A pleasant discovery
Nov. 26th, 2007 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olde_fashionedThis weekend we visited the local library, (mea culpa -- I ordered 22,347 books on hold...again...) and as I always do if I am able, I stopped by the Friends of the Library bookstore. Habitually heading straight for the classics, my eye was instantly caught by two new additions -- a pair of identical copies of Eighteenth Century Poetry & Prose edited by Bredvold, McKillop, and Whitney. They're old (1956) and beautiful, and in fairly good condition, except for the fact that someone has scribbled notes in the margins of almost every page. BOTH books have extensive "commentary" and highlighting by two different sets of handwriting, and since the library's policy on pretty old books is usually to overprice them, I went to inquire about the price.
Two pleasant older ladies sat chatting at the pay desk, and upon my interruption, bringing up the subject, mentioning the damage, and showing them the pages, one of them said as she looked, "Ohhh...We can't really sell them when they look like that!" She paused, then said in a playful stage whisper, "Why don't you just take them?"
Me? Take them? For free?!? I was positively thrilled, (beaming, in fact) and after thanking them more than once, I clutched my new treasures and finished perusing the rest of the shelves.
Upon my heading towards the door to leave, an older man came walking in, heading straight towards me. We both stopped short, each in the other's way. He told me to go ahead, but I said that he could go first. He hesitated, and then good-naturedly stepped past me with thanks, calling out "Age before beauty!" as he went by. Now, normally that would have embarrassed me, but I was so happy with my books I only thanked him and left.
After looking at the books more closely later on, they are indeed identical to each other, so I have two copies of the exact same book, but since the notes are so entirely different and written by two separate hands, I think I'll keep them, at least for now.
The main reason I was so attracted to these in the first place (other than the "18th century" in the title!!) was the content -- everyone from Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Allan Ramsay, Horace Walpole, William Cowper, Thomas Paine, and even Sir Joshua Reynolds has a place! Samuel Johnson (and Boswell!) also are given generous attention, and so I now have my own copy of The Vanity of Human Wishes! Yay!
But one name in particular made me laugh. Apparently one William Collins had a secret literary life on the side, which he must have diligently pursued when not courting Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her benevolence. *lol*
Two pleasant older ladies sat chatting at the pay desk, and upon my interruption, bringing up the subject, mentioning the damage, and showing them the pages, one of them said as she looked, "Ohhh...We can't really sell them when they look like that!" She paused, then said in a playful stage whisper, "Why don't you just take them?"
Me? Take them? For free?!? I was positively thrilled, (beaming, in fact) and after thanking them more than once, I clutched my new treasures and finished perusing the rest of the shelves.
Upon my heading towards the door to leave, an older man came walking in, heading straight towards me. We both stopped short, each in the other's way. He told me to go ahead, but I said that he could go first. He hesitated, and then good-naturedly stepped past me with thanks, calling out "Age before beauty!" as he went by. Now, normally that would have embarrassed me, but I was so happy with my books I only thanked him and left.
After looking at the books more closely later on, they are indeed identical to each other, so I have two copies of the exact same book, but since the notes are so entirely different and written by two separate hands, I think I'll keep them, at least for now.
The main reason I was so attracted to these in the first place (other than the "18th century" in the title!!) was the content -- everyone from Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Allan Ramsay, Horace Walpole, William Cowper, Thomas Paine, and even Sir Joshua Reynolds has a place! Samuel Johnson (and Boswell!) also are given generous attention, and so I now have my own copy of The Vanity of Human Wishes! Yay!
But one name in particular made me laugh. Apparently one William Collins had a secret literary life on the side, which he must have diligently pursued when not courting Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her benevolence. *lol*
