Found In Books

Usually I feature a number of items in my "Found In Books" posts, but this time my latest find warrants its own post.  This piece of ephemera is double-sided.  On the first side is a page from a grammar test, appropriately titled (from a bookseller's point of view), "Getting Words in the Right Order."  I know I sometimes have trouble with that.

Our intrepid test-taker seems to have answered all questions on this page correctly, as the green check mark attests, but his total score is only 70% (remember, we have only one page of the test).  Could you have answered this question:  "What is a nominative absolute, and does it have to be edited?"   Huh?

But it is on the reverse side of the test form that the true talents and skills of our student are revealed:

Sissies Rule!

"Land, Sea or Air-- springs take you there."

We recently came across a book of bound magazines for the spring (yes, like a slinky) industry from the 1940's-1960's, called The Mainspring  ("Published in the interest of a better understanding of the design and application of springs in mechanical progress." )

You wouldn't think that there's all that much that could be said about springs, especially over twenty years in a regularly published periodical.  Wrong!

The Mainspring features beautiful graphics with vibrantly colored backgrounds, and often shows spring humor.

A spring cocktail?

As Seen on 60 Minutes

On the Abebooks' booksellers' forum there's been a discussion of the recent announcement by Amazon that they plan to use drones to deliver packages.  One person posted this: