Gallery 2 ~
   The Written & Printed Word

   Within this gallery, you will find a large number of books and paper ephemera from the Collection of Larry D. Smith. By clicking on the thumbnail images, you can access additional pages which provide some information about the item(s) and their history.

   I started collecting old books when I was in my teens. I had gone to a second-hand (i.e. junk) store near my home, and saw a book dated 1744, titled A New Law Dictionary, by Giles Jacob. It cost two dollars, so I bought it. The beautiful leather covers (despite being loose from the spine), the look and feel of the paper pages, and the intensely musty smell of the book when opened convinced me, then and there, that I would collect old books during my lifetime. I think that the idea of actually finding, and being able to purchase, a book from the 1700s surprised me, and made me want to start a collection. After that first book, I sought out and found books from the seventeen hundreds at antique shops in my region. Then I found a small (i.e. crowded) little book store in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was called the Book Haven, owned by Kinsey Baker. There could not have been a better name for the shop; it was indeed a 'haven' for books. And it was there that I found books that I could afford, which dated into the sixteen hundreds, and even the fifteen hundreds. And so over the course of ten or so years, and by many trips to the Book Haven, I was able to collect the bulk of the books that make up my collection. In addition to the Book Haven, I was able to find old books at flea markets and other antique shops over the years. Although they cannot convey the total sensory experience of holding the real things and leafing through their pages, the images in this gallery at least can show the visual beauty of my book collection.

Books

1502	1525-29	1555	1555	1555	1555	1564	1590
1609	1630	1635	1638	1660	1660	1666	1670
1670	1670	1670	1671	1676	1678	1679	1679
1679	1683	1684	1684	1685	1686	1693	1698
1700	1701	1706	1707	1709	1709	1715	1719
1721	1722	1724	1727	1728	1734	1735	1735
1736	1736	1738	1739	1740	1740	1740	1741
1741	1742	1743 / 1745	1744	1745	1749	1750	1751
1751	1754	1754	1755	1755	1758	1759	1760
1760	1762	1763	1763	1763	1764	1765	1765-69
1766	1767	1767	1768	1768	1768	1769	1770
1770	1771 / 1780	1772	1772	1772	1772	1773	1774
1775	1775	1776	1776	1778	1779	1780	1781
1781	1781	1782	1783	1783	1784	1785	1785
1786 - 1787	1788 - 1795	1789	1791	1792	1793	1793	1794
1794	1794	1795	1796	1796	1796	1796	1797
1797	1797	1797	1798	1798	1798

Periodicals (Magazines)

1734

1734

1776

1780

1781

1784

Legal Documents

1638

1756

1768

1772

1783

1835

Ephemera

1850s - 1890s	1850s - 1890s	1850s - 1890s	1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s
1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s	1900s - 1950s	1900s - 1950s	1900s - 1950s
1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s	1890s - 1920s