Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Good book finds Tuesday

Okay, so I didn't find any high priced books but I still had fun. I always have fun book hunting. It's a veritable treasure hunt full of surprises.


I ended up at a little thrift store I occasionally visit, located on the main drag.
The door of this store had was open today to let in the fresh air. When I drove up there was an elderly man with a cigarette in his hand standing in the parking lot talking to someone seated in a car, the engine running. I stepped inside the store and began looking through the books. But the cigarette smoke was coming through the front door, competing with the fresh autumn breeze. For a couple of minutes, I tried to ignore the smoke and concentrate on books. Then I decided to pull my shirt over my nose and kept scanning titles. About the time I did this, the nice, elderly man came inside and I didn't want him to see me with my shirt pulled up over my nose so I jerked it back down. Thank goodness he finished that cigarette.

And thank goodness I got this book for a buck:
Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guidecopyright 1966
Library of Congress
Catalogue Card No. 53-10967
*My copy is the twelfth printing
Artwork by Abbi Damerow
The cover is a wonderful pink and oh so feminine hue, with cutesy innocent teenage girls peeking out at you.
So much to read and so much to giggle at!

Betty, you're so funny! You say some of the darndest things!
You warn me not to squeeze hickies, tell me to shave my legs up to half my thighs and bleach the rest, cover my head in church, have a wisp of veiling at an evening wedding and keep myself tidy and clean, all the way down to my underwear (you recommend only nylon).
Betty is also concerned about not letting teen girls walk the streets looking like hookers.
"How you look on the street is a question that seldom troubles many of us, yet it is a mighty important one. City officials have been driven to despair by the sight of young ladies traipsing up and down their town in short shorts and bedraggled dungarees. Whether you realize it or not, some so-called 'informal' dress is enough to make adult blood pressure rise to the boiling point. For Heaven's sake, have a little pity on others and a lot of pride in yourself: put on a skirt when you're shopping." Chapter 9 "What To Wear Where" page 55. If only Betty could have predicted what we have to live with today: People of Walmart. She would have a coronary!

Here is a scan of the inside cover. Unfortunately mine came without the dust jacket so I had to snag the above picture from the 'net.

If you enjoy teenage guidebooks from the 1960's and earlier, keep an eye out for this little gem. Abebooks has I believe 3 copies for sale with the average price of around $12.00. Amazon also has 3 copies with the same average price.

My hat's off to Betty Cornell. Thanks for the most interesting advice I've ever read about hickies. You're the best, Betty.

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