| “It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.”—Aesop Up to 50% OFF
select items As we clear some shelf space for new items for the Reader’s Catalog, it’s time for us to say goodbye to a few old favorites. Below is a selection of our many items on sale. Visit our sale page for the complete selection. Floreale Tea Towel This cotton tea towel is printed with a colorful vintage illustration of flowers, including Macartney’s Rose, trumpet flower, changeable pontic azalea, beautiful cistus, broad-leaved schotia, cinnnamon-leaved melastoma, and common lilac. Beautifully detailed and colored, the image, from an antique print archive, has a classic and timeless appeal and has been faithfully reproduced on this soft, absorbent, and generously sized towel. | Fromage Tea Towel This charming cotton tea towel reproduces a vintage book illustration of various types of cheese (or as it’s labeled here, fromage): classics like cheddar, parmesan, and camembert, alongside koboko, pommel, and port de salut. Beautifully detailed and hand-colored, these images are sure to whet the appetite and have a timeless appeal. They have been faithfully reproduced on this soft, absorbent, and generously sized tea towel. | The Sporting Life
Greeting Card Collection This collection of six quaint and colorful greeting cards features archival illustrations of old-school techniques for playing tennis, rugby, golf, and other sports. These images are printed in England on uncoated, light cream 300 gsm Italian paper, which is recyclable, biodegradable, and FSC-certified. Each greeting card is 170 mm x 120 mm (approximately 5" x 7") and blank inside. | Our flower press kits have all the components needed to press flowers, which can be used to create artwork, make stationery, decorate journals, and add natural beauty to many other projects. The possibilities—from making suncatchers to using the pressed flowers as natural temporary “tattoos”—are indeed endless. These flower presses are wonderful tools that young children can use successfully right alongside older kids, teens, and adults. | Botanicum Postcards This collection of fifty vibrant postcards features Katie Scott’s incredible illustrations of all things botanical. From the rarest orchid to the common pineapple, these beautiful postcards are perfect for sending to friends, gifting to loved ones, or pinning on your wall. The cards are housed in a handsome, sturdy box decorated with some of Scott’s gorgeous creations. | John Derian’s Painter’s Palette: 1,000-Piece Puzzle From John Derian, the artist and designer whose work with printed images from the past transports the viewer to another world, Painter’s Palette features a color study from the twentieth-century, capturing that magical place where ground mineral meets water and light, imagination meets science, and the artist—and puzzle doer—experiences an “Aha!” moment. | Chamonix Cable-Knit Slipper SocksThese slipper socks are the perfect accessory for a cozy day in—all you’ll need to add is a great book. Hand-knit and with a soft suede sole, the slippers have a lovely cable-knit pattern and an ankle opening fastened with coconut buttons. The sherpa-fleece lining inside makes them luxuriously soft and very toasty. | Camera Pencil SharpenerThis manual pencil sharpener, designed to look like a vintage twin-lens reflex camera, can be adjusted to match the size of most pencils. Insert a pencil in the top “lens” and turn the handle on the back to sharpen. Shavings are caught in the bottom pull-out tray. | Beekeeper Tea Towel This charming cotton tea towel reproduces a vintage illustration from The Beekeeper’s Guide to Pollinating Honey Plants. In addition to a bevy of pollinators, the image depicts an antique bee skep, orange blossom, calendula, foxglove, dandelion, clover, marigold, and lavender. Beautifully detailed images of flora and fauna, which have a classic and timeless appeal, have been faithfully reproduced on this soft, absorbent, and generously sized tea towel. | Vegetable Garden Tea Towel This cotton tea towel is printed with a colorful vintage illustration of vegetables often found in a kitchen garden: lettuces and chard, onions, peas and beans, gourds, cucumbers, turnips, and three voluptuous varieties of tomato. Beautifully detailed and colored, the image, from an antique print archive, has a classic and timeless appeal and has been faithfully reproduced on this soft, absorbent, and generously sized towel. The towel has a loop for hanging. | Wildflowers Tea TowelThis 100% organic cotton tea towel features intricate illustrations of wildflowers published in 1902 in a book described as a reference for the field botanist, the country resident, or the summer rambler. | Wildflowers NapkinsEach cotton napkin in this set of four is printed with a vintage illustration of wildflower specimens. Although the flowers are labeled with their Latin names, nature lovers will probably recognize foxglove, poppy, birdsfoot trefoil, clover, varieties of daisies, ranunculus, buttercups, and thistle, and have fun looking up the unfamiliar. | Eudora Welty Bracelet For anyone interested in writing, reading, and creativity, Eudora Welty’s autobiographical One Writer’s Beginnings is an iconic work. This polished sterling silver cuff bracelet, exclusive to The Reader’s Catalog, is engraved with one of the most memorable lines in the book: “All serious daring starts from within.” Welty’s signature is engraved on the inside of the bracelet. | Gels™ Manhattan Reading GlassesGels® Manhattan reading glasses feature optical-quality lenses with a scratch-resistant coating and thin-rimmed frames made of TR-90 surgical plastic. Choose between black, blue, and tortoiseshell frames and four different strengths of magnification. The frames come in a soft matte texture embellished with working rivets. | Rachel Comey x New York Review of Books Rachel Comey is an American independent fashion designer based in New York City. She is the founder of the eponymous clothing, shoes. and accessories brand known for its “intellectual, arts-and-crafts aesthetic.” | Lambswool Hot Water BottleGet cozy with this knitted Lambswool hot water bottle in a dapper gray and white striped pattern. This two-liter water bottle with a super soft cover is perfect for staying warm on a cold winter night or healing aches and cramps. | C.O. Bigelow Apothecary Box Packaged in an apothecary box illustrated with the iconic C.O. Bigelow storefront and Manhattan cityscape, each set features two of the chemist’s most popular formulas: Body Cleanser and Body Lotion. The refreshing wash provides a creamy lather and gently cleanses, while the silky lotion provides lightweight moisture as it conditions the skin. | Blueprint Bicycle School ChartThis school chart is perfect for any bicycle enthusiast, roadie, or everyday commuter who wants to know more about the working parts of a ten-speed road bicycle. The chart comes with wood hanging bars, an attached metal loop, and even a nail so that you can easily hang this textured illustration above a bed or desk—anywhere in need of some classic decoration. | The Velo Socks From our dapper friends at the London Sock Exchange, this playful design features the an image of a cyclist. The perfect accessory for the adventurous sophisticate, these socks are an attractive golden yellow, to offer a pop of color and style. | The Ace Socks SetFrom our dapper friends at the London Sock Exchange, this collection of two pairs of attractive socks is perfect for the tennis enthusiast. Embroidered with mini tennis players crouched in anticipation, their rackets at the ready, these socks come in two colors—“lawn,” a seafoam green, and“clay,” a burnt orange hue. | Illuminated Raised Relief
Desk Globe See the whole world right on your desktop with the Illuminated Raised Relief Desk Globe. This detailed globe, measuring twelve inches in diameter, features more than 4,000 place names and political boundaries, a wonderful tool for learning about geography from lower school on. | Pendleton Roll-Up BlanketWhether you’re heading to a picnic, hiking trail, campsite, or backyard gathering, this is the perfect grab-and-go blanket for any setting, from damp grass to chilly evenings. It features a comfortable layer of pure virgin wool on one side and weather-resistant nylon backing on the other for ultimate versatility. | Nature Multi-Activity KitThis kit comes with all the materials needed to complete five nature-themed crafting activities that make twelve items: two animal masks, one kaleidoscope, two pinwheels, one set of wind chimes, and six nature-themed sticker boards. | Hedgehog Prickly Sticks
This game is a twist on the classic pick-up sticks, perfect for two to four players ages three and up. A roll of the die determines what color stick must be ever so carefully removed from the bunch. As each stick is removed, the balancing hedgehog will become more and more unsteady, and when it drops, the game is over. | Healing Plants Boxed NotecardsHealing Plants features sixteen hand-colored plates from Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737–39). Blackwell, a talented artist with a passion for the natural world, published her herbal as a means of financial support after her husband landed in debtor’s prison, and it quickly became a valuable reference for doctors and apothecaries. These notecards—featuring plants like aloe, chamomile, and St. John’s Wort—are the perfect stationery for herbalists and all lovers of botanical illustration. | Audubon’s Birds of America
Boxed Notecards This high-quality boxed notecard set features beautiful and noteworthy birds from Audubon’s Birds of America. The vibrant images on these notecards reproduce the images of sixteen different birds from John James Audubon’s iconic masterwork, from the majestic great blue heron to the colorful Carolina parakeet. On the back of each card are the English and Latin names of the bird. | Explore Microscope Set with Case Explore the world on a cellular level with this forty-five-piece microscope set. Accessories include collection/prepping tools, prepared and blank slides, a shrimp hatchery, and more. The microscope and all of its accessories can be easily secured in the hard shell case to help protect the optics and accessories from dust when in transit or storage. | Jane Austen Trivia Can you name all five Bennet sisters? What is the name of the Dashwoods’ home in Sense & Sensibility? And which of Jane Austen’s novels is Clueless an adaptation of? Make it a truth universally acknowledged that you are the ultimate Austenite with this Jane Austen trivia game. Test your knowledge of Austen and her classic novels with the 400 questions in this card game, featuring an instructional booklet outlining different ways to play. | Bird Guidebook and
Matching Game This guidebook tests your memory with a fifty-card matching game featuring twenty-five pairs of the world’s most stunning birds, beautifully rendered in vintage illustrations. The accompanying eighty-page guidebook is full of full-color illustrations by John and Elizabeth Gould, two of the most famous ornithological illustrators in history, as well as descriptions of each of the birds and their most distinguishing and interesting characteristics. | Nomenclature of Colors
Birchwood Tray This tray captures the vintage charm of Werner's Nomenclature of Colours, first published in 1814. The named color samples were illustrated, described, and used by Charles Darwin in his scientific observations. The Nomenclature is considered an ancestor of modern color systems such as Pantone. | Natural History Museum:
100-Piece PuzzleCelebrate the history of life on this planet as well as memorable trips to the natural history museum. With a wealth of details, this richly illustrated puzzle promises long periods of learning and observation. Working it is an ideal way for children to develop dexterity and memory while having fun. | Bugtastic BingoButterfly, ladybug, spider—what’s your child’s favorite bug to spot in the garden? This classic family game of bingo has been reinvigorated with lively, colorful illustrations. Children and their adults immerse themselves in the world of insects, eagerly waiting to yell out BINGO! | |
