Old Book or Journal?

 

Old book or journal?
Both!

Delightful, is it not? I have several of these old books that have been wonderfully re-purposed into a journal with fresh new pages tucked neatly into an old book. Made by About: Blanks, a company started in the Netherlands, using recycled materials and sustainable practices to create something unique with each repurposed book. A good way to use the old is to make it into something new.

I discovered these journals in Oxford several years ago at the Oxford Literary Festival where they had shelves of different shapes, sizes, shades, and genre of books made into notebooks. I felt as it I had fallen into an old library and I got to pick out a treasure never to be seen again. I snatched up a few, and each time to go to Oxford I always grab another 1-2 notebooks. Since they are not available in the states at this point, it feels like a very special item representing my travels in the UK.

This particular little book of English verse (Oxford University Press) I have been saving from my last trip and have just now cracked open the cover to gloss my pen over the smooth blank pages. I smile each time I reach for it because I picture myself in Oxford during the literary festival when books are overflowing from Blackwell's Bookshop across the street out to a covered marquee during the festival where tables and shelves are set-up and people browse all day long for the whole week. It is a come and go spot where I always find new books, and listen to talks by authors given under the marquee. Situated in the courtyard between the Bodleian Library and the Sheldonian Theatre, I am literally sandwiched between books at every angle, which feels like a heavenly realm to me. It is the dreamiest of situations.

So now I sit here at my desk, with my own bookshelves to my right, thinking with a wistful remembrance of my travels in the days before the world changed due to a virus, and dreaming of going back soon. But for now, I have a little piece of that in this notebook where I can scribble all my thoughts with a full and thankful heart.