Monday 13 August 2012

What fun - an invitation to a party!

Found in Books;

Really pretty vintage invitation card

Four pages of knitting patterns from an issue of Woman's weekly June 9, 1956.

Handwritten note; 4th moth - Oh he would love that. He always wanted to be a moth or a butterfly or a fairy.

I can only imagine ‘he’ was given the part of the 4th moth in the school play - but what do you think?


I played the part of a daffodil once! My mum made me a glorious costume out of yellow and green crepe paper. I didn't have any lines. I just had to sway gently!  I think the narrator was quoting William Wordsworth’s daffodils, but my memory is very hazy as it was a long time ago.



I seem to remember we used to push a pencil through these and spin them - but I don't remember why; it must have been part of a game. Can anyone remember?


All found inside this copy of Black Beauty; 


Black Beauty by Anna Sewell with illustrations by G. P. Micklewright; published in 1933

22 comments:

  1. I remember playing with those numbered discs when I was a boy. Can't remember why, or what we did with them.
    I once did the Birmingham Walkathon (25 miles) dressed as a giant Mars bar. I got about five miles before I nearly died of heatstroke before dumping it in someone's garden. I wonder what the owner thought.

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  2. Barbara, I really love it when I buy a book from a seller and they 'know' that the book has some little treasures inside and they sell them with the book.

    That invitation is so adorable, I just couldn't part with it.

    I think the numbers for the game could be anything like Ludo or Snakes and Ladders and a plastic arrow would have been in the middle?

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  3. Hi! Thank you for the lovely welcome at Book Blogs. :) Your site is lovely and I happily followed you and will enjoy reading your updates. You can find me over at Rainy Day Reads, www.rainydayreads.com Thanks again, Christine x

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  4. You do find the most marvellous things in your books! The invitation is wonderful and the disk is oh so familiar but I also can't remember what it is for. The comment about the moth is a classic - especially considering it is about a boy!

    I was a daisy in a ballet once. I can't remember much about the costume except for the headdress that had enormous white stand out petals. I had a very small solo part and then one of the older dancers 'picked' me and carried me off

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  5. barbaraannefisher14 August 2012 at 09:05

    Hi Roger, I sincerely hope whoever found it,
    kept it – it could be worth a fortune when 'Hoodies the movie' comes out!

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  6. barbaraannefisher14 August 2012 at 19:27

    Hello Michelle, I’m very lucky to see so many lovely things
    so it's nice to pass on a little of the excitement. I would love to keep the
    invitation it really is very pretty. Terry keeps telling me I have enough
    'junk', but I don't see it as junk!


    A plastic arrow would make more sense. I was
    wondering how on earth, you would get a pencil to stand up. But I do have some recollection
    of spinning something like this on the end of a pencil and then watching the
    pencil fall sideways – but for the life of me, I can’t think what game I would
    have been playing.

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  7. I did play the part of a Moth. :-) From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had just a couple of lines. But for a large portion of the evening, we (me and the Lilac fairy) got to dangle high above the stage in a basket on a wire, so we looked like we were floating above the Fairy Queen, Titania. :-)

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  8. What fun finds! Black Beauty was one of my fav books growing up. Loved it.

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  9. barbaraannefisher15 August 2012 at 07:20

    Me too, but it made me cry every time I read it.

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  10. barbaraannefisher15 August 2012 at 07:36

    I do find a lot of things, but then I do buy a lot of books. It’s rare to find anything in books bought at fairs or in second-hand-bookshops (because the seller has already checked!) but I nearly always find something in books bought at auction. I think that’s because they were packed away years before, and the owners have forgotten all about the treasure they hid inside.

    Your daisy headdress sounds wonderful – have you got any photos? I love the fact that you were picked and carried off – I bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house! My poor mum spent hours and hours attaching crepe paper petals to the waistband of my daffodil skirt – and then I just stood and swayed!

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  11. barbaraannefisher15 August 2012 at 07:42

    That sounds amazing! I bet the two of you had a lot of fun and what wonderful memories.

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  12. That is the most magical edition of Black Beauty I have ever seen- almost seems somewhat priceless. I think he did get the part of the moth! How fabulous! So glad I stopped by : ) ~ Jess

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  13. The 4th moth in a play ~ how nice! Playing a daffodil must had been very 'gigglish' too. I imagine that's what happens when one plays flower or fairy or garden creatures. Such a pretty role! I once played a witch stirring a cauldron with two other witches. I had a line, I think. And I borrowed my mother's dress for the part.

    Black Beauty was one of my youngest sister's favourite childhood books. The vintage invitation card at the beginning of the post made me smile, too. I would've loved to attend that party. With invites so attractive, much could be expected at the grand affair itself.

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  14. barbaraannefisher16 August 2012 at 15:43

    You are quite right – it’s gorgeous and yet another one I would love to keep. I think so too, wish, I could have seen him in his costume.

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  15. barbaraannefisher16 August 2012 at 15:55

    It was very gigglish and I still giggle when I think about it! Your part as a witch sounds very exciting! How lovely to have a speaking part, I was always an ‘extra’ because I was so shy.

    I hope the party was as good as the invitation!

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  16. Black Beauty was one of my favourite books growing up. I believe I sill have my copy. And what wonderful items you found inside this copy!

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  17. It is like a treasure box! What a find. I love all of the different artifacts. You could really try to piece together who had the book before you. What a mystery. :)

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  18. barbaraannefisher18 August 2012 at 06:35

    Me too! I’ve got very few books from my childhood, but I do have a copy of Black Beauty it has a note inside from my mum, and dad so is very precious.

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  19. barbaraannefisher18 August 2012 at 07:02

    It’s difficult to find out very much from these small pieces of history, but I always wish I could.

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  20. "I seem to remember we used to push a pencil through these and spin them - but I don't remember why; it must have been part of a game. Can anyone remember?" <--- A cheap version of dice?

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  21. barbaraannefisher20 August 2012 at 18:35

    Hi Nikki, maybe it was in place of a dice. I wish I could remember it’s driving me mad!

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Barbara xx