50% off Thriftin'

Goodwill had a 50% off sale, and here's what I hauled in.

Wine glasses in two of my favourite colours and two vintage glasses

"Veterans Club 1973" tumbler

I love the gold

Bowling glass. There is faint writing on the other side that says "OK Koffee Klub at Northgate Bowl"

And of course I went overboard on buying cheap vintage books

The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe, 1964. I love this story about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for infinite knowledge. 

This book has some amazing illustrations inside

illustration in Doctor Faustus

Another neat illustration in Doctor Faustus

Dracula's Guest, Bram Stoker, 1974. This is a book of "nine tales of horror and suspense - fashioned from the macabre imagination that created 'Dracula'". I actually didn't know that Stoker wrote short stories so I look forward to getting into this one. This will go nicely with the rest of my vampire collection. 

Pond Life: A Guide to Common Plants and Animals of North American Ponds and Lakes, George K. Reid, Ph.D., 1967

Each page is full of the greatest illustrations

Seriously, every page is a work of art. Gorgeous!

Experiments in Laboratory Chemistry, 1959

Front page of Experiments in Laboratory Cemistry

Ok, so admittedly, I have no idea what this book is talking about, but it as some very excellent diagrams. Although I don't understand them, I love vintage science books. 

Creative Dramatics: An Art for Children, Geraldine Brain Siks, 1958. Ah, drama, something more in my field of knowledge. I love, love, love the cover of this. Very 50s.

The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs, Adrian J. Desmond, 1976. Great font on the word "Dinosaurs".

Roar

I really enjoy how the illustrations and the type are all a dark brown instead of the traditional black.

Stories from Hans Christian Andersen. Annoyingly, there's no date on this, but on the front page there is a child's inscription dated 1971. Since going to Copenhagen in the spring, I've grown more appreciative of the works of Hans Christian Andersen, so thought I'd pick this one up. His stories are actually pretty macabre.

Illustration from "The Little Mermaid"

This is the best; Andersen telling his tales to the wee ones!

Dracula and Frankenstein book

In honour of this spooky month, I'm going to showcase all of my vintage horror/monster-related books throughout October.


This book here was quite the find. It is a large double Dracula / Frankenstein hardcover. The illustrations on the dust jacket are gorgeous.
These two monsters have numerous connections and seem indelibly tied together throughout history. As mentioned in a previous blog post, it has been speculated that the historic versions of Frankenstein and Dracula may have battled in the 1400s. The conception of the Frankenstein and Dracula tales came out of the same story writing contest in the haunted summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati. Universal Studio's film versions of Dracula and Frankenstein both came out in 1931 and unarguably created cinematic history. Plus both Drac and Frank have deliciously sugary children's cereals themed after them.

Dracula / Frankenstein, Bram Stoker / Mary Shelly. There is no date of publication anywhere on this book! Very frustrating, but it does say that it is a book club edition.

He looks so sad

Here is what the book looks like naked. Scandalous. 

Vampire books

In honour of this spooky month, I'm going to showcase all of my vintage horror/monster-related books throughout October.

Today, we peer into my vampire collection.

Top: The Vampire Cinema, David Pirie, 1977
Left: The Dracula Tape, Fred Saberhagen, 1980
Centre: Dracula, Bram Stoker, 1965
Right: The Dracula Archives, Raymond Rudorff, 1977

The cover on this one is pure classic horror. The evil count with his cape, the haunted castle looming in the dark clouds behind him. I saw this in a window at a used book store in Halifax (one of the coolest book stores I've ever been to, incidentally) and had to have it. I also find it pretty hilarious that Dracula has jowls in this rendering.

Much like The Dracula Archives, this cover too demonstrates the same classic horror cover elements. I particularly like the one red light lit up in the spooky castle. Eerie! The title font is a metallic red, but I just couldn't capture in on camera.

The undead are haunting the night....

Ah! I love finding library envelopes in the back of books - especially when there is still a sign-out card in it! Joy! This book was due back Nov 16, 1984. Added bonus: the typewriter typed misspelling of the book title. Such a good find, I love it when old books have so much character like this. 

Vampires of Ottawa, Eric Wilson, 1985. As I was born in Ottawa, I had to get this one. Especially considering it was published the same year I was born. 

Vampires of Ottawa is clearly some pretty chilling material.

Oh look, it's the parliament building. 

As mentioned, it's scary stuff. After seeing this especially creepy illustration, I may have to sleep with the light on tonight.

Here's a look inside The Vampire Cinema. The book is about vampire movies. Surprising, given the title, right? A still from Nosferatu. 

How awesome does this movie look?

The book looks even better without its dust jacket.