A New Old Book

One of the things that brightens my day is going to the library, only to find that it is closed. Now, you may be thinking, "This makes you happy?" Why, yes. It does make me happy, especially when there is a book sale instead.



If any of you know me, really, really know me, you will know that I love old books. I absolutely love them. So, when my mom said that I could get a few books, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There were so many old books there. But the one I found, love, and am going to talk about today is a book by the name of Gulliver's Travels by a Mr. Jonathan Swift.



I had heard nothing of the book before, besides it being mentioned by one of my teachers a few years ago. I paid a whole two dollars for the book, not because I loved the story inside, but because of the cover. I know that the saying goes to 'never judge a book by its cover', but how can I not? I am in love with this book, and I have only just started reading! The cover is a dark brick red with gold print and decorations on the outside. Isn't it GORGEOUS???? I am so sorry I can not have pictures, the camera doesn't have a USB cord. But continuing on with the rest of it...



I opened the book, and found a treasure. A name. On the inside of the book. I think I started to quake with excitement. A name! It means that someone else read and loved this book. Someone else who I could research!



I started to read the book. If any of you have not read Gulliver's Travels, I highly recommend it, so far. The story, so far, is based on Gulliver. If you have not read it, I am not going to spoil it for you, but I will tell you this: You have to have an imagination. And, if you do, it is a very good book (so far, I am only on page nineteen.) So far, it is a really good book. (I am using a severe repetition of the words so far because if the book turns out to be a horrible book, do not blame me for recommending it to you.)



I, while reading, found yet another treasure. I love to flip to the back of the book when I am reading. Sometimes it spoils the book, but not this time. Apparently Margaret took a Literary Analysis class (like me), and annotated in the back of the book (not like me. I don't like to write in books, despite my Literary Analysis class teaching me to.) I then flipped through the book, and saw that she did the entire book! All of her annotations throughout the book are scattered, and don't quite make sense if you aren't reading the book along with them. However, I will rewrite an excerpt out of her review at the back of the book. Here it is:

"Difference between satire + irony-

latter is usually less bitter.

Irony is a speech or situa-

tion in which outcome is

different from your expec-

tations. Dramatic irony- a

speech has a significance

for audience, not actors.

Satire is ridicule of customs,

manners, people etc."

Is it just me, or is this person a literature expert?! I looked her up, via. Google. (What would life be without Google?) There seem to be a lot of Margaret Caircrosses ;(. The one that makes the most sense is a girl who was the daughter of George Cairncross and Margaret Mutter. She was born, supposedly, in 1898. I have reason to believe this because of the simplicity of the bibliography of the book. The book was copyrighted in 1920, and by the way she sounded in her writings, she was not a little girl when she wrote those words. Had she gotten the book when it first was printed, she would have been twenty two.

Please give me your input on this. What I wouldn't give to have the common sense of Sherlock Holmes in this mystery!

There are too many Margaret Cairncrosses to figure it out on my own. Help! I think she is a descendant of John Aitken, and lived in Scotland. Isn't that cool? Just because she annotated this book that I bought for two dollars, we all have access into her world. The only question that remains is, who is she?

Pictures to follow. Hopefully!