Old Books

A title, but no author's name

   I am drawn to old books. Whenever I come across one, I grasp it reverentially, pry it open gently and wait for the old book smell to come wafting up. Before I even begin to read, I head for the inside title page in an attempt to find out just how old the book is.
   I love finding books that are older than I am, it's the idea that minds were creating and presses were running before I was even a fleeting thought that beguiles me.
   Today, my work travels took me to the Cherryhill Village Mall in the afternoon where I met one of the people I support. There was an antique show being held there this week and after I was done travelling about with the person and then returning him to the Mall, I stopped by a display of used books.

THAT'S a little more informative!

   My roving gaze was suddenly stopped by a small, green, weathered volume. It was a copy of "A Shropshire Lad".
   Oddly enough, the author's name was nowhere to be found on the outside of the book and I had to open it to find out it had been written by A. E. Housman (1859-1936). The edition I was looking at was published in 1927. Inside the cover, someone named "E. Shaver" had signed it in ink, dated it "1928 Toronto". This totally satisfied my need for old!

Would love to know more...

   I very gingerly started leafing through its pages and discovered that a previous owner had left newspaper clippings in it from the thirties. One of the clippings was from a London, England paper and announced Housman's death, thereby dating it back to 1936. At this point, the book was sold, pending me actually handing my money over.

A sad day

   I returned my attention to the other books there and, just a bit lower than "A Shropshire Lad" was another amazing (to me) literary find---James Bond books! These, however, were not any old Bond books. They were of the same vintage of Bond books that I read voraciously as a teenager, same covers and everything! They were instantly sold as well!
   I got the books home and began leisurely leafing through them. In one of the Bond books, I found a  receipt from a store in Gravesend, England which was only open from 1954-1976. Once again, this helped satiate my need for old.
   One of the things which drew me to this copy of "A

Bond books of MY vintage

Shropshire Lad" was that its name was actually buried somewhere deep in my subconscious self, otherwise I might not have bothered in the first place (it wasn't the only old book there). Doing a little research on Housman once I got home led me to discover what a great and classic scholar the man actually was. You can read about him and "A Shropshire Lad" here.

Another little hidden gem!

   The man who was running this booth in the Mall was a white-haired gentleman who looked like he could have been in his eighties. Fortunately for him, in Cherryhill Village Mall this makes him a youngster. We talked for awhile and he told me a bit about his business. He told me that someone had been in earlier and complained about the price of the Bond books. He was selling them for two bucks apiece and they were clearly originally marked at sixty cents. His reply to the complaining customer was that they were collectors items. To me, there was an immediate, strong and visceral appeal to them. They instantly took me back to the heady days of adolescence when James Bond was actually a little on the racy side. In those days, the whole world was just a little Bond-crazy and I was no exception. In actuality, I probably would have paid a lot more than two bucks each. I guess this really was an example of something only being worth what someone was willing to pay!
   Curiosity about "A Shropshire Lad" took me to the internet where I scoured around, looking for references to it. I guess I was more than curious as to it history and value. It seems as though this is a book which been more or less constantly in print and if you had in your possession a first printing (1896) that was in good condition then you possibly had a book worth a couple of thousand dollars. As it was, I was able to find a bookstore selling a 1927 version which sounded the same as mine for about three hundred and twenty bucks!
   I most assuredly was not thinking of the book as financial investment, however, the idea of surrounding myself with little bits of history like this is what the attraction truly is. It appears as though my little copy of "A Shropshire Lad" was at one point used in a classroom, there is some underlining of passages and annotations going on. I have my father's desk downstairs, the same desk he and his brother and sister sat at when doing their homework in the thirties. I think "A Shropshire Lad" is headed there!