Welcome to my auctions!

Though my name is Elizabeth, I'm called B. I grew up near Lynchburg, Virginia and now live near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I chose the id " forestseeker"  shortly after I moved here and was longing for my old home in the woods and my walks on the Appalachian Trail.

My items vary widely, but most of them date from 1850-1960. I list  lots of paper - books, magazines,photos, ephemera, postcards  and occasionally prints and paintings.  I also sell art glass, ceramics, metal objects, old jewelry, clothes and toys or whatever captures my eye and imagination. A bit of background will help make sense of my selections - I grew up in the fifties in an old house filled with old books and old things. Even my parents,  who were the age of my friends' grandparents were old!  I loved their tales of childhood in the early 1900's,  the roaring 20's in New York and Paris, and the depression in rural Virginia. Many of the things I sell date from these periods. My parents ran the Percy Press. With a very basic multilith press, they created beautiful greeting cards of Virginia's historic sights and published my father's books on local history. My mother was trained as an artist and dress designer, and I have her artist's eye if not much of her talent. I love  arts and crafts, art nouveau and art deco, but I appreciate good design from any era. Adjectives like elegant, sleek, handsome, graceful, simple and whimsical describe my items more often than cute, ornate, frilly and feminine.  From my father I got my love of books and the art of the book, and my appreciation of the importance of local history. I love well designed and well illustrated books - children's books from the early 1900's, and books with a deco look from the 30's are favorites. I  like to list things that reflect every day life from another era and local histories and ephemera from small towns. I worked for many years as a refererence librarian in a public library, so I have a feel for books that are really useful - you won't find last year's best sellers in my auctions, but you might find a good cookbook or how-to book or an old car repair manual!

I include a lot of photos in my auctions and try to describe any flaws in detail. Many of my things are imperfect. I'm fond of the the Japanese aesthetic Wabi-Sabi which finds beauty  in the signs of age and long use. I believe that well-loved objects capture some of the spirit of their owners and like the Velveteen Rabbit become real.

I want my buyers to be happy with their wins. I will  refund items returned within 5 days. If you have any  problems with an item, let me know and I will work with you in any way that I can.

You're reading this because one of my finds caught you eye , so please bookmark my auctions and my ebay store B's Books and Curios. If  the type of item that brought you here is the only thing that you are looking for, I can't promise that I'll have something like it every week, but you may find something that you didn't know you wanted, and I promise that you won't be bored!