Category: Rare Books

Hunting for books is like finding buried treasure!

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getting lost in a book

the latest in a series of opinion pieces... this one reflecting my love of books and building a humble library! CLICK on the above picture to visit abebooks.com

On the subjects of books, I am very found of reading the original works, especially period pieces that talk about the life and times as they were happening. Too often history is rewritten to fit current sensibilities and with no concern for the impressions of the time. It is important to read Shakespeare in the original Klingon after all.

I am also reminded of a story concerning ( I believe) Mark Twain. Mr. Twain was sitting in the back of a large lecture hall in which a professor was delivering a lecture concerning all of the hidden meanings and messages that Mark Twain left for us to find. Patiently he waited until the end and students began to ask questions, Mark Twain stood and said,” I  didn’t realize I said all that, sounds very interesting, I’ll have to go back and reread myself.”

In building your own library, you can gain a perspective on a subject and a culture that could all disappear with the flick of a computer switch. There have been times when I have pulled a book off my shelves in a discussion to demonstrate the perspective of the time, not just what someone said it was.

Here is my article

My favorite internet Used Book Store!

Read to your children tonight, books make everyone become closer.

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pottermore: for the harry potter fans in our lives

The virtual world of Pottermore

I think there might be a few people in the world who don’t know who Harry Potter is or the heroic story of his existence… but most of these folks are boring. In any event, you can register to buy on-line books and participate in a variety of  safe on-line experiences. Here is what J.K. Rowling writes about it:

“Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early.”

To Register on-line, click on the picture above… magic won’t work here.  😉

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finding a treasure in rare books

Alexander Dumas' "the Conscript: a tale of War"
Alexander Dumas' "the Conscript: a tale of War" (1863)

 What do you give your spouce for her 38th wedding anniversary? Well if you look on line for suggestions, they are all boring! I guess they thnk if you have been married that long , you shouldn’t need any hints! To a degree, I do  believe this to be true.

Laura and I have a fondness for books and what better gift that to find a first edition of a familiar author Alexander Dumas ( Three musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo and Man in the Iron Mask among many others), but not one of his familiar books. The book “the Conscript: a Tale of War” was not one you often see listed with his other works, but the plot may see very familiar to you.

Nothing like an old book to transport you to another time!
Nothing like an old book to transport you to another time!

Not every old book is expensive; in fact, many old books are amazingly affordable. It is picking the right book for the right person that is the key… and this one was a hit.

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finding fun books everywhere

Image of a Budge Book as seen in the 'Mummy' movie
Image of a Budge Book in the 1999 movie "The Mummy!" CLICK on the picture above to read about this fun movie!

Book recommendations come from some fun places. In the 1999 movie the “Mummy”, our heroine was carrying a book by  Sir Wallace Budge  that I had avoided. I think it was an arrogant presumption on my part that the book was too elementary; but as a primer — I would learn — it was fantastic. “The Dwellers of the Nile” is not a particularly long or expensive book as rare books go, so it was fun to pick up a first edition (1885). In the movie “Mummy”, Evelyn ‘Evy’ Carnahan can read and write heiratic, demonic and heiroglyphics and this book is a bit out of place as it addresses none of this; however, it does discuss how ancient Egyptian was finally decifered. Part of the fun was Sir Wallis’s amusement that the reason it took so long to decifer the language is that so many academics were approaching the subject with much bias and superstition.

However, if Evy was indeed joining the many British travelors of the time, she might actually have ‘The Nile” by Sir Wallis Budge for those taking ‘the Cooks Tour” with Thomas Cook and Company.

Want to take a modern day 'Cooks Tour" then CLICK on the picture above and see where they are going today!

“The Nile” is a wonderful and virtually complete little book that reminds even the most steadfast travelors to bring their ‘block and tackle’ before venturing to some of the more remote locations!

One can find history, travel and adventure …. in a book!

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F.I.R.E. and their new book exposing censorship

foundation for individual mrights in education

Tonight Greg Lukianoff is announcing the coming of his new book with F.I.R.E. : ‘Greg’s book will explore how today’s college students are “unlearning liberty,” and discuss what happens to our society when students are taught in a campus environment that is marred by speech codes and censorship. Greg’s book will also cover FIRE’s work on hundreds of cases involving student and faculty rights over the past decade..’

Greg writes the following on the  Huffington post:

“This brings me to my big project for 2010: I’m working on a book highlighting the literally hundreds of cases I’ve worked on involving crazy abuses of student and faculty rights. I intend to demonstrate how campus censorship, far from being a niche concern applicable only to those on campus, is a threat to the functioning of our democracy as a whole.”

Greg discusses this tonight at his alma mater Stanford!

Roger Freberg