It is amazing what you find hidden in books.
Over the last few days, I have found a 1910 newspaper cutting noting the death of Florence Nightingale as well as a 1960s family photograph.
Quite frequently you find pressed flowers and ferns (some dating from Victorian times) in books as well as invitations to long forgotten functions.
I have found tickets and receipts of all descriptions as well as items that still mystify me.
On my birthday this year I received a copy of the Gulag Archipelago and on page seventy-six there was an invitation to a council function in Colchester. This invitation dated from November 1976 which was something of a coincidence.
When you are looking through books always look to see if the pages have been disturbed as this may indicate that a found object might be hidden between the pages.
My greatest find, if you are interested, was the final page of an 1825 letter from Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) who apart from being a poet and critic himself, was a friend of Shelley and some of the other Romantic Poets.
Again, I noted a slight disturbance in a page in a book of his poetry and the rest is history. But I will not detain you further as my time is short today and you have better things to do than read a sprawling article.
Whether you are in the book department in the Arcade or just browsing books, do look out for what is hidden between the pages of books. Who knows, you might find a lost letter from TS Eliot or a ticket from the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Or like me an invitation to a council function in Colchester that was held just over forty years ago.
Happy Hunting
Stuart Miller-Osborne
