Volume One

Saturday I went out thrifting with my friend Suzy.  I didn't buy a whole lot, but one of my favorite things from the day was this set of vintage (1961) illustrated dictionaries.

Even better?  Check out the price tags on these.

Blue was half off last week, so I only paid a dollar each for these!

They're so cool.  I just love them.  Originally I only spotted volumes 3 and 4 on the shelf.  I told Suzy, "Man, if they had the whole set I'd totally get them."  I saw these for the first time a couple of weeks ago when I was reading through the archives on Life in Color and thought they were really cool then.  It was just too bad that my Goodwill only had two.

But then, what was this?  Another one on the next shelf over?  Immediately I began to get excited.  I scoured the rest of the bookcase and located one more from the set, then another.  Suzy started to get excited with me (she gets the thrill of the hunt!) and together, we looked at every.  single.  book.  in that freaking Goodwill.  We (okay, she) even went and looked through the toys on top of the racks in the kid section, you know, just in case.  Unfortunately, volume one was just nowhere to be found.

This left me with a dilemma - do I take a chance and buy what they did have of the set, and hope to find the missing book later?  Or do I say, forget it, without that missing one, I don't want them!  Of course, I would be taking a chance that I'd find it on my very next thrifting expedition and then I'd be so mad!  We stood there and debated it for a few minutes, and decided that for $5, it was worth the risk.

I'm guessing that you figured that out already though, since I photographed them on my kitchen table.  :)  So, if any of my fellow thrifters runs across volume one of this set out there... I'd love you forever if you sent it my way!