Friend was annoyed I bought her son a book from the charity shop ..was I wrong ?

[luluxxx]

My friends little boy loves reading,he loves books.
It was his birthday last week and I spotted an old Pinocchio book in the charity shop ,it was from 1957 and inside In pencil was a note “to Jim happy 6th birthday love Eleanor”
I don’t know but it tugged at my heart strings a bit.
In my head I thought that book was full of love and rather than sitting in Charity shop or even worse landfill that it would be nice to go to another home to me loved.
I also bought him so new books from Waterstones too.
My friend text basically saying she threw it away as it was dirty ,and her words “no offense but I don’t think you should give a book from a charity shop that’s been good knows where “ as a gift.
Anyway I’m assuming she’s thrown it away
I was a bit sad because I was only trying to do something nice.
It deffo wasn’t dirty either,it was the old pages and they had little yellow areas (not dirt just a old book)

Did I do wrong ?
I have anxiety to start with ,now I’m kicking myself for being too sentimental and probably made a fool of myself

Your friend is an ungrateful, bad mannered idiot!

I think it was a lovely thing that you did.

Your friend is incredibly rude and weird and you should find the courage to tell her so.

Has she never taken her child to a library before?

Books are a lovely gift to give and receive. 2nd hands books like that are special. Even if she didn't like it, your friend was very rude!

What a cow! Who needs friends like that?

You did nothing wrong at all. She was very rude to criticise you

She sounds horrible. I’d love that and appreciate it.

That was a lovely gift. I hope you can take some confidence from the responses here and stand up for yourself. It doesn't need to be confrontational. I would try to be jovial about it, to keep it light - but say - "Fair enough, but I think you're nuts! That was a beautiful, vintage classic - and it's not dirty, that's just how pages naturally age. I love old things if they're carefully chosen, but I'll stick with Waterstones next time!"

Was it dirty, dusty? Some charity shop books are nice, others have those yellow mouldy pages that I wouldn’t buy.

Gosh, wait until you tell her about the school library 😱

Also I think you should lie to her and tell her the vintage book was a first edition and worth a fortune

Your friend doesn’t seem like such a nice person. That’s quite a sad story.

Your friend is a silly snob.

Haw haw. Yes, tell her this!!

I presume your friend doesn’t use libraries? That’s such a shame for her child. You did a lovely thing and she was incredibly rude.

There's no grace or dignity in her behaviour. Do you really want to be friends with someone who chastises your kindness?

Let me ask, what do you actually get from knowing this person?

this

It was a really lovely thought. It's very sad that she didn't appreciate it. I think a lovely lesson for children too that not everything has to be new to have value. And I've never heard anyone describe a charity shop book as dirty before!

Those who don’t like “second hand gifts” - do you feel the same about paintings? If someone gave you a Picasso would you hold it between thumb and forefinger and say, “Eewww, take it away! It’s not new !” ?

And rightly so. She is a rude twat.

What an unkind reaction from her.

I feel the same about old / used books as you do. A name, a brief message inside the cover, some initials....Its a glimpse into another time, another life.

Presumably your friend absolutely hates libraries?

I think your friend was incredibly rude in telling you what she had done. The tone of her message is reflective of an entitled person. That said, did you explain the reason and your sentiment behind gifting the book? What was its condition? I would actually reply and ask her to return it to you and give her a piece of your mind while doing so.

Wow wtf. I get books from the charity shop all the time, what a silly woman your friend is. My word.

I would be ending the friendship

Bloody love this.

Hopefully wasn't this one
https://illustrated-books.co.uk/product/the-adventures-of-pinocchio-by-shirley-goulden/

What was it? My Booky Wook by Russell Brand or something?! 👀