kiwisue: (Thoughtful by snarkyllama)
kiwisue ([personal profile] kiwisue) wrote2006-03-27 11:54 am

(no subject)

An email conversation with someone made me remember a favourite old book - "What Happened at Garry-Eustace" by Dorothea Townshend - no date, but mum received it as a prize when she was quite young, so it would have been printed before 1935. Three children, Rex, Grace and Pat, are given magical treasures as a reward by a leprechaun. And then they go on to have wonderful adventures.

The book is falling apart and I was going to start scanning pages today, but B has Done Something to the setup upstairs and either the scanner isn't currently configured or I'm doing something wrong. So I photographed one page - it's a bit muddy, but you can get the idea:


WHA Garry-Eustace 1 WHA Garry-Eustace 1

Exploring the ruined tower - of course!




So what do you think?
Worth continuing with?

edit A complete chapter (not the same as the first pic) here:
http://kiwisue.livejournal.com/34481.html#cutid1

[identity profile] byslantedlight.livejournal.com 2006-03-27 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
Argh - always! Especially if the volume itself isn't long for this world... But then I hate the thought of books being lost forever, no matter how many times they use "and then" in a single page! And I'm traumatised by losing most of my childhood books when we left Australia... Dorothy Townshend sounds familiar though - I wonder if my Mum had books by her too...

[identity profile] paris7am.livejournal.com 2006-03-27 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
I did exactly the same thing with one of my books! It was disintegrating so quickly that I had to do something. I think that it's certainly worth doing.

[identity profile] kiwisue.livejournal.com 2006-03-29 08:42 am (UTC)(link)
It was pretty battered when she gave it to me last year (she was totally surprised that I would even remember it, let alone want the copy) but I think the humidity in Sydney hasn't done it any good. The paper is that thick, highly absorbent stuff you often find in old books, and most of the pages are pulling away from the spine. Makes it easier to scan, of course.

Anyway, now the scanner's operational, I've promised myself I will work on it over Easter.

Hope you are doing well.