Musty Books

Once, long ago, these books were treasured and prized possessions, the repository of knowledge available only perhaps in other books. Now, these books reside behind the locked door of the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Though they are old, and some of their pages, covers, or bindings have become brittle and yellowed with age, the quality of how they were produced is evident in that most of them are still in good condition, in some cases almost 200 years after they were published.
Skimming through these books, one might find information that still is relevant today or outdated ideas that were accepted as fact in the not-too-distant past. What really grabs my attention is the textures, artwork, and the lettering on these books. I look at the covers, and my mind concocts the outlines of a story or a certain ambiance.












Once I open the book, that image shifts into something different, and my imagined book vanishes. Sometimes this can be disappointing, but sometimes the contents are even better than the covers.