The Book Trader is a pretty tame name for a strange store in our area that seems to be the owner's bizarre combination of used books, taxidermy, collectibles, erotica, and fortune telling apparati all crammed into the smallest possible space and priced to make enough money for the owner to acquire more stuffed animals and phrenology supplies. (Yup, even the Yelp reviews make entertaining reading)
I went in here once about ten years ago and vowed to never return when I turned around in one of the tiny aisles and found myself nose-to-nose with a molting stuffed squirrel.
So when my husband said he wanted to check it out I said "No you don't, it's scary." He said it looked interesting. Then I remembered that the last time I was there I had a four-year-old who almost destroyed a curio stand full of statues made out of dried frogs posed in human-like poses. The place could be interesting sans preschooler and I would be prepared for the squirrel this time.
the squirell was gone but the place is still semi-horrifying and overpriced. I thought that the right person could probably find a treasure in there if they spent the next five years looking for it. But I didn't see myself as that person.
Until I hit the crafts section. What did that aging cloth-bound book spine in the quilting section say? "Modern Pattern Design"? Hmm, I managed to reach across the artificial owl without getting old chicken feathers stuck to my arm, and pulled out something promising looking.
Probably crap, I thought and then cracked it open to this:
A treasure for the sewing geek with vintage pattern-making aspirations!
