Home Library Begins

I've promised photos for a while. Well, I've been done with the floor in the library for a while, but haven't had any time to tell you about it.

Our new house was built in 1959 and fortunately for us has wonderful hardwood floors under... patina, I guess to put it kindly. Carpet, pad, staples, carpet tack strips, random nails, screws, paint, mystery stuff, etc., etc.

So, the floors are done. Now I need to paint still and I'm also waiting on a carpenter to get freed up. I like to think I'm pretty handy, but this is my very own home library. I'm not leaving my future happiness up to my "sufficient" wood skills. Sufficient is being kind. I can knock together a compost box (check!), and as these photos demonstrate strip a floor down so it can shine.

I have a plan of what I'd like, but I want to talk to a pro. But, it's a crazy boom time in eastern Montana, so getting someone available is tough.

Anyway, some explanation in the photos, the "done" ones are of the library, the earlier ones are of another room, but it all looked about the same.

So, my apologies while things are under construction.

In book news, I've recently acquired a typically pricey tome for a nonce which I hope to translate into another Legacy Library over at LibraryThing. Have you seen the revamped Legacy Library page? It's fantastic! Go, visit and enjoy.

If you're not familiar with the Legacy Library Project on LibraryThing, the idea is to take the best resources we can tackle and digitally reconstruct the personal libraries of famous (and infamous) people in history. There's

Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Jefferson (and nearly all the founding fathers!), Marie Antoinette, the collection of books from the HMS Beagle when Darwin was on board, ee cummings, Emily Dickinson, and even the fictional Roger Mifflin, the bookseller of Parnassus on Wheels.

As of this writing there are 809 entries on the LL project. Now, not all of these are completed, but we're working on them all the time, and new libraries are finished nearly every week.

So, while I work building my physical library, maybe it's time you started cataloging your books on LibraryThing. If you have more than 200 books, get the lifetime membership for only $25. Having an accurate catalog is a bibliophile's dream, and it's the best money I've ever spent on my book collection.

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Smallest Ex Libris?

Starting to get moved into the new place. I promise, photos soon. I've finished refinishing the wood floor in the library. Unpacking a box of my things I haven't seen for a year, I found my album which houses my modest ex libris collection. Browsing amongst these treasures I found what I believe would vie for the smallest ex libris. I mean, it's tiny. I'm pretty sure it's a return address label that has been appropriated into a teensy, but affordable ex libris.

I began to think of smaller markings, like book branding, armorial stamps, other ink stamps, etc.--- but they aren't true ex libris. So, is it indeed the smallest? Probably not, I think another I've uncovered here was perhaps smaller, but a guy can hope.