Last Saturday, between the science museum, dinner, and the sauna, we got in a good 15 minutes of thrifting. We rediscovered this little old store on the Oude Gracht (the main canal here in Utrecht) where they sell everything from old furniture and pictures of people long gone, to creepy old toys and dolls, and books. I was after the latter, as I was looking for a pretty book to take apart turn into a journal.
Unfortunately, we got in a bit late, and before I could even get to the book section of the store (the picture frame section was very distracting), the shop owner politely asked us to get out, stat. Disobedient creature that I am, I ran to the book section on the other end of the basement, grabbed a little linen bound book on mushrooms, paid and left. After all, there goes nothing above a last minute impulse purchase.
© Anna Denise Floor
And once again, I've managed to prove myself an excellent last minute impulse purchase maker, as this little book is a gem. It's an old mushroom guide, from somewhere between 1922 and 1945 (couldn't find this exact copy online, but based on the spelling, I think it's closer to 1945) complete with 128 colored prints of watercolor images of mushrooms (plus a description of whether you should eat it, classified as waardeloos (worthless), (waarschijnlijk) niet giftig (probably) not poisonous), eetbaar (edible), eetbaar en smakelijk (edible and tasty), twijfelachtig (dubious), ongenietbaar (unenjoyable), (zeer) giftig (very) poisonous), etc.
Also - for you Dutchies out there, the first line of the introduction is pure gold.
© Anna Denise Floor
Unfortunately this also means I'll have to go back for a different old book to turn into a journal. So sad.