Please make an extra effort to view the library’s lobby display case December 18 through December 24 to see a special exhibit, Christmas Past, compiled by Friends volunteer Kay Kendall in collaboration with the library staff and other Friends volunteers.
The project began in late 2015 when a copy of Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster was donated to the library. Inscribed by a father to his daughter for Christmas 1916, the inscription was 100 years old in 2016. To collect one book inscribed at Christmas each year of the century between 1916 and 2016 would be a nifty trick!
Word went out to Friends volunteers to watch for Christmas inscriptions; book by book over the following two years, the inscribed copies were set aside. The Tualatin Library staff contributed many hours of time, expertise, and encouragement as the project developed. To date, approximately 45 books have found their way to the Christmas inscription collection.
The display features many of the collection’s antiquarian and vintage books, as well as their inscriptions. Pictured here is the book with the oldest inscription, a copy of A Child’s History of England and Christmas Books by Charles Dickens. The inscription is dated 1888.