Wrapped in a little bit of Antiquity

I love to wrap the journals I sell in something a bit different and add a little something special to the experience of buying a handmade gift from me. As the daughter of an Antiquarian bookseller I have already supply of antique book papers and I use these for wrapping my books.

Fear not though! No healthy books were broken for my wrapping paper!

I have been brought up with an extremely healthy respect for books, bordering on OCD care requirements but sadly some books haven’t been cared for or handled well in their lives. The past two books which I have used for paper have been found in pieces, no longer book form, having been broken for their pictures and sections of interest. They have been bought in Auction where they have formed an insignificant part of a wider lot. These individual pages still hold beauty for me though - I’ve keep back those pages which interest me the most and have them framed and mounted on the wall in my study or I’ve kept some in my drawer of ‘interesting things’ for referring to later (for example there’s a page in 18th Century cider making which could come in handy at some point).

Bridesmaid journals wrapped in book paper from 1865

I am currently using pages from a book dating back to 1710 and which was intended as “An Encyclopedy of the Arts and Sciences”. My copy was published during the short reign of Queen Anne and was in 3 volumes. It originally included 80 engraved plates on liberal art subjects with the tables in the centre of the ovals and decorative borders showing people engaged in those activities, namely Rhetoric, Logic, Astronomy and Geography, hunting, shooting, fishing, horses, falconry and hawking. Sadly all that remains of my copy is less than 80 pages of random loose leaf text pages in poor condition. I’m always in two minds as to whether to use these pages but I hope that I am giving these pages a new purpose and encourage my customers to read them (who knew that the application of 18th Century organic agricultural fertilisers would be so interesting!) and reuse them in any crafts they do. I think they would be beautiful for including in Scrapbooking, Bujo or journaling and hopefully get an appreciation and love from a wider audience.

I would love to see your wrapping paper being reused so please tag me in your Instagram posts @evelynrosebooks AND use #evelynrosebooks