The great thing about our trips to the City Chambers for the Museum of Childhood is that we never know what we will find. Sometimes the most interesting things are not the books themselves, but the things we find inside them. And we don’t just mean the stories on the pages! An example is the case of this pre-1850 book entitled Conversations of Angelina and her Doll:
Though it is unfortunately damaged, the book itself is a lovely specimen. However, the real treat was discovered tucked in between some of the pages: this bus ticket from 1946, was being used as a bookmark!
It is quite common to find things tucked in to the books we are looking at, and it is always a thrill to feel this tangible connection to the previous owners of them. This find was particularly touching, as our team agreed that we have all used tickets as bookmarks in the past as well. What an amazing feeling it is to share this experience with the child that read this book on a bus seventy years ago – especially as the book itself would already have been old then!
More information on this book and bus ticket will be available in an upcoming publication that the SELCIE team has been involved with. Keep your eyes peeled for news about it!
This post written by Danielle
