I love LIFE

That's right folks... I love LIFE... magazine that is! I live vicariously through 1940s and 1950s LIFE magazines. I started collecting them last December during my trip to Florida to visit the inlaws. I bought the June 20, 1949 edition at a Flea Market / Antique Mall in Mt. Dora and you know I was hooked!

LIFE magazine premiered in 1883 as a general interest magazine and was reintroduced on 23 Nov, 1936 as a weekly news magazine. The archive from 1936 until 1972 is available online here. As great as it is to be able to read LIFE online, nothing can beat the feeling of turning the pages and having something tactile. This is part of the reason I refuse to have a Kindle or a Nook. There's no fun in reading a book that you can't touch. I love the smell of paper- the older the better. Digital book technology just doesn't interest me (says the girl writing a blog in a digital realm. Tsk tsk!.) 

Sadly, LIFE magazine as it was, ceased publication in the 2000s and now only appears on news stands as 'specials' from time to time. 

Right now, my LIFE collection is small- it grows only when I find a LIFE magazine from the 1940s or 1950s (got to limit it somewhere!) under $10, and in it's complete condition (no torn out pages or clipped out photos). 

The issues I currently have are:

July 15, 1946

November 1, 1948

June 20, 1949

January 2, 1950

October 22, 1956

August 26, 1957

December 28, 1959

I also have The Very Best of Life- 75 Years but haven't included it here as it's a modern 'special edition'. 

Anyway, I've been good about storing all of my LIFE magazines in plastic slips and keep all of them flat on my 1957 Drexel Counterpoint side table- except when I'm reading and re-reading them of course! (Excuse the glare from the plastic slips)

I haven't bought any 'new' magazines this year- with the exception of the LIFE 75 years special. I've been proud of myself! I figure if I focus solely on vintage magazines and nix the modern Good Housekeeping,  Better Homes & Gardens, Marie Claire and Glamour that I used to so desire, I'm not only going to save money but I'm going to get more enjoyment out of it. So far so good! 

I even enjoy the ads in old LIFE magazines- even though they are just 'dead' pages I skip over in modern magazines. Everything seemed better more than half a century ago! Vous ne pensez pas?

Stay Glamorous!