When Hoarding is Not a Bad Thing

It starts when you touch it. ‘I am leather-bound, I am old, you could take me to a bookbinder.’ It is hard not to listen. ‘Shut up scrapbook you are mine now. I can do what I like, and I’m going in.’

Yeah, let’s chop it up, make collages, handmade cards, and Art.

Look at the beauty. Imagine the face of the friend who gets this on a birthday card, handmade with fresh Pritstick, and love.

And all the other happy friends with their special cards. How old is this thing?

A calendar says 1878

And an invitation, in terrible handwriting, says 1850.

My dear Uncle. My Father and Mother request to know whether you will do us the pleasure to come here and dine. Be it wet be it fine, On Sunday at One, Then the goose will be done. I remain dear uncle, your affectionate niece. 

172 years later this would just be a text saying ‘Do you want to come for dinner?’

The next picture is alarming. 

The only person who knows that there are serious problems in this family is the dog.

It gets worse. This won’t make nice Art either.

Whoever owned this book liked pictures from Little Red Riding Hood.  Here is the wolf dealing with the grandmother once and for all. That cat is very sensible.

And they must have chopped up somebody else’s scrapbook. There are pictures of central London in 1750.

Some people in this picture probably knew of people who died in the great fire or got the plague. None of them could imagine that the city would be flattened by bombs one day, before filling up with cars and skyscrapers.

Then there is Christmas

This is Christmas before plastic. No lights, tinsel or glitter. Just a lot of flowers. But some things never change. 

That is one way to get your family to be nice to each other. Send them a poem pointing out that ‘It is Christmas after all’ and just beg.

This book covers everything. It is like an Instagram feed for somebody with many interests.

Fashion.

Cherubs doing some cooking.

And cats. Any good Instagram feed needs cats. This is such a beautiful picture. Look at this and see if you can re-create it with your own cat.

Like this.

Warning. Cats go crazy about holes in lace and it is easy to get scratched when you arrange the poses.

And finally, the pages that were attacked by children, sometime in the last 172 years. Bad children. Don’t they know a good scrapbook when they see it?

Time to put the book away. And the scissors.