Google Play Books - Hawaii History

A  L  O  H  A !

King David Kalakaua

 of the Hawaiian Islands

  David Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalakaua 

Ruled from February 12, 1874 until his death in 1891

His motto:

"Hooulu Lahui"

 "Let the Hawaiian Race Flourish"

 Hula  celebrating Kalakua

upon his 50th birthday jubilee

  Iolani Palace. 

November 1886 

 Contemporary Street Mural,

 Honolulu

\O-O/

 There are TOO Many books.

Even I wrote one.

Clicking around your blogs

makes the reading

of one book,

hour after hour,

seem hopelessly

old fashioned.

BUT when I was a kid

my town of Philadelphia

seemed full of

Old Books,

hundred-year-old books

that crumbled

in your hand!

I spent lots of time

at Legendary

Leary's Book Store

" Leary's Old Book Store in Philadelphia,

  9 South 9th Street

around 1910. 

 When it was sold out at auction

 in 1969 

it was the oldest used book store 

in the U.S.

 Getting ready for the sale,

 a copy of the Dunlap first printing 

of the Declaration of Independence 

was discovered forgotten and neglected. 

It fetched over $400,000.00.

 Leary's was a great place 

to root around for old books - 

and to overhear the conversations

 of old book men.  "

Books Rare

HERE

 " The building consisted of three floors 

and a basement full of books. 

 On the third floor, an opening in the floor

 allowed a view of the mezzanine down below.

Additional books were placed outside

 on shelves on the Leary’s side of the

 [cobblestone! cloudia)

alleyway

 separating it from Gimbels Dept store.

Some provision was made

 to shelter the books

 and the readers

 in the alley way,

 but, most of the time, 

the books and browsers,

 suffered the inclemency of the

 outdoor Philadelphia weather.

Throughout the building, 

numerous used books were everywhere: 

on wall shelves and piled high on tables

 for readers to browse through. 

The policy of the bookstore

 was not to interfere 

with readers and browsers,

 but simply to direct customers

 to their areas of interest if asked. "

" Leary’s heyday

 was during the “Golden Age of Books,”

 a period during the 19th century 

and the first half of the 20th century 

when books were the key source

 of entertainment and enlightenment. "

Wikipedia

 How I loved

to find treasures,

 and to read away

 a Summer's afternoon;

Back then,

those afternoons seemed

endless,

 lasting for DAYS!

Old books were cheap,

cheap enough for me to buy,

though I'm ashamed to admit

(all these decades later)

that I also

"borrowed" a few

from Leary's!

Burying myself

in old books

was my 

Safe Place.

Nowadays,

books seem expensive,

and there are

SO MANY

coming out!

Lately, though

I have discovered

a wonderful place

to recall the joy

of old books,

many of them

FOR FREE!

Today's Leary's is

Google Play.

At the top of the 

GOOGLE Page

one of the choices is

"PLAY."

There you may purchase,

read and watch/listen

to films, TV shows,

and Books!

Lots of the historic books

there are FREE!

Lately I have been lost

in Hawaii's past

as written in the 19th

and early 20th Centuries.

 Here is a first-person

(rather Blog-like)

account of 

Kalakaua at the
 opening ceremonies
 of the
 Kingdom's Legislature.

Note the racism

common to that day

in the grudging admiration-

(Tip: hold the Ctrl key

while you tap the + key

to make reading easier.

Holding Ctrl while tapping

the zero '0' key

brings screen back to

your normal setting.
Or click on the photo-copies. )

Published 1888

{      }

From 1918

" One often hears"

Hawaii Past & Present

William Richards Castle

{    }  

Premature lament

for the passing

of "The Hawaiian"

Katherine Fullerton Gerould, 1916

{   }

Their Future Honolulu - My Today

Would Kalakaua

recognize 

his capitol?

Now I understand

how my paradisaical

Home Town

came to be

as it is- 

from 1917:

Thanks for visiting!

                            Warmly, cloudia

Hear the Kalakaua March HERE