We're delighted to see our How to Be Your Own Cat rising to the top at Quimby's Bookstore.  (Photo via the Quimby's instagram.)  Looks like we're in fine company alongside the Twin Peaks recipe book (Damn Fine Cherry Pie), as well as guitarist Johnny Marr and some Ancient Aliens.

We're often asked how we relax after a long night of time traveling through old books.  Here's a hint: it involves the horse mask we acquired from Archie McPhee.  (As to the feline guardian also pictured, he somehow acquired us along the way.)

The Black Cat, May 1896.

From Die Muskete, 1919.

The Black Cat, December 1896.  This will also be of interest: The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.

From Little Helpers by Margaret Janvier, 1889.

"A woman throwing boxes of the cough-remedy Pulmoserina at lions, representing the ability of Pulmoserina to provide defence against respiratory diseases."  From 1920.

"Greetings for Hallowe'en."  Date unknown.

"The Salem witch."

You're aware of "the complex ways we distract ourselves from our inevitable demise" (Doug Bower, From Horseback to Desktop PC, 2007).  One of them is bobbing for apples while a witch peers through one's window.  Date uncertain.

Here's a vintage Halloween card from Germany, date uncertain.

"What's meant for thee thee'll have."  Date uncertain.

From c. 1920.