantic sunglasses at the same time!?

 

Linking to Flea Market FindsMagpie Monday and Thrift Share Monday

39 comments :

  1. I love the books, they are so charming!

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  2. WOW! Very interesting and beautiful finds.
    Awesome post. I just love it.
    I added your button to my blog. I don't get much traffic but maybe I can help a few view your beautiful things. You can add my button if you want.
    Hope your weekend goes well.
    Love, Joann
    xoxo

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  3. Beautiful book finds. I picked up another collectible children's book this week with out even trying. I seem to knack for finding collectible ones at the moment.

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  4. oh my that floral design is just so luscious. Could one ever overload on vintage tea cups or books? I think not! Lovely pretties - thanks.

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  5. Love the teacup and saucer - very pretty pattern.
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  6. I'm loving this post. Feel free to blog about as many vintage teacups as you like! I think there's something in the air cos everyone seems to be finding charity shop bargains at the moment and I'm loving it! I mentioned this post on my latest blog post cos I've just found some bargains too - check it out!!

    http://edenfound.blogspot.co.uk/

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  7. theres nothing wrong with bit of china and books in my opinion ;) your tea cup is lovely, i never heard of that pattern x

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  8. Oh Jem, loving all your book finds again - can I come over in my widebrimmed hat and we can hide from the sun in the library? I adore butterflies, love the penguin poets and would do ANYTHING to have a big collection of folio editions like my inlaws.

    Have a non-sticky week (pity me, my children are translucent too and I've spent all week doing nothing but apply sun-cream and then showering it off them along with accumulated grime at the end of the day!)
    xxx

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  9. Aww Jem, great book finds as always! I get what you mean about the heat. I am an autumn baby as well, although I do love the sunshine...I just can't bare humidity, it's so uncomfortable.

    I hope you manage to cool down soon,

    Lexie

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  10. I can't believe how lucky you were on the Anne of Green Gables! I saw the photo and swooned before even reading the post! Lovely! I picked up some great 60's kids books this week (but I'm still jealous!).

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  11. Oh never, ever, stop posting teacup and books photos! I bought the Behaviour of Moths from a car boot recently having heard it's good. It's next on my list. I also sympathise about the sun, I have to be so careful, but seeing as it's cured a plethora of coughs, colds and aches that have been haunting me for months now, I think the big hat and sunglasses option is for me.

    Enjoy all your lovely books!

    x

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  12. How I love that butterfly book! I love butterflies - Joe's always amazed at how many I can name when we see them on a walk!

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  13. Those little Ladybirds books are wonderful. I still have a soft spot for 'What to Look For In Spring". The teacup design is very pretty too. i was back in your old haunt of Nottingham this last week, though I didn't actually get as far as the city this time. The charity shops yielded nothing of interest either, not even an old poetry book.

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  14. Ohhhh....seriously love all your finds this week, but then you know I'm a fellow teacup and book lover! However I love, adore and covet your Folio copy of Anne of Green Gables - its one of my all time favourites from childhood!

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  15. That last book with it's illustration is just gorgeous!

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  16. I'm rather jelous of the Washington Irving book. They are such great stories.
    Jo

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  17. You can never have too many vintage teacups and books!I too love the Sleepy Hollow film(it's one of my pile of films that I like to put on to work to)and I'd love to read the original story.I can't believe how beautiful that Anne of Green Gables book is and it's one of my favourites from childhood too.Would love to see you wearing a big hat and glasses,sounds perfect to me :)xx

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  18. Always enjoy seeing your wonderful teacups and books Jem! Want the Floradora teacup and Anne of Green Gables book! xo

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  19. I have seen Folio Society books in charity shops occasionally, but they have always been dull books I wouldn't particularly want to read. Whereas that Anne of the Green Gables book is gorgeous!

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  20. Hi Jem! Thanks for the lovely comment on my blog! I am so glad you stopped by cos now I'm perusing your super sweet blog and I am definitely smitten! I love these photos of teacups and books and other old stuffs-- they are just very gorgeous. That book of Rip Van Winkle just awakened a long-forgotten memory of me back when I was 8 or so, hunched over a really old volume of one of my encyclopedias that had that story!

    ♥ laura
    the blog of worldly delights
    the shop of worldly delights
    ps. I'm your newest follower ♥

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  21. Beautiful finds you are a sucker for a pretty book and teacup. In fact, your blog has the same effect as drinking a refreshing cuppa and relaxing with a book.

    Lucy x

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  22. Never never never get bored of your beautiful photos x

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  23. Jem- I will never grow old of your love of teacups and books, it's one I admire greatly. Such rare and beautiful finds, I adore the Green Gables book and you know my love of butterflies always flutters when I see gorgeous pictures like that xxx

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  24. I just love that last picture of the book cover - it is gorgeous.

    Nina xxx

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  25. amazing. i love vintage teasets and old books.
    i have a few tea sets that i would quite like to convert into candles. maybe.

    i too am melting and my poor fair skin turns pink after being under the sun in two seconds! winter love.
    xxx

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  26. I love teacups and books, so I am happy to have found you! Now following.

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  27. I'm not boycotting. Those cups are gorgeous!

    xo, lizzie

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  28. Lovely copy of Anne of Green Gables, I love that book. Takes me right back to being little again...ahhhh

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  29. On the contrary...
    I also like teacups and books, and only because of your blog with the lovely things you find at all kinds of antiques/car boot/charity sales, I managed to motivate myself to get out of bed on Sunday in time for the fleamarket...
    A glass cake-stand (slightly at an angle), a glass candlestick, a small square picture frame, a lady's portatrait on a china plaque in an iron frame (I'm afraid originally some kind of tombstone decoration), two belt buckles, a knitted pearl bag with a hunting scene(with holes, but I could not resist), alltogether 30 Eur (ok, the bag was the most expensive item and not worth it, but imagine someone stringing up thousands of tiny glass beads in exactly the right order on sewing thread and knitting a tiny handbag on very thin needles...
    Please continue to blog about your finds, I love your blog and it is reassuring to see that I am not the only person who is very fond of things which most "modern" peopme just throw away because they think they are old and shabby!
    Thank you so much!
    griseldis

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  30. I adore the vintage clutter of your blog so please don't hold back :) Anne of Green Gables was one of my favourite books and I lost count of the number of times I read it as a child! I'm also more of a gloomy weather person - even in the height of summer I still bring a hot water bottle to bed most nights!!

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  31. Such beautiful finds - the books are delightful. And as usual I love the way you light your photos. Oh and that teacup? Divine.

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  32. Who could get bored of vintage teacups and pretty books!? :) I especially love all the pretty books!

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  33. You MUST show us your house in its entirety soon! I imagine it's magical.

    I'm kind of the same about summer; warm, light evenings? Yes! Sweaty, uncomfortable heat? No. xxx

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  34. Oh I NEVER get tired of your plunder! It's fantastic.
    I so enjoy your beautiful blog and wonderful photos.

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  35. Wonderful book finds! I'm an autumn baby too and am not good in the heat either, may also be the fact I'm not a great "skin showing" girl so I tend to be the one covered up boiling away. Plus in not a fan of having a tab, pale and interesting all the way. Just think how youthful you will look in your 80's for not having all that sun damage :) Scarlett x

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  36. If it's any consolation, I've been avoiding the sun too. I just can't cope with it in my heavily-pregnant state but I think I'm like you anyway (autumn baby) and I hate getting hot, bothered and sticky. Give me sunshine by all means but on a crisp and fresh day when it's bright enough to be cheerful and warm me but weak enough not to be dangerous/bothersome. Ha! listen to me, what a weather bore!

    PS Never stop posting about teacups and books!!x

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  37. I haven't seen the Anne of Green Gables Folio Society edition either. And I've been to Hay-on-Wye, that town of books! It's a good thing too, otherwise I would have bought it and a dozen of its hardback Folio sisters. I love the concept of your blog!

    A Plus B in the Sea

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