Hello there

...welcome to the Skeleton Vine. A place to document my work and that of those who inspire me, alongside a selection of the books I find in my library job and an ever-growing collection of treasures from my flea-market travels. As of September I will begin studying Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design at LCA, so expect to see bits of that here too. I do so hope you will follow along.

I have been building up a huge pile of new books recently, mostly discarded library books. I found this 1965 St John's Ambulance manual a few months back, for the bargain price of 10p! I love the colour schemes of medical books from this era, usually black, white & red with amazing illustrations. Graphic and a little gruesome.

I have another great vintage medical encyclopedia I will post images from soon. If you have anything similar from this era please photograph them & show me! 

In case you were wondering where the blog name comes from: 

"I rose to watch the flashes, and lo! the wonder of the world! In the blackness of the mid-NIGHT, in the fury of wind and rain, the dead vine had flowered. Five white, moon-faced blossoms blew gaily round the skeleton vine, shining back triumphant at the red lightning. I gazed at them in dumb wonder. Dear, dead vine, whose will had been so strong to bloom, that in the hour of its sudden cut-off from the feeding earth, it sent the last sap to its blossoms; and, not waiting for the morning, brought them forth in storm and flash, as white night-glories, which should have been the children of the sun." 

- Voltairine de Cleyre