Gifts for Readers — Sterling Silver ‘Cat in the Hat’ and Beatrix Potter Ornaments From Hand & Hammer

[This week I'm running extra posts, in addition to reviews, on suggested gifts for readers. No kickbacks from the sellers. These are just gifts I like. Museums sell these ornaments, but I couldn't find any in the U.S. that had them in stock, so I'm listing other suppliers.]

My favorite Christmas decorations include these sterling silver Cat in the Hat and Peter Rabbit ornaments. Each is part of a series with scenes or characters from books by Dr. Seuss or Beatrix Potter (also available as charms and, in some cases, brooches). I first saw the Peter Rabbit ornaments in the gift shop at Hilltop, Potter’s home in the English Lake District, part of the Britain’s National Trust. In the U.S., you can order them for about $45 each from the venerable Hand & Hammer Silversmiths www.handandhammer.com, which also has the Seuss ornaments. This venerable Virginia company has made presentation silver for every president since John F.Kennedy, who received copies of Paul Revere’s lanterns for the Oval Office. I’ve ordered from its vast selection of sterling silver ornaments without problems. If you’re interested in a Seuss ornament, you might also try Seussland www.seussland.com, which has a good selection.

The ornaments shown are “The Cat in the Hat,” left, and “Mrs.Rabbit and Her children,” right, both from the Hand & Hammer Silversmiths online catalog.

(c) 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

www.janiceharayda.com

Gifts for Readers – Pillow With Thomas Jefferson Quote ‘I Cannot Live Without Books’ From the Library of Congress Shop

[This week I’m tossing in extra posts, in addition to the usual reviews, on suggested gifts for readers. No kickbacks from sellers. These are just gifts I like and will help to support libraries or other friends of books.]

Know someone who defines the necessities of life as “food, clothing, shelter and books”? Here’s a possible gift: a small pillow that shows a comment Thomas Jefferson made to his friend John Adams in 1815: “I cannot live without books.” (A few books stand to the right of the legend.) The pillow is a 12” x 14” cotton-and-polyester blend that sells for $34 the Library of Congress Shop www.loc.gov/shop/. I can’t link directly to the picture in its online catalog, but you can find it by clicking on the “Home Accessories” page or searching for “pillow” on the site. The catalog says the pillow is navy blue, though it looks burgundy, and usually ships in 3–4 business days. The shop also sells mugs, T-shirts and tote bags with the quote. The Library of Congress has more than 3,000 books from the collection of the third president.

© 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

www.janiceharayda.com

Gifts for Readers — Hobbit Poster From the Bodleian Library at Oxford

[I’m tossing in a few extra posts this week with suggested gifts for readers. Again, no kickbacks from their sellers. These are just gifts that I like and help to support libraries or other friends of books. Today’s review appears in the post below this one.]

Most book posters are artless enough to appeal only to fans of the titles they promote. Not this handsome poster published by the Bodleian Library at Oxford University for an exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in 1987. The poster shows one of Tolkien’s drawings for the first edition of the novel, depicting the scene “Bilbo Comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves.” It has the dates of the exhibit and sells for 5.95 pounds (about $12) at Bodleian Library Shop Online shop.bodley.ox.ac.uk/acatalog/index.html. The shop has other Hobbit posters and literary gifts, including cards imprinted with quotations from Shakespeare or reproductions of the covers of Victorian gardening books owned by the library. A related gift: The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition (Houghton Mifflin, $25) www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com, just published in the U.S., which has Tolkien’s original drawings and an introduction by Christopher Tolkien.

Drawing: (c) The Trustees of the Tolkien Estate 2005.

(c) 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

Gifts for Readers — Men’s Tie With a Book Design From the Los Angeles Public Library

[I’m tossing in a few extra posts this week with suggested gifts for readers. Again, no kickbacks from their sellers. These are just gifts that I like and help to support libraries or other friends of books. Today’s review appears in the post below this one.]

Men’s club ties can get kitschy, but the book design on this one is as discreet as you would expect from a library. It’s 100 percent silk, designed by the architect-turned-art-director Josh Bach and sells for $38 at the online Library Store at the Los Angeles Public Library www.lfla.org/cgi-bin/store/0943.htm. And it might delight that teacher, tutor, librarian or parent who’s always encouraging children to read. The Josh Bach Book Tie will allow a man to keep books – literally as well as figuratively – close to his heart.

© 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
www.janiceharayda.com

Gifts for Readers – ‘The Reading Woman Boxed Notecards’ Set From the New York Public Library Gift Shop

[I’m going to toss in a few extra posts this week, in addition the usual reviews, with suggested gifts for readers. No kickbacks from the sellers. These are just gifts that I like and will help to support libraries or other friends of books. Jan]

Want to say thank-you to that hostess who always bakes her famous Irish Coffee Cheesecake for book-club meetings instead of picking up few packages of Milanos like everybody else? Consider giving her “The Reading Woman Boxed Notecards” set, which costs $14.95 at the online Library Shop at the New York Public Library www.libraryshop.org/notstat.html. It has twenty 5” x 7” blank notecards with five copies of each of four paintings of a woman reading, one of which you see here. The deadline for UPS ground shipments is Thursday, Dec. 13, but you might find the cards at another library or museum shop with a looser time frame.

© 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
www.janiceharayda.com