walnut creek library

Bookmark, c. 1980s

---

The Walnut Creek Library in Contra Costa County, Walnut Creek, California, USA, opened on July 17, 2010, and this bookmark promotes the activities of its Friends group. As the bookmark looks way older than 2010, and came in a bulk lot of 1980s bookmarks I purchased on eBay, I am guessing the friends group formed prior to the actual creation of the library.

This is such a great use of one of the diagrams from The Gentlewoman's Guide by the  Friends of the Walnut Creek Library for their bookmark.

​The Friends of the Walnut Creek Library are still active.

​
​

---

This large (9cm x 23cm) and quirky bookmark took me down a rabbit hole of research!

First of all, the fabulous illustration of a woman washing dishes while reading a book on a stand attatched to her person! The caption reads, "Don't let houseweork interfere with culture."  Indeed!

The bookmark tells us the illustration is from The Gentlewoman's Guide, copyrighted by Price/Stern/Sloan, LA, USA, in 1967. My research revealed that this is actually a humourous calendar, published in 1968, with the full title being ...The Gentlewoman's Guide, or how to succeed at home.  Boldly Illustrated.

The calendar features cheeky illustrations for each month of the year

At the time of writing this blog post, only one copy was available for sale anywhere online, on Etsy for $AU44.99.  

Here is the cover image and an image of one page from the calendar. (Click on images to enlarge):

"Don't let your discussion group get out of hand."