Thursday 29 November 2012

The Book Lover's Storage Box That Inspired An Epitaph

About once a month I venture out of my office to restock the bookstore shelves. Most of my book buying travels take me directly into people's homes and quite often I find myself being offered more than just books to purchase. Vinyl records, DVDs, CDs and videos are the usual bonus offerings, most of which I refuse, but occasionally something more interesting pops up. Last week I was given the opportunity to purchase a home made storage box that featured the title and author of the maker's favourite books. Even though it was a bit knocked around this kind of one-off creation was right up my alley, so for just $5 AUD I couldn't refuse.

The book titles featured are The Golden Bowl, Gone With the Wind, On the Road, The Lord of the Flies, Portnoy's Complaint, Native Son, Possession and A Clockwork Orange. The top of the box is a painted illustration of some books and a lamp all resting on a table. When viewed from the side the lid of the box is actually a book laying down. The most endearing feature of this little treasure chest is also one of its' major flaws. Whoever painted the titles of the books didn't do a great proofreading job and instead of painting Gone With the Wind they mistakenly painted Gone With Wind. This could very well be the perfect epitaph for my husband's grave!