of tea bags and rare books

Tea Time: Tradition, Presentation, And Recipes (Running Press Miniature Editions) - M. Dalton King

I spent some time at the UTPA Special Collections department today. I don't think I've been this excited for weeks!

 

The librarian, Janette Garcia, opened up the collection of rare miniature books and laid them down on the table in front of me. I squealed over a rare copy (one of thirty--one of THIRTY!) of a work by Lewis Carroll (in my excitement I forgot to actually read it! /sad face).

 

With trembling fingers, I took these books out of their plastic wrapping one by one by one and sat with them for a long time.

 

One of the books I did read cover to cover was a short booklet called The 2nd Course in Correct Cataloging or Further Notes to the Neophyte, compiled by David Magee. It was hilarious. It was laugh-out-loud funny. Good old library humor anyone would enjoy.

 

Parting at the end of the afternoon would have been much more emotional if I didn't remember that the Special Collections exists at my University's library. Gosh. If you're a book lover at UTPA, have an affinity for old, rare books, and haven't browsed Special Collections yet, you're missing out on so much.

 

Let me know if you ever march there. I might go along with you and we'll fawn over perfect binding and the flawless antiquity of old books together.

 

(P.S. The image linked to this post is a miniature book called "Tea Time: Tradition, Presentation, And Recipes" and--here's the cute part--the bookmark is a little tea bag label. Janette is especially fond of that one!)