»»» The Explorer's Library    October 24th, 2005:
  For the next couple of weeks, you might hear sounds of eHammering and eSawing coming from this webpage. I'll be working on a new section of my site that will probably take up way too much of my time to do anything else on here, but should result in a great addition to the ever-growing world of Kahunna.net. The section will be called The Explorer's Library and will feature vintage guidebooks and autobiographic travel books from my personal collection. With each book, you'll be able to read information about the writer and their journey, as well as view selected passages and maps. You will also be able to study ephemera found in the book, like train tickets, pressed flowers or marginalia left by the owners long ago but preserved between its pages.
  I have already begun construction on The Explorer's Library. At work today, I sketched out a map of the new section and how I want it to look and feel. In my mind's eye, I see it looking like a forgotten shelf of a traveler's library. I want it to feel aged, dusty, slightly-dilapidated, but with a strong sense of soul and purpose, like a child's favorite stuffed animal that's missing an eye and leaking cotton at a broken seam. Many of the books are torn, water-damaged, sun-damaged and missing pages, but these were not heavily neglected books, they were heavily loved books. I hope that The Explorer's Library can point out the distinction between these two by example of the latter.

A rough design sketch for The Explorer's Library
  I doubt if any of these old books will ever be found on the auction block at Sotheby's. In fact, many of them were bought on eBay for just a few dollars. Despite their condition, they are priceless capsules of history, holding insight into the author's era and, in some instances, the previous owner's life and travels as well. One book I will feature on The Explorer's Library is a copy of Baedeker's Guidebook to Central Italy from 1909. All of what I know about the previous owner and her journey was gathered from the scribbles notations she left in the margins of the book's pages: Her name was Ida R Hood and she carried the guidebook on her travels to Italy in the summer of 1914. She joined her Aunt Mary and cousin's Alfred & Louise in Rome in May. On May 13th, she picked a clover from the Protestant Cemetery of Rome and slid it into the book as a keepsake (96 years later, the clover still lies undisturbed). The last dated note penciled into the guidebook was from the Tuscan medieval walled town of San Gimignano on June 21, 1914... one week before Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, igniting the First World War.
  Well, I've got a lot of work to do so I'm off to warm up my scanner, open up Photoshop, and charge the battery for my digital camera. But before I go, I'd like to share a template design I completed last night. Click on the thumbnail below to see the full page (none of the links will be active). Enjoy!