The bookcase contains my treasured tomes. The New Jersey Almanac. The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Four Beatrix Potter works. Six works by Piers Anthony. (Okay, I'm a sucker for a bad pun...) (There's such a thing as a good pun?) (Speaking of bad puns, in a place of honour is W. S. Gilbert. Plays and Poems.) Several mysteries that my grandmother collected in the 20's and 30's and 40's. Edgar Wallace was prolific, and actually rather interesting reading. Quite dated now.

My grandmother left many hundreds of mystery novels in the cabin in upstate New York when she died. My aunt inherited them when my grandmother died. I never met grandmother Jeannette. She died three years before I was born. By all accounts she was a feisty lady. I'm sorry that I never met her. But she was 75 when she died, in 1944.

Hmm... I never had grandparents. Her husband, my grandfather, John, died in the great enchephalitis epidemic outbreak in New York City in 1921. But he was never mentioned in the family. The U.S. Census reports of 1890, 1900, and 1910 would seem to indicate that he was a bigamist. But Grandma Jeannette seems to have done all right for her children without him. And so, my bookcase has five mystery novels by Edgar Wallace that my grandmother read. The Four Just Men, printed in 1920. The Flying Squad, printed in 1928. Grandmother Jeannette wrote reviews on the title page of some books. This one she rated "Very, very good (Mrs. R.)" The Four Just Men was good. I haven't read The Flying Squad. Mayhaps some day I shall.

When my grandmother died, she left her share of the cabin to my aunt. When my aunt died, she left it to my mother. When my mother 'ran off to the wild west' (She moved to Oregon), she sold the cabin upstate to my brother. He renovated it. The hundreds of mystery novels that entertained my grandmother, and my aunt, through the 20's and 30's and 40's and 50's were 'donated' to a library. I scoffed five, as a reminder of the bygone days, the grandmother that I never knew, and the aunt I loved. Along side, are several of my reference books. LaRousse's Spanish Dictionary. This Is New Jersey. The Guide to the National Parks. 50 Hikes in New Jersey. Caves of New Jersey. (You have your 'necessary' reference books, I have mine.)

The Edison recorder player with the wax cylinders went with the cabin. As did the reed organ.

I inherited my grandmother's love of reading. A King By Knight, by Edgar Wallace? (Very + 1/2 good (Mrs. R.)) Printed in 1926. No. I haven't read that yet. I should sometime.