--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Vorzimmer"
<jvorzimmer@...> wrote:
>
> Tonight I went to pick up P. J. Wolfson's Bodies are
Dust at the
library and
> when I opened the book, I noticed that someone had
scrawled on the
title
> page, "Very vicious--should not be in library." I
laughed out loud. I
> flipped back to the fly page where the due dates are
stamped and saw
that
> the book had been checked out many times in the
1930s and 40s, but
then I
> saw that the due date of the previous borrower,
stamped just above
mine, was
> March 27, 1948. No one had borrowed the book in over
sixty years!
>
> Talk about your forgotten, neglected writers who
have faded into
obscurity.
You're lucky that your library keeps the good stuff. Many
libraries routinely get rid of books that haven't been
checked out recently. I have bought many wonderful books for
a few dimes at library sales, and while I was happy to have
them, I felt sad that the general public would no longer have
them available. For example, what is the point of getting rid
of pianist Arthur Rubinstein's two volumes of autobiography
(where he tells you about his sexual adventures in Argentina
and other places, as well as an incredibly funny anecdote
about Stravinsky)?
Best,
mrt
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 May 2008 EDT