The Hanushka Coffee House is on George Street in Hastings Old Town. There you can have a cup of coffee and feel like you are in someone’s living room, or library or something. So far so normal, just another off beat coffee shop to sit down and relax in. Then you notice the books in the windows.

It’s like a new version of the saucy seaside postcard. It also shows how language has changed since these books were produced. For instance The Pocket Book of Boners was published in 1945, and is about  “Schoolboy Howlers” . A Dog called Bum, published in 1960, is about a legendary dog that lived in San Diego in the 18th century. Both innocent titles when produced, but we don’t live in an innocent times now.

The collection here is impressive. It would have taken a lot of effort searching for these books. The Hanushka Coffee House is worth visiting for the books alone. Click on the photos to view them full size in Flickr.