I had a 1938 New Yorker magazine that I found so interesting. I read it front to back and back to front many times. Somehow, it got lost. I wish I still had it.
I had a 1938 New Yorker magazine that I found so interesting. I read it front to back and back to front many times. Somehow, it got lost. I wish I still had it.
I'm yo.
This my brother yo
We yo yo
Helena (05-14-2020)
i found a 2nd edition of "treasure island" at a garage sale for .25 cents...
good condition.
its always interesting to read how different the speech was way back then...
Helena (05-14-2020)
Many years ago I picked up a very old book called 'Apes Urbanae' ('The Bees of Urban'), written in Latin in the early 17th Century. As near as I could make out, it was some kind of bibliography of theological writings. I doubt that I'd have found it interesting (or that I would now) even if I read Latin, but this copy was printed in Germany in 1711, and it blew me away that this book had been printed before George Washington was born. I haven't seen it in years and hope I still have it, somewhere in "the archives".
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Many years ago, I began, desultorily, to read. It is probably ironic that the first book I read was Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; which is reputed to be the first novel in the English language. It was the Charles Scribner Sons edition with the evocative illustrations by N.C. Wyeth. The book captured my imagination and fired my desire to read. Since then, I have read many books, and more than a few of them several times. It is not uncommon that I read an entire book within a single day. I am not a particularly rapid reader, but I suffer from insomnia, and, for these many years, books have been the companions of my sleepless nights. More recently, my studies have become more focused and my reading more refined. Some books I read have been out of print for centuries, and only available in the great libraries of the world or in private collections. Even so, there are many, many more books that I have not read - great rivers of literature and learning that I have yet to course. Still, whenever I start another book, it is with the same spirit of Robinson Crusoe when he takes up his salvaged copy of the Bible, and begins, for the first time, to read it in earnest.
Skull (11-18-2021),Standing Wolf (12-08-2019)
I came across two old editions of novels by Joseph Conrad, printed in 1938 but in wonderful condition, for a couple of dollars at a thrift shop last week. Someone must have treasured them, because aside from some slight discoloration of the pages they might have come right off a bookseller's shelves eighty years ago. I hadn't read any Conrad in years, and then only 'Heart of Darkness', 'The Secret Sharer' and a couple of other things, but this find inspired me not only to get back into his works but to learn more about the author. Born of a Polish family in the Ukraine, he grew up speaking Polish and French and actually knew little English until he emigrated to England in his twenties, yet he became one of the giants of English literature.
I find his writing to be almost hypnotic. One of the books I found the other day was his second published novel, 'An Outcast of the Islands' - he worked throughout his youth and early manhood as a merchant sailor, so much of his writing deals with the sea - so I found a nice old copy of his first book, 'Almayer's Folly' on Ebay and plan to begin reading his novels in order as soon as I've finished with a few other recent acquisitions.
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Nemo (12-08-2019)
I am negotiating the purchase the first English translation of Tacitus’ Historiae by Sir Henry Savile published in 1591. Savile was notable scholar: Provost of Eaton, Secretary in Latin to Elizabeth I, and one of Francis Bacon’s "good pens" that worked on the translation of the Gospels in revision of the English Bible commissioned by King James I. Tacitus is extremely dense and difficult to translate; later versions tend to lose the flavor of the original text. At my advanced age, I want to know the truth; and, looking back on things, often the truth can only be found at the source.
Last edited by Nemo; 12-08-2019 at 05:05 PM.
Lummy (05-10-2020)
I have over 20,000 books in my library in the basement. I do sell them once in a while, the last one I sold was the first edition of True Grit. But I have some rare and very old ones too.
Nemo (05-11-2020)
Years ago I was rummaging through grandmother's attic and found a joke book from 1917. As I read the book I realized I'd heard most of the jokes recently but the new version replaced "Irish" with "Polish". "Do you know why the Irish can't swim in the East River? They leave a ring."
I'd been laughing at Polish jokes but I quit. In fact, I quit laughing at jokes that targeted Poles, Jews, Blacks, Blondes, gays, or any other group. Well, except men, women, and liberals.
Helena (05-14-2020)
Not a serious collector like some of you, but on occasion I find a gem. This plump 1450pp volume of Emerson's Complete Writings was first copyright in 1875. My edition is from 1929 and has those neat thumb cuts for finding sections. Each page has two columns, which this old duffer now appreciates; good Index also.
jet57 (10-17-2021)