Some people collect first editions. Others collect the little porcelain kind that fit in the palm of your hand. This collection gathers Limoges boxes shaped like books: single volumes, tidy stacks, open pages and well-loved favorites, each one a hand-painted porcelain box with a hinged lid, made in and around Limoges, France.
You'll find classic literature and beloved stories, poetry with a rose laid across the cover, a French cookbook that seems to smell of butter and thyme, and a spell book or two for readers with a mischievous streak. There are books for teachers, books for gardeners, and books that look as if someone just set down their glasses to put the kettle on.
A book box makes a thoughtful gift for the reader who already owns too many books (is there such a thing?), for a favorite teacher, a new graduate, or a friend who lends you novels and never asks for them back. On a shelf between real volumes, they look right at home.
Le Petit Prince Book Rochard Limoges Box
On a very small planet, a boy waters his one rose and tells her about the fox he met. Somewhere far below, a child in Paris falls asleep with this book open on her chest. The two of them never meet, of course. But the rose, they say, can feel when someone is reading.
Sherlock Holmes Book Limoges Box by Rochard
Fog rolls in off the Thames, a hansom cab rattles past, and somebody knocks three times at 221B. Elementary, really. Whoever owns this little volume has already guessed the ending, but reads it anyway, chapter by chapter, with a cup of tea going cold and a magnifying glass close at hand.
Rochard Jane Austen Book Stack Limoges Box
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a reader in possession of one Jane Austen novel must be in want of the whole stack. Here they are, piled on a window seat on a rainy afternoon, waiting for the next proposal, the next ball, and one more sharp remark from Elizabeth Bennet.
Rochard Shakespeare Book Stack Limoges Box with Inkwell
The candle has burned low and the feather pen still drips. Romeo has climbed his balcony, Hamlet is muttering in the corridor, and the inkwell holds just enough for one more sonnet before dawn. To write or not to write? Tonight, the answer is obvious, and the quill keeps scratching.
Rochard Witch Spell Books Limoges Box with Spider
Madame la Sorcière keeps her spell books stacked by the cauldron, and her spider keeps them dusted. He is very particular. Once, a guest tried to borrow the green volume without asking, and spent the rest of October hopping about the garden as a rather surprised toad.
Recettes de Cuisine Recipe Book Limoges Box
Grand-mère never measured anything, so the recipes in her book say things like "enough butter" and "until it smells right." The page for tarte Tatin is the most splattered. Every Sunday someone takes the book down from its shelf by the stove, and the whole kitchen starts to smell of apples.
Book and Reading Glasses Limoges Box
"Just one more chapter," she said at ten o'clock. At midnight she said it again. Now the glasses rest on the cover, folded neatly, and the reader has finally dozed off in the armchair. The book doesn't mind. It knows exactly where she left off and will wait patiently until breakfast.
Pink Fairy Tale Castle Book Porcelain Limoges Box Figurine
Once upon a time, a little princess refused to go to sleep until someone read her the story with the pink castle on the cover. Her nanny read it twelve times. The king read it twice, doing all the voices badly. By the third telling, even the palace cat was snoring.
Rochard Book of Provence Limoges Box
Open to any page and you can almost hear the cicadas. Lavender runs in purple stripes to the horizon, a market sets out melons and olives under striped awnings, and somebody's uncle is arguing cheerfully about pétanque in the village square. It is the kind of book that makes you want to pack a bag.
Rochard Book Limoges Box Reading I Love My Teacher
Every June, Madame Laurent's desk fills up with apples, crayon drawings and notes spelled in creative ways. This little book says it best, though, in four simple words. Years from now, her students will have forgotten their spelling lists, but they will still remember who taught them to love reading.
Want to see every box in this theme?
Browse the full collection