c/forgotten-bookmarks

Found a 1973 grocery list tucked into a cookbook at the library sale

My neighbor, who's 82, saw it and said 'That's not just a list, that's a week's pay.' She explained how the prices for milk and bread back then meant the person buying it was really budgeting. Do you think people leave these things on purpose, or is it always an accident?

A collector told me my 'found' photos were a privacy problem

I used to post every old photo I found in a book, no questions asked. A few months back, I shared a really sad one from a 1972 yearbook, a picture of a kid with a note on the back saying 'gone but not forgotten'. Another collector sent me a private message saying 'You might be sharing someone's private grief without their okay. That photo could still hurt a family.' That hit me hard. I hadn't thought about the people in the pictures, just the cool find. Now, if a photo looks personal, like a family shot or something with a name, I blur the faces or just describe it without posting the image. It changed the hobby for me, but it feels more right. Has anyone else decided not to share a bookmark because it felt too private?

Found a 1973 grocery list in a cookbook and it completely changed how I see old books

Found a 1978 love letter tucked in a library copy of 'The Thorn Birds'

Found a 1993 grocery list in a cookbook and spent an hour trying to price it out

I picked up an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook at a yard sale in Akron. A faded list was tucked inside, with things like 'chuck roast $1.89/lb' and 'canned corn 4/$1'. I got curious and spent a full hour at my computer comparing those prices to today's. A simple roast that cost under three bucks then is over six now. Has anyone else done this and felt that weird time warp?

Serious question, should we remove bookmarks or leave them in?

I found a 1953 train ticket from Grand Central Station in a copy of 'The Great Gatsby' I bought in St. Louis. A collector friend told me I should take it out and frame it separately to preserve it, but I feel like its story is tied to the book. I put it back in, but now I'm second-guessing. What's the right call when you find something really old?

Found a stack of old postcards in a library book about Maine

I had to choose between keeping them as a set or returning them to the library lost and found. I returned them, and the librarian said they'd been missing since 1998. Has anyone else found something that clearly belonged to a specific person and managed to get it back to them?

Found a pressed four-leaf clover from 1978 in a library copy of 'The Hobbit'

My cheap plastic magnifying glass snapped trying to read the tiny writing on the stem. Anyone know a good way to preserve something this old and fragile?

Found a 1978 love letter in a cookbook, then found the same couple's 1992 divorce papers in a different book.

I bought a box of old cookbooks at a yard sale in Akron. In a copy of 'The Joy of Cooking,' there was a really sweet, handwritten letter from a guy named Robert to a woman named Carol, dated March 1978. Fast forward to last week, I'm reading a beat-up legal thriller from the same box and a folded-up final divorce decree falls out. It's for Robert and Carol, finalized in October 1992. The timeline from that first hopeful note to the legal paperwork was just sitting in my house. Has anyone else found a full story arc like this across multiple books?

Found a 1983 grocery list in a library copy of 'The Shining'

I was at the main branch in Springfield and pulled it off the shelf, a folded piece of yellow paper fell right out. The list had 'eggs, milk, bread, shotgun shells' written in pencil, which is a wild combo to find in that particular book. What's the weirdest pairing of an item and a book you've ever seen?

My friend told me to always check the back of old photos in books, and I'm glad I did

I was going through a box of books from a garage sale in Phoenix and found a 1972 copy of 'The Hobbit'. My buddy said, 'Dude, flip any pictures you find, the good stuff is on the back,' so I did with a faded photo of a lake tucked inside. Turns out it was a handwritten note from the original owner to his sister, talking about a fishing trip they took, which was way cooler than the photo itself. Has anyone else found a note that told a whole story like that?

Serious question, are old photos better left in the books we find them in?

I found a black and white wedding photo from 1947 tucked in a library copy of 'Gone with the Wind'. Part of me thinks it's a piece of history that belongs with the book, but another part feels like I should try to find the family. What would you do with something like that?

Found a 1923 train ticket tucked inside a copy of 'The Great Gatsby'

I was looking through a box of old books at a yard sale in Springfield and picked up a really beat up copy of 'The Great Gatsby'. When I opened it, a little cardboard train ticket fell out. It was for a trip from New York to Chicago on the New York Central Railroad, dated June 15, 1923. The book itself was a first edition from 1925, so someone bought the book and used this two year old ticket as a bookmark. It just makes me wonder about the person who did that, you know? What kind of trip were they on? Has anyone else found something that felt like a direct line to a stranger's past like that?

I think those 'vintage' pressed flower kits are a total scam

Bought one for $35 thinking I could make cool bookmarks, but the flowers just turned to dust after a week... the silica gel packet they give you is basically useless. Anyone have a method that actually works?

Found a note from a kid in a library book about their pet turtle

I was looking through a used copy of 'Charlotte's Web' at the library sale in my town. Stuck between the pages was a little drawing of a turtle with the name 'Speedy' and a note that said, 'I hope you like this story. My turtle died yesterday.' It was dated from 2008. It made me stop and think about the kid who left it there. Has anyone else found something that felt really personal like that?

Found my 50th forgotten grocery list in a used book today

It was in a cookbook from 1972, and the list had 'canned peaches' and 'liver' on it. Anyone else keep a running count of the weird stuff they find?

A chat with my aunt about a train ticket in a library book

I was helping my aunt clean her attic last month and we found a box of old books. In a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from 1972, there was a one-way train ticket from Chicago to St. Louis dated 1974. I was about to toss it, but she stopped me. She said, 'That wasn't just a trip. That was someone's whole day, maybe their whole life changing.' It made me stop and really look at the ticket. The price was $8.75, and someone had written 'see you soon' on the back in faded blue ink. I used to just see these things as neat trash, but now I try to imagine the story. Who were they going to see? Did they make it? It's changed how I look at every little scrap I find now. What's the most personal thing you've ever found tucked in a book?

Found a 1943 love letter in a used copy of 'The Great Gatsby' and I'm torn about what to do with it

Found a 1982 love letter tucked in a copy of 'The Shining' from a library sale

It was from a guy named Frank to a woman named Carol, and he wrote about their first date at a diner called The Spot... she never picked up the book. Anyone ever find something that made you wonder about the whole story?

Found a 1978 grocery list in a cookbook from a yard sale

I picked up an old Betty Crocker cookbook at a yard sale in Akron last month for fifty cents. Tucked between the pages for meatloaf and gravy was a folded piece of lined paper. It was a shopping list dated March 12, 1978, with things like 'hamburger $1.29 lb' and 'Tide'. It made me think about the person who wrote it and all the meals they made. Has anyone else found something that made a past stranger feel really close?

Found a weird note in a library copy of 'The Shining'

It was a grocery list from 1998, but the last item just says 'redrum'. Someone commented that I should check the book's publication date, which was 1977. Made me realize I should always check the book's age against the bookmark's date for context. Anyone else find something that didn't match up time-wise?

Found a 1997 receipt for a pager in a library copy of 'Jurassic Park'

It was from a RadioShack in Omaha, for $89.99 plus a $19 monthly fee. I remember saving up for months for my own pager back then, thinking it was the peak of being connected. Now it's just a weird little scrap of plastic history. What's the most outdated piece of tech you've ever found tucked in a book?

Found a 1989 receipt for a book club in a used copy of 'The Hunt for Red October'

It was for a hardcover edition that cost $24.95, which was a lot back then. Seeing that price made me think about how I used to join those clubs without checking the fine print on the automatic shipments. I probably wasted close to $200 over a few years on books I didn't really want. Does anyone remember the specific pitfalls of those old mail-in book clubs?

Found a 1973 grocery list in a cookbook and realized I've been reading them wrong

I always thought the random notes in old books were just clutter, but this one from a thrift store in Tacoma had a list for a birthday dinner with 'get more butter' underlined twice. It hit me that these are tiny, real moments, not just trash. Do you have a favorite item that changed how you see a book's history?

Found a 1972 grocery list in a cookbook and had to choose between keeping it tucked away or framing it with the book.

I picked framing, and now it hangs in my kitchen, sparking way more conversations about the price of eggs than the recipes ever did, so what's the most interesting non-paper item you've found preserved in a book?