When I was younger, I had issues with library books.

I simply couldn’t possibly read a book and enjoy it the same amount knowing that someone else had read it before me. Given that I’ve always been a very avid reader, this evolved into a very expensive quirk of mine as my parents had to buy me brand spanking new books instead.

I soon got over this phobia when I got to uni and couldn’t get by with online journals alone. New books, of course, haven’t lost their lustre to me – who doesn’t love that smell when you go into Borders to explore?? –  but I’ve learned to be a bit more conscious of my book-buying habits and have embraced my Kindle as well as the romantic side of second-hand book shopping.

Betterworld Books is a fave of mine so I turned to them recently in the quest for cheap and obscure editorial design texts to aid with my Editorial Design Challenge. I found these two beauties for under $30, including shipping.

And you know what? I kinda like the idea that these books have lives before they came to me – what on earth was I thinking??