Few things tell more accurately of the everyday lives of past generations than their books and magazines. I've been looking through my collection for images to use in my Shabby Journals.

In this first arithmetic book from 1934 children are calculating in old francs: 10 francs for a live rabbit at the market; 11 francs for a beret.

In 1908 French girls were learning English from books like this one. Alice (born in 1895) travels to London. Imagine her surprise when she finds that the traffic keeps to the left-hand side of the street! The author manages to include a warning that "when girls wear corsets and lace them tight, the chest is pressed in and distorted. Many girls die."  

I bought this book in a local flea market. It's a story about girls in two rival boarding schools. It came out in 1922, has very fine drawings on each page and is in perfect condition.

Click on the pics!