Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Vellichor

n.
the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time—filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.

From vellum, parchment + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Ancient Greek mythology. Pronounced “vel-uh-kawr.”

Ioia

Cover image for the Ioia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Aubadoir

Cover image for the Aubadoir word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk