Leaves Of Gold - An Anthology Of Prayers Memorable Phrases Inspirational Verse And Prose

Leaves of Gold is a substantial treasury of prayers, poems, maxims, quotations, anecdotes and improving prose, assembled for the benefit of anyone whose soul requires nourishment but who would prefer not to read the whole of Western civilisation before bedtime. Clyde Francis Lytle has done the rummaging and extracted the parts thought most likely to make the reader wiser, kinder and temporarily less irritated by other people.

First published in 1938 and reprinted in this 1956 edition, the anthology draws upon writers and thinkers both ancient and modern. Philosophers, poets, religious figures, statesmen and assorted possessors of memorable thoughts are gathered together without having to endure the considerable difficulty of sharing an actual room. The result is nearly two hundred pages of concentrated uplift, carefully indexed for those occasions when inspiration is required urgently.

Its subjects are the large and permanent ones: faith, courage, love, friendship, work, sorrow, hope, duty, character and the mysterious human capacity to create difficulties and then require a quotation to survive them. There are words for moments of celebration, disappointment, bereavement, anxiety and reflection, as well as passages suitable for anyone who simply feels the day has begun badly and may need stronger moral supervision.

The title suggests that wisdom grows on trees and need only be collected when sufficiently golden. In practice, the leaves have been gathered from centuries of human experience, during which countless people discovered that life is short, pride is dangerous, kindness is valuable and nobody listens the first time. Their conclusions are presented here in a more elegant form.

Religious faith forms an important part of the collection, with prayers and spiritual reflections intended to console, strengthen and direct the reader. Yet it is broader than a conventional prayer book, incorporating secular verse, philosophical observation and memorable prose. It therefore occupies the respectable middle ground between devotional anthology, literary commonplace book and emergency repair kit for the human spirit.

This is not a volume that necessarily demands to be read consecutively. It is better opened when required, allowing Providence—or possibly the looseness of the binding—to select an appropriate page. One may arrive seeking encouragement and discover a stern paragraph about duty, which is often inspiration’s less entertaining but more useful relative.

Books of this kind were once popular gifts for weddings, graduations, anniversaries and other ceremonies at which the recipient was considered old enough to receive wisdom but not necessarily cash. Their handsome presentation made them suitable for permanent display, while the contents ensured that even leaving one unopened upon the parlour table suggested excellent character.

There is something appealingly confident about the project. Modern inspirational literature often promises transformation through seven habits, twelve rules or a morning routine involving cold water and expensive seeds. Leaves of Gold merely assembles several thousand years of accumulated thought and trusts that somewhere among it the reader will find a sentence worth keeping.

This 1956 Coslett Publishing Company edition belongs to a long-lived anthology that remained popular for decades. It is suitable for collectors of vintage devotional books, readers of inspirational verse, ministers seeking material, writers hunting for quotations and anyone who prefers their encouragement in durable hardback form rather than superimposed upon a photograph of a sunset.

This copy is in Good condition, showing ordinary signs of age and previous ownership but remaining sound, complete and ready to dispense consolation. It has survived since 1956, which is itself a small demonstration of endurance and therefore entirely appropriate to the contents.

From Crappy Old Books—providing memorable phrases, inspirational prose and the occasional leaf that is more brown than gold.

Keep browsing: See more Religion books Other books by Clyde Francis Lytle