by Alexander von Salzmann (1874–1934)
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
― Charles W. Eliot
I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me
Sources:
[1] Original image from Wikimedia.
[2] The Real Victorian's digitally enhanced version of the painting (seen above), downloadable as a 7" x 6.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG.
Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain paintings are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.