Books Make Great Gifts

I was inspired to offer a new item in the shop this month.

A Vintage Book of the Month Club. I think of this as a great way to find books without leaving the comforts of your own couch.  I offered several flavors and sizes of this concept in my JVoyage shop.  You can choose a genre, a time period, hard back or paperback.

It's all good. I am lucky to live in a town with more than 200 colleges and universities. What does that mean? The library shelves of all these academics are teeming with books. The books come spilling out of homes on Beacon Hill and Back Bay.

I tend to favor the old vintage books that are covered in leather or marbeled papers. But like the saying goes, "there is no such thing as a bad book".

I've enjoyed putting together the monthly shipments for the many generous customers that are buying for themselves and buying for others.

Vintage Book of the Month Club
Vintage Art Book Club
Vintage Cookbook Club

My favorite category is called, "Surprise Me". Several of my customers have said they enjoy the adventure of discovering something new and unexpected on their doorstep each month.

Do you have a favorite genre?

Amazing Vintage Volumes - Historical Books from New England

Living in Boston, there are many old homes full of many old books collected by many people over the ages.  I spend many happy hours scouring the shelves of bookstores to find some of the remarkable books that are offered in my shop. I gravitate toward art books, but I love history books too.

Here are a few of the beautiful finds that are so amazing to me. These have beautiful marbelized covers and wonderful leather spines. Together they have more than 200 years on this earth. How amazing is that?https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/JVoyage/sections/11536746

Recycled Journals - Retro Fun Sketchbooks

I've started a new line in my JVoyage shop on Etsy. I've created a fun line of recycled Journals drawn from retro book covers from days gone by.  Yesterday I posted two new journals to the shop. The covers and backs of the journals are original book covers that date back to the 1950s and older. Inside the journals is a plentiful supply of high quality sketch paper. 

The journals can be used to jot down thoughts or sketch out an idea. They are really cool and one of a kind. Check out all the journals here.

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Adventure Tales for a Hot Summer Night

Have you heard of Horatio Alger? In his day, he wrote hundred's of adventure tales. He was hugely prolific. The books generally followed a common theme. Young man, from humble beginnings, strikes out on his own and overcomes adversity to make something of himself. People loved his books. He spawned an entire movement of boy adventure books that many authors embraced.

Well, I just ran across a ton of these works at my favorite used bookstore in Boston. The books come with lovingly designed cover art that depicts the boy on his adventure.

I'm going to grab one some hot summer evening and escape into someone else's adventure.  Or maybe I'll just gaze at the lovely art and imagine my own adventure. I've listed a few in my etsy shop you can see what I mean here.