the wonder book of nature

I bought this beautiful book in an Alfreton charity shop for £2. From internet searches it seems to date from the 1920's. It's in bad condition, so carefully holding the spine together I leafed through and observed an odd compression in some of the pages. Noticing a hole on the outer spine, I opened the book wider and a pellet fell out! This book was shot! What tales? What circumstance? Such an invitation for the imagination.

Notice the white mark to the right of the eagle, where a very sticky price tag was placed. That was the least damage I could do to prise it off. One of my bugbears in charity shops is how old books are priced - impossibly sticky tables, the price handwritten in pencil pressed so hard it indents several pages... I'm grateful to the volunteers and understand they will not have my sensibilities, but oh my! 

embroidery

A week or so ago I found this embroidery in a Matlock charity shop, and bought it for the princely sum of £5. It measures 10.5 x 8.5 inches and is densely packed with skilful stitch depicting flower, tree, leaf, bird, path and sky. I find it remarkable. The directional and repeated stitches remind me of the cuts I've been making in lino to suggest form and surface of dry stone wall and hawthorn hedgerow.

I opened the back of the frame hoping to find information about the maker, and discovered dated 1980's patterned kitchen roll, carefully folded as padding behind the work. I tenderly replaced this treasure, a time capsule, hidden behind stitches.