I don't actually collect, but I do have a 1922 edition of Silas Marner in a small hardcover, and an "adapted" (heavily abridged & reworded) students' edition of Moby Dick from 1950. There are even quiz questions in the back.
I don't actually collect, but I do have a 1922 edition of Silas Marner in a small hardcover, and an "adapted" (heavily abridged & reworded) students' edition of Moby Dick from 1950. There are even quiz questions in the back.
Well. I'm eccentric in collecting books. I have the entire Tarzan series, the entire Doc Savage reprint series, the entire Avenger reprint series, the entire reprint Shadow series, Don Coldsmith's The Spanish Bit Saga Series, the entire 100 Little Stories series by Barnes & Noble, the entire Retief of the CID series, most of the Star Trek series, etc. You can toss in Doctor Who, Lee Falk's The Phantom (missing only one book), James Bond, Xanth, Clive Cussler, and of couse, humor and classics. My oldest classic is a crumbling 1901 edition of Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare, which now I am afraid to touch.
Some of us laugh
Some of us cry
Some of us smoke
Some of us lie
But it's all just the way
that we cope with our lives...
Nothing too exciting, the only book I have predating 1950ish (that I know of) is a 1914, McMillans Pocket Classic's copy of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
"Americans should know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls."
-Walt WhitmanThey have their worries, they’re counting the miles, they’re thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they’ll get there—and all the time they’ll get there anyway, you see.
-Jack Kerouac
Today, at the local library's secondhand booksale, I purchased a collection of six Sinclair Lewis novels for $12. These books are identically bound blue hardcovers with Lewis' image and signature embossed on the front cover. They were released seperately upon publication.
They are:
Main Street, 1920
Babbitt, 1922
Arrowsmith, 1925
Ann Vickers, 1933
It Can't Happen Here, 1935
The Prodigal Parents, 1938
Very cool.
"I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different."
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In spite of having a rather decent sized private library of some 3000 books, I must admit to owning very few which are of any exceptional value... monetarily. I do own a nicely bound and illustrated Nana dating from the 1920s and lovely boxed edition of Walton's Compleat Angler. I also own any number of late 19th century editions of Keats, Shelley, Byron, DeQuincy, etc... none of which is is truly worth much more than an expensive new art book. This is somewhat surprising considering that I am a great admirer of the book as an art form... or the so-called "book arts" and livres d' artistes. Unfortunately, no first folios, Guttenberg bibles, or products of the Aldine press in my collection. In spite of this, I have needed to learn a bit about recognizing "valuable" books. After all, I am a visual artist who as a bibliophile is also something of a blasphemer or rather a heretic. I create art... collage... which is constructed from bits and fragments of old books. These books are chosen for the visual qualities of their various parts: the textures and grain of the papers (as well as its manner of absorbing ink/paint), the look of the font, the aged and yellowed papers and battered covers, and the inscriptions of previous owners. As a bibliophile I justify my work as something of a rebirth or recycling... a means of breathing new life into books no longer wanted. At the same time I am very careful not to damage something that might indeed have some real worth... financial or otherwise.
(For any interested some examples of my work may be seen at my blog... which is not as actively added to as it should be:
http://stlukesguildohio.blogspot.com/2006/07/no.html )
Last edited by stlukesguild; 07-30-2006 at 05:42 PM.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
SLG,
Just as you had me wondering what Bach's music would look like on the Spenser thread, you provide me with the answer in your own artwork! I just happened to have The Well Tempered Klavier in the CD player when I came across this post (I've been mildly obsessed with WTK since I heard Barenboim play the complete thing just before I left Chicago in June), and I really love the way the music and your collages fit together. The progression in your pieces expresses the style of a fugue beautifully, and I like the use of the old fashioned papers.
Since you're intested in fragments of books as well as whole, I imagine you're aware of the term "cannibalization" being applied to books that are divided up either for other uses or to sell individual leaves. I was so struck the first time I heard an archival librarian referring to a "cannibalized" book, because the choice of words (so closely akin to cannibal) seems to show how much we can come to regard books as ourselves. Ah well, we've all been guilty of devouring a book or two in our time.
Last edited by Petrarch's Love; 07-30-2006 at 09:41 PM.
"In rime sparse il suono/ di quei sospiri ond' io nudriva 'l core/ in sul mio primo giovenile errore"~ Francesco Petrarca
"Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."~ Jane Austen
P'sL;
Yes... I have heard the term "cannibalization" before. Perhaps the most egregious instance of such was the splitting up of the so-called "Shah Nameh of Tabriz". This was one of the most gorgeous illuminated manuscripts ever produced... perhaps the greatest example of the art of illumination in "golden age" Persia:
See the sad story here: http://www.iht.com/articles/1996/04/27/lon.t_3.php
More recently we have the horrible incident of the illuminated William Blake manuscript which surfaced a short while ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/ar...erland&emc=rss
As a great Blake fan(atic) I must say I hope Ms. Howie dies a long painful death
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
Savages!Originally Posted by stlukesguild
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"In rime sparse il suono/ di quei sospiri ond' io nudriva 'l core/ in sul mio primo giovenile errore"~ Francesco Petrarca
"Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."~ Jane Austen
One of my prized possessions is a 1911 copy of William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. I also own a number copies of James joyce's books from the twenties. The oldest book I have is called Gleanings for the Curious from the Harvest Fields of Literature by C. C. Bombaugh, dated 1875. That's a fun book. Then I have some collections of poetry dated 1912 and various other things from the teens and twenties. These were all acquired before I became a student and poor.
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
James Joyce, the pirate.Why don't you write books people can read? -Nora Barnacle
Insupportable claim: Reading my stories will make you a better person. Do your best to prove me right.
I nearly forgot to mention a little event that happened a few weeks ago in a bookstore I frequent.
The very large bookstore (Powell's Books, by name) has a rare book room that I like to wander, noticing several books in protective cases and behind glass which I will never own, but enjoy seeing. Wondering of it, I requested to see Finnegans Wake by James Joyce cased behind glass; lo and behold, I held a first edition copy from the UK. I could have fainted from such greed and desire to own it, yet that seems the day I can magically discover the asked $6,000 in my money-clip.
HaHa, I'm off to Powell's with my $6,000! Just kidding. But yes that is one of the most wonderful bookstores I've ever been to. When I lived there several years ago, it was one of my favorite places to wander and wonder. And yes that particular room is rather impressive.
I forgot to mention my lovely dictionaries. I have a German, a Latin, and an English dictionary, all three from near the turn of the last century. Who says possessions can't make one happy?
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
James Joyce, the pirate.
Insupportable claim: Reading my stories will make you a better person. Do your best to prove me right.
Powells, one of Portland's prouds ??
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