Sunday, February 20, 2011

Gift Inscriptions

I'm going to use this space to share the bizarre gift inscriptions I run across. I've kept a similar space for odd photos of authors found on dust jackets that I update sporadically.

Here is a Jehova's Witnesses book that is pretty common. This one was given as a Christmas gift in 1988.



The gift giver included a 5-page, Unabomber-like treatise explaining why the recipient would love the book (because she is a gunslinger), and closes in full-on Christmas spirit: "I'm so tired of Jews and New York. Let's go see the Kremlin."


Here is a cute poetry book from 1937 I picked up:



I imagine Miles (the pragmatist)purchased this while courting Hazel (the romantic). His gift inscription walks that fine line between "I love you" and "You're an idiot."


If this book didn't help him get into Hazel's blouse, I imagine he followed it up with this attempt:

The book -



The inscription -

Dear Hazel: Poetry is a cart for carrying ideas that are too lame to walk on their own. - Friedrich Nietzsche.