Manual for Life in the Open Air aka Outdoor Manual

This Italian book from the 1970s was recently found in a box while my boyfriend was sorting through his things. 

As a boy, he moved from Italy to the United States with his family. Since he left while still learning to read and write well, he asked his mom if they could order some Italian books. This way, he could continue to work on his literacy. I guess this is one of the books they ordered for him. 

The illustration of Mother Nature is by far one of the best I've ever seen. Leave it to an Italian illustrator to make her look so sultry with bright red lips. 

The book covers many areas of natural science and it includes so many great illustrations. My favorites are of course the line drawings of different plants, but I also enjoy that section because I learned many of the Italian common names for different plants that grow here too.

Luckily, Latin names are included. That stuff really helps otherwise I'd have had no idea what they were talking about at all! Line drawings are good, but they're often difficult to read well without brilliant colors and details.