Friends and Colleagues,

When I was a little boy, Christmas was an appropriately magical time for me.  I liked everything about it.  Decorating the tree, emptying my piggy bank for shopping money, looking at the department store windows (yes, there was a shoppable downtown in Richmond) … and coercing my father to drive around Windsor Farms at night to admire the outside lights on a number of trees in that neighborhood. 

Back in those days trees were not bedecked with chaste white lights.  Color was the name of the Christmas game, and  were bold, even brash – blue, green, red, even purple.  They were bright and beautiful, and gaudy, and young Nick was enchanted.  The best trees were in Windsor Farms. 

This original plan of the Windsor Farms reminds me of those seasonal drives.   Look at the meandering roads!  They are part of the charm of this old neighborhood.  They are also easy to get lot on!

This is an uncommon relic of one of Richmond’s great neighborhoods.  I find it evocative and delightful, and hope that you do.

Here’s to Christmas in July!

Nick

Philip W. Foster; John Nolen. [RICHMOND] [SALES MAP] [PLAN] WINDSOR FARMS. A RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE JAMES RIVER AT RICHMOND, HENRICO CO., VIRGINIA. MADE FOR WINDSOR FARMS INC. RICHMOND VA BY ALLEN J. SAVILLE, INC. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION. PLAN BY JOHN NOLEN -- TOWN PLANNER; PHILIP W. FOSTER -- ASSOCIATE. HARVARD SQ. CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Price: $300.00

[RICHMOND] THREE ANNUAL REPORTS. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VALENTINE; 1899, 1900, 1902. Price: $100.00

James Wardrop. [HANDWRITING] THE SCRIPT OF HUMANISM. SOME ASPECTS OF HUMANISTIC SCRIPT, 1460-1560. Price: $125.00   Clifford Dowdey [Dowdy]. [TYPESCRIPT] LEE’S BOYHOOD HOME. Price: $50.00   H. V. Marrot. [BOOKS ON BOOKS] WILLIAM BULMER. THOMAS BENSLEY. A STUDY IN TRANSITION. Price: $50.00   William Hawney. [SCIENCE] HAWNEY’S COMPLETE MEASURER: OR, THE WHOLE ART OF MEASURING. IN TWO PARTS. PART I. TEACHING DECIMAL ARITHMETIC, WITH THE EXTRACTION OF THE SQUARE AND CUBE-ROOTS; PART II. TEACHING TO MEASURE ALL SORTS OF SUPERFICES. Price: $175.00   Josefina Zendejas. [SPANISH LANGUAGE] LA HORMIGUITA CUENTO. Price: $60.00   [SCIENCE] INSTRUCTIONS TO OPERATORS. INDEPENDENT WIRELESS TELEGRAPH COMPANY. Price: $60.00   A. L. Jauregui. [SPANISH LANGUAGE] [CHILDREN] DIALOGOS DE PAYASITOS. Price: $50.00   Augostino Giustiniani; translated and edited by Gilman D. Parsons & Shawn E. Coyle; Illustrated by Margo Consuelo Bors & Fritz Springmeyer. [SPECIAL PRESS] EXPLORING THE EDGE:GUISTINIANI’S ACCOUNT OF COLUMBUS IN THE MARGINS OF 1516 POLYGOT PSALTER. Price: $100.00   William B. Hill. [GENEALOGY] THE BOYDS OF BOYDTON. Price: $60.00   Marion Harland. [COOKING] THE COTTAGE KITCHEN: A COLLECTION OF PRACTICAL AND INEXPENSIVE RECEIPTS. Price: $125.00   Advertising and Promotion Committee. [AMERICANA] HISTORIC CHARLESTON. Price: $50.00   Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. MAPS ... AND HOW TO UNDERSTAND THEM. Price: $75.00   [AMERICANA] [ENGINEERING] THE HUDSON RIVER BRIDGE BETWEEN FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY AND MANHATTAN, NEW YORK. Price: $100.00   J. J. Thomas. [AGRICULTURE] RURAL AFFAIRS: A PRACTICAL AND COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED REGISTER OF RURAL ECONOMY AND RURAL TASTE, INCLUDING COUNTRY DWELLINGS, IMPROVING AND PLANTING GROUNDS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS, DOMESTIC ANIMALS, AND ALL FARM AND GARDEN PROSCESSES. VOL. I. WITH FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY ENGRAVINGS. Price: $150.00   Valendtine Museum. [EXHIBITION CATALOG] MAKERS OF RICHMOND, 1737-1860. AN EXHIBITION OF PORTRAITS NOVEMBER 16, 1948 THROUGH JANUARY 2, 1949. Price: $50.00   Annie Lash Jester. [VIRGINIA] NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA 1607 - 1960. Price: $70.00   Sally T. Bagley. [RICHMOND] [MENU] THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL HOUSE SOIREE. BELLA TUSCANY. AN ITALIAN WINE DINNER TO BENEFIT THE HISTORIC BOLLING HAXALL HOUSE. MAY 17, 2004. Price: $50.00   Thomas Bell. [DENTISTRY] THE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES OF THE TEETH. Price: $250.00   Robert F. Herrey. [RELIGION] TWO RIGHT PROFITABLE & FRUITFUL CONCORDANCES, OR LARGE AND AMPLE TABLES ALPHABETICALL. THE FIRST CONTAINING THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HEBRUE, CALDEAN, GREEKE, AND LATINE WORDES AND NAMES SCATTERING DISPERSING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BIBLE. Price: $600.00   Phil Stern. [PHOTOGRAPHY] PHIL STERN'S HOLLYWOOD: PHOTOGRAPHS 1940-1979. WITH POSTCARD. Price: $50.00   Jules Verne. [LITERATURE] ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF THE BEHEMOTH. Price: $60.00   Carl Raswan; Jane Llewellyn Ott [Introduction]. [SIGNED] [HORSES] THE ARAB AND HIS HORSE. Price: $175.00