Coming into existence when printing methods were fast-changing and bookbinding was considered an art, books born in the 1800s are like no others. Each letter, number, or punctuation mark was manually placed until 1843, when the rotary printing press made things somewhat easier. The pages had borders and corner decorations, with vignettes and illustrations abounding. Bindings were crafted, not manufactured, and spines of cloth or leather were embellished with gilt lettering, raised bands, and garlands. Front and back boards might be of matching cloth, stamped with raised decorations that you can’t help but run your fingers over, or perhaps pasted with paper of a swirling design and with leather corners to match the spine. These books are now scarce, rare, or even one-of-a-kind. They hold a story of their own, in addition to the story told inside. Hold one, open it, and step back over 100 years. Who opened it first—was it a man in a top hat? A woman in a bustle? Such are the special volumes in the Truth & Tales Bookshop.