Member: moibibliomaniac

Thanks for your note about my Boswell/Johnson collection. It comes in fits and starts, and while I'm embarrassed to say that it's been a few years since I last read Boswell's Life of Johnson, I keep my toes in the water by reading some of the peripheral stuff--earlier this year I purchased and read a copy of McNicoll's polemic on Johnson's Tour of the Hebrides. I see you have that curiosity as well. And I'm envious of your early editions of the Dictionary and of the Lives of the Poets. Just today I acquired a first edition of the separate Preface to Johnson's edition of Shakespeare, as well as a copy of the unwisely self-published letters between Boswell and Andrew Erskine from 1763.

posted by jfclark at 3:35 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2013

I am in Tarpon Springs. As a matter of fact, I lived up off of 52 in the early 70's and my sister still lives up there.

posted by pschadt at 2:43 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2013

Hello, again! Sorry I didn't answer sooner. I had been living and volunteering in the Republic of Georgia and was very busy. Anyway, I've been to Hawaii six times, visiting Oahu and The Big Island. :)

posted by cheesecakegirl at 3:32 pm (EST) on Dec 20, 2012

Hello, I found you while investigating Books About Books from the 19th Century (whilst a lengthy Christmas wishlist started materializing), and on Henry H. Harper's page, found your "Sentimental Library" collection. The more I browsed through your collection, the more impressed I became. I especially admire your Books About Books collection.

posted by joririchardson at 12:35 pm (EST) on Dec 18, 2012

Thanks for the comment! I absolutely LOVE Hawaii (as you can tell)!!! Cheers!!! :)

posted by cheesecakegirl at 8:25 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2012

Thanks for the comment...because that is what I am a total Bookfreak! Have been since I discovered the Bookmobile in 1st grade. oh and don't forget the Scholastic Book Pages....;)

posted by Cheryl50 at 11:38 am (EST) on Dec 3, 2012

Sweet!!!!!

posted by Cheryl50 at 11:23 am (EST) on Dec 3, 2012

Thank you for your suggestion about writing to Mike Wallace. I have written him and will let you know if he answers.

posted by Schmerguls at 11:49 am (EST) on Dec 2, 2012

Soon, at a bookstore near you - - -

Hey there! I happened to be in Big Box Bookstore yesterday with MrsHouseLibrary, and while waiting for her to finish browsing, I went over to one of their kiosks, and typed "Holt" and "George" into the appropriate places of their advanced search screen.

Available on Nov. 27, 2012 - ISBN 9781416547778, hardcover, published by Scribner...

Brothers: On His Brothers and Brothers in History
by George Howe Colt

This is the book he was working on when we did our The_Big_House_Books project.

Other news: I may actually be related to him. I gleaned the pertinent info from his book; and have the genealogy information of an ancestor of mine on my mother's side who lived approximately in the same area at approximately the same time. My brother in California is the go-to guy in our family for this kind of research, so I am anxiously awaiting a response, which he says will probably be a month or two from now. (Deep sigh).

Regards,
Mike

posted by WholeHouseLibrary at 5:49 pm (EST) on Aug 5, 2012

I followed the link from 'Other people's books' to amazon and wound up at a book about chicago dust jackets. Is the book still available?

posted by yolana at 10:37 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2012

The size and organization of your collection 0f books about books are overwhelming, but it doesn't include a 19th C. French novel, which might possibly be the best fiction work of our times on our beloved subject: Anatole FRANCE, Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard.
Also, what do you think about (good quality) FACSIMILES, which are disdained by most bibliophiles, but in fact are homages to the beauty of older books, unavailable otherwise.

posted by nisgolsand at 6:00 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2012

Oh, and re: David Pearson! Yes, he's a big fan of the LLs. I talked to him about it quite a bit at Rare Book School last summer, and hope to do so again, and eventually work closely with him on some projects! I'm glad to hear he's talking them up :-)
- Jeremy

posted by jbd1 at 9:44 am (EST) on Feb 29, 2012

I just finished the 1916 Sotheby sale. I'm going to spend some time working on cleaning up tags for consistency, spelling, etc. We're leaving a week from tomorrow for a few weeks in Mexico. Someday, I have to get back to the Hyde Japanese collection.

posted by Larxol at 12:30 pm (EST) on Feb 2, 2012

I see the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is coming to St. Petersburg next month. Wish I could make it. =( Hopefully next year!

posted by beccac220 at 8:22 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2012

Thanks for reading my review of Goodman's Republic of Words! Definitely an intriguing book, glad to get it from LTER -- but even better is feedback from fellow readers here on LT.

posted by elenchus at 1:20 pm (EST) on Jan 19, 2012

Ooh, lucky you for going to Larry McMurtry's bookstore! One day I'll get back to the US and go to Texas properly!

posted by LyzzyBee at 9:49 am (EST) on Jan 5, 2012

a bathroom and outhouse collection you have and yet, surprisingly, no biography of Thomas Crapper. ;)

you have such great stuff! thanks for the link to these little known gems. i always enjoy your entries on the another silly book game game.

ellie

posted by mirrordrum at 3:28 pm (EST) on Nov 16, 2011

Thanks for sharing your blog post. Always full of interesting info that I can never take in on the first read!

Becky

posted by beccac220 at 3:23 pm (EST) on Nov 9, 2011

Thanks, I'll take a look.

posted by piemouth at 4:25 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2011

Thank you for your interesting posts in the Rare and Offbeat books group. I'm enjoying looking at your Sentimental Library pictures now. It's a fun bonus to find a used book that has an inscription.

posted by piemouth at 4:09 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2011

Thanks for the update, Jerry! "Poo-Pa"; I love it! Kids say the darndest things, don't they? I've been reading to my one year old for a couple months now and though he can only stand to sit in my lap and pay attention for only a couple minutes, I'm ecstatic that I get a chance to pass on my love of books and reading to my son. I'm hoping it takes. =)

And since I don't have as much free time (or funds) as I'd like to pursue my book collecting interests yet, I thoroughly enjoy reading about your adventures and the people you meet. Please keep the blog posts coming; I learn a lot with each one! ;)

Becky

posted by beccac220 at 1:47 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2011

well, there are lots of titles with 'notebooks' in them but since i can't play on my own play, someone else will have to. if you're willing to step outside your library to keep the game going, how about one of the following:

Blue Octavo Notebooks by Franz Kafka

Selections from the Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman

The Death Notebooks by Anne Sexton

each of those offers workable words. ????

posted by mirrordrum at 6:30 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2011

Very interesting shelves! I've not seen them before, but seem pretty simple- straight forward and sturdy. Are they all 12" deep? Anything you would do differently (besides staining at the end rather than during installation)?

posted by benjclark at 7:57 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2011

It is a small world! I look forward to hearing about your find.

posted by beccac220 at 9:13 pm (EST) on Jul 9, 2011

Thanks for accepting my invite, Jerry! I came across some of your writing in the Fine Books blog, which led me to Biblio-Connecting. I must have spent most of my workday (shhh, please don't tell) reading your account and clicking away on all the links you included. I'm a newbie book collector myself and I'm always fascinated by fellow book collectors' stories. I look forward to learning more from you!

A Fellow Floridian,
Becky

(By the way, my library on Library Thing hasn't been updated in years. I've been using Shelfari.com to keep track of my book shelves. 'Update LibraryThing' now added to my never-ending To Do list...)

posted by beccac220 at 7:09 am (EST) on Jul 8, 2011

Thank you for calling my attention to your review of Adam Sisman's book. I looked at my rweview and saw it was more truncated than I recalled. I have replaced it with one a bit longer

posted by Schmerguls at 7:03 am (EST) on Jun 29, 2011

I did go back and edit the post to reflect the change. :)

posted by jacqueline065 at 9:54 am (EST) on Jun 12, 2011

Youe sure did! :)

posted by jacqueline065 at 5:12 pm (EST) on May 26, 2011

Thank you so much. It was very kind of you to send me that link. I had never read anything written about Dr. Rosenbach by somebody who actually met him.

I enjoyed looking through your library. You have quite a few wonderful books. I especially liked the picture of your books about books collection.

posted by librisalexandria at 1:28 am (EST) on Apr 3, 2011

Jerry,
Congrats on the essay in Other People's Books. The book is simply amazing.

--Benj Clark
(Exile Bibliophile Blog, etc.)

posted by benjclark at 1:38 pm (EST) on Mar 17, 2011

including your library is an action long overdue.

posted by mirrordrum at 3:15 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2011

I really enjoyed browsing through your library. Thank you for sharing it.

posted by Dpsm60 at 9:54 am (EST) on Feb 21, 2011

Jerry - Thanks for the heads up on the Boswell biblio, what a great resource! -- I think it's more likely I'm merely dormant than former.......as a Boswell freak. Sibyx

posted by sibyx at 10:30 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2011

Hi Jerry,

Did you finally read the 3 different modern biographies on Johnson, as you said you would in a thread of the almost deceased "Turk's Head" group? Which one comes first?

Yours

posted by Pepys at 11:28 am (EST) on Jan 26, 2011

I was also considering trying to catalogue for LibraryThing at least Oscar's "prison books" as outlined in his letters and the recent Built of Books, but was stymied by the slight problem of having no idea how to go about it (also, I tried to find the infamous Tite Street auction catalogue online, but with no luck). Is someone working on Oscar?

posted by the_red_shoes at 2:11 pm (EST) on Jan 1, 2011

That is possibly the best comment I have ever gotten on LibraryThing! Thank you for cataloguing Lamb's books, and for leaving such a delightful comment for me. Happy New Year! (I also have just gotten the 2-vol OED -- I wanted it since I was ten and finally found a gently used copy for $50 -- but not the 1-vol yet.) The kitten on top of the OED is wonderful too!

posted by the_red_shoes at 2:07 pm (EST) on Jan 1, 2011

Hi Jerry,

wishing you a brilliant bookish 2011!

Happy New Year

from Ruth x

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 11:31 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2010

Ha Ha! Beat you. Neener, neener. ;-}

posted by Boobalack at 6:14 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2010

Thanks for the note. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

posted by nathaliefoy at 11:31 pm (EST) on Oct 25, 2010

Hi Jerry,
Nice review of The Glamor of Grammar. Why didn't you rate it?

I actually met Roy Peter Clark yesterday. He and Ben Yagoda were featured authors at the Texas Book Festival, and did a 45-minute conversation about grammar. When I met them at the Book Signing Tent, I suggested to them that they ought to write a book together. The down side was that Mr. Clark's book was already sold out, so I couldn't get his autograph.

Mike

posted by WholeHouseLibrary at 2:01 am (EST) on Oct 20, 2010

The Big House is about 15 miles down the canal. We get over that way to visit the Whistlestop Ice Cream shop. I see some Thornton Burgess books in the collection...Burgess lived here in Sandwich, and the Burgess Society runs a little nature lab for kids and an excellent jam kitchen across the street from here.

posted by Larxol at 11:19 am (EST) on Oct 4, 2010

Thanks for the compliment and the offer. I'm not a book collector the way you are -- collecting them as artifacts -- which may be a bit strange considering I work at a living history museum where we talk about material culture all the time.

But I do want to add to my collection of "classics." My main interests are 18th and 19th century works, with a strong emphasis on women writers. I'm very interested in publishing history, primarily in the United States, and knowing what was popular at the time, not merely what has current acclaim. I'm always open to recommendations, although my pocketbook may not be as open. :-)

By the way: I'm a (silent) member of EighteenthCenturyWorlds, too. And the listowner has a library here at LT, too, in case you didn't know.

posted by ReneeMarie at 1:45 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2010

I feel so silly - I just now discovered that I had messages waiting for me! I had no idea that you could even send messages on here. Oy.

I hope to learn how to work with leather some day...just another thing to add to my very long list of things to learn. :)

Elissa

posted by blueroofdesigns at 6:07 pm (EST) on Sep 4, 2010

Thanks Jerry - your a star!

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 3:00 am (EST) on Aug 6, 2010

Thank you SO much. The website you shared is absolutly what I was looking for. The timeline she has is wonderful :)

I really appreciate the time you took to respond and post on my profile.

Thank you!

HunnyD

posted by hunnyd at 8:59 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2010

You are Indeed! That's quite a title. :)

posted by jacqueline065 at 8:04 am (EST) on Jul 30, 2010

Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your message about my Night Before Christmas collection. Yes, I know about Ms. Marshall's bibliography (thank you for the link), and I expect that a secondhand copy will come my way eventually and I will pounce on it. Or maybe my husband will surprise me with it one of these Christmases (I made sure he knows about it, too).
My collection is actually rather small, as collections go, but it's always a pleasure to haul it out every December and study the illustrations as they have developed over the years. I try to limit the collection to books that have illustrations I actually like, though I make exceptions for notable illustrators. There are some extremely undistinguished and even ugly editions out there (and there are some of these in my collection, often because someone has given them to me). Even with the hundreds of editions published since about 1840, there must still be some angles that haven't been covered--like maybe a wartime London-in-the-Blitz Night Before Christmas (too serious)?, or--much better--a hippie commune Night before Christmas, with psychedelic illustrations? Hmm. I must see if Peter Max ever illustrated the poem. Well, probably not.
It's good to hear from you. I hope you and your family and books are staying cool down there in Florida!
Best,
Maggie

posted by MaggieO at 1:20 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2010

we have central air. I hadn't thought about a dehumidifier, I think I'll look into that. Thanks

posted by yolana at 9:44 am (EST) on Jun 28, 2010

that would be Hi moibibliomanica, I have alabama on the brain for some reason.

posted by yolana at 8:42 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2010

Hi mobilbibliomanic, I usually try to clean my books at least once a year which I know is not often but I discovered a small bit of mold on them this year. It has been an unusually wet winter and spring followed by unusually humid and hot summer. How do you fight this. Being in florida you must have it worst. We do run the ac but it's obviously not enough.

posted by yolana at 8:33 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2010

Dear Moibibliomaniac:

Just discovered LT this past week and I am still dazzled. What a wonderful site. My 800+ library is shelved in two houses and I had been looking for catalog software when I discovered LT. Like most true bibliophiles my library threatens to overtake my life. It is going to be a distinct pleasure to corral it once and for all. As to why I became aware of your library: Thackeray's Book of Snobs is a delight and I was immediately interested in others who admire this little tome. Then when I saw your collection of 'books about books' + 'philology' I felt that frisson of excitement I get when I enter a good bookstore for the first time. Thank you for sharing your extensive collection; I look forward to many hours of perusal. The best to you, Joan M, retired librarian and unrepentant bibliophile

posted by sakemiki at 12:25 am (EST) on Jun 21, 2010

I fixed it by chaning my answer. Hope you enjoyed your vacation!

posted by LynnB at 1:13 pm (EST) on May 6, 2010

Hi Jerry,

I do enjoy looking at your books, bookcases, etc and would just like to say if you are ever in York (U.K.), I would be more than happy to show you the bookshops in this beautiful city. I have recently been made the Hon. Secretary of the York Bibliographical Society and am busy trying to promote it through LibrarThing, Facebook etc. It is great to be able to tell the members that modern technology is used by people who are interested in Samuel Johnson, Shakespeare, as well as those who read Twilight etc.

Cheers

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 7:11 am (EST) on May 3, 2010

Thanks to you I did buy the book You will know these lines by Merle Johnson and posted a review of sorts on LibraryThing and Amazon. My contribution to rescuing the unusual book from obscurity...

posted by Schmerguls at 7:04 am (EST) on Apr 28, 2010

thanks for the links to Journal of Eight Days. how remarkably thoughtful. unfortunately, the text and font are very difficult for me to read due to eye problems and the bits that i did get through did not inspire me to want to be uncomfortable in order to delve further. ;)

and in re: Cal's library stacks, there was just something magical about being there that no amount of Googling, wonderful as it is, can replace.

posted by mirrordrum at 9:25 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2010

in re: your post #236 on another silly game, 'A journal of eight days journey from Postsmouth to Kingston upon Thames, through Southampton, Wiltshire, &c. . .

within the journal, or along with it, are also 'An essay on tea, considered as pernicious to health, obstructing industry, and impoverishing the nation, with an account of its growth, and great consumption in these Kingdoms, with several political reflections, and thoughts on public love: in twenty-five letters to two ladies.'

may i ask if you can summarize how he believes tea obstructs industry--i realize it may be too complex an effect to summarize--and in brief, what does he mean by 'public love'? i assume we're talking about a couple 'walking out' together or some such?

fascinating!

you've inspired me to get Boswell's 'life of Samuel Johnson' from NLS. i probably won't listen to it in its entirety but it sounds worth visiting at the very least.

thanks for all your wonderful titles. they make me *yearn* to be able to go back to the stacks at Cal-Berkeley. one of the greatest things about having been a grad student there back in the day was that it opened the stacks. no longer did one have to wait at the desk for a library person, usually a student, to find one's book. all the libraries on campus were flung open like the gates of heaven. it *was* heaven and i was too easy in my youth to take full advantage of it.

posted by mirrordrum at 11:30 am (EST) on Apr 5, 2010

The fourth one I memorized was Barbara Frietchie--one my son and I used to recite in alternate verses. It is my favorite of the listed four I memorized. We used to declaim with delight "Shoot if you must this old gray head but spare your country's flag, she said,"

posted by Schmerguls at 7:49 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2010

Thank you so much for your prompt and much-appreciated answer to my questions. I was interested to see that of the poems listed I, when a few years back I was into memorization, committed to memory four of the poems listed: Annabel Lee, Antony and Cleopatra, Ballad of the Tempest, and another one. The poems you listed that I was not familiar with I read on the computer. I well may buy the book, and have not further questions, since your message answered in full the questions I had. Thank you.

posted by Schmerguls at 7:43 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2010

In the silly game you used You Know These Lines, by Merle Johnson. I looked for something about the book but you appear to be the only one who has it in LibraryThing, and have no review of it. It is also on Amazon but there is no review there either. Can you tell me something about it? What year was it published? Did you find that you did indeed know "these lines"? Can you give me some idea of what "lines" are listed, and how many different lines are listed?

posted by Schmerguls at 7:10 am (EST) on Apr 3, 2010

On Loveʻs "A Traveler by the Faithful Hound"

I have to admit it wouldnʻt appear on the title
page of a whole book, because it is a short
story, So maybe I have violated a rule. Iʻve never
been sure whether or not short story titles are
allowable. I put it in quotes, anyway rather than
in the usual blue because of its being
a short story.

It is a published work, but not as a book title
in its own right (about 1960). I canʻt even
remember the name of the magazine it was
in, but it was one edited by Boston University
undergraduates,although the contents was not
limited to students. Non-students who
published in it included the once famous
[Paul Goodman] -- and me.

posted by rolandperkins at 11:37 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2010

Hi Jerry,
Thanks so much for your note. I am pleased to say that yours is the first communique I have received since joining LibraryThing.

I have only catalogued one book because I am having trouble adjusting the display to my liking. I cannot get the hang of what I am supposed to do to make the information come up that I want. Once I establish that, I will begin adding other books. And as time goes on, I look forward to perusing your "shelves" further. And I am looking forward to that.

Best,
Suzanne S. (Poquette)

posted by Poquette at 2:12 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2010

Hello Jerry,
Thanks to you fantastic library, I ordered Joyce Hemlow's 'Catalogue of the Burney Family'. I wasn't aware there was such a book. I am going though your library to find some other treasures.
thanks
bob

posted by bjbookman at 9:22 am (EST) on Mar 10, 2010

Thank you for your kind note, and sorry for the delay in replying. I am really enjoying the books about books blog and find that it is a great spur to getting things read and organized. Thanks for reading and commenting.

posted by nathaliefoy at 2:14 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2010

Thank you for the note. You know a whole lot more than I do about the different editions of The Elements of Style, so if you think the works should be combined differently, or if you notice anything that should be separated out, you could let me know and I'd be happy to work on it more. :)

posted by hayleyscomet at 3:01 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2010

Beautiful blog post, Jerry. Thanks for sending that to me. Nice to make your online acquaintance.

posted by rocketjk at 2:18 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2010

Thanks for the info. I can retire anytime now so I'm just waiting for the right moment.

posted by AmanteLibros at 2:11 am (EST) on Jan 25, 2010

Hey, moibibliomaniac
A quick question, how big was your library when you did the final move with the AF? I am sure I will be way over my JFTR weight allowance but I have culled about as much as I can. Did you have to pay the overages? BTW, Love your books on books. Russ.

posted by AmanteLibros at 8:53 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2010

Trollope is wonderful and I am so very envious of your complete set of Folio editions! I'm collecting that set slowly, piece by piece.

posted by jfetting at 1:40 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2010

hey, moibibliomaniac, Happy New Year!

I know that you are often the one starting new threads (and thank you for that). I am playing another game where someone started a new thread and posted a great picture to help capture everyone's attention -- hoping to avoid people continuing posting on the old one.

You might want to check it out! Book Talk; A Silly Game - Part 15. I think it'll make you smile.

Wish I was more adept at the technology so that I could actually give you a link.

posted by LynnB at 10:00 am (EST) on Jan 6, 2010

Well done with the drama collection. We're just putting the last presents under the tree at my son's house in New Hampshire, then to bed until the big morning.

posted by Larxol at 10:22 pm (EST) on Dec 24, 2009

Thanks for the link!! About the only Leigh Hunt poem I know is Abou ben Adhem (sp?). I tend to trot it out whenever anyone enquires as to my own religious convictions... :-)

I look forward to discovering the essays. I hope you enjoy Hazlitt; I'm not quite sure why I gravitated toward him, but... I have an early edition of his lectures on the English poets, and an early 2-volume edition of the Rambler that are among my only real literary treasures. Somehow, it's the essays that always grab me -- I think it's the form, and the idea of pursuing a theme. I believe the first one that really captured my imagination was Lamb's "Old China".

cheers,
Suzanne

posted by Chatterbox at 7:11 pm (EST) on Dec 23, 2009

The Mary Hyde Eccles book arrived in fine shape. I stuck it in my library listing temporarily so I could show it as "currently reading."

posted by Larxol at 9:39 am (EST) on Dec 16, 2009

Hi Jerry,

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your 'snapshots of Mary Hyde' blog.

I have also just read Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson LLD - loved it! I was especially pleased because the book is a lovely Everyman's Library edition from 1910 and only cost me £2.00. My Johnson Library is well under way!

Best wishes

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 2:37 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2009

On the language, I was thinking about searching. I suppose it doesn't make much difference. You can search in comments as well as in titles. Any chance of getting a copy of the Hyde descriptions? That would be more authentic than the Christie's catalog.

posted by Larxol at 5:49 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2009

Take a look at my wishlist collection. I spent the morning getting a sample entry from the Christie's catalog entered. I learned a lot and future ones would be faster, although still not speedy, and proof-reading by a Japanese scholar at some point would be recommended. Each work has three titles. In the example, I put the Japanese kanji title in the title field, the phonetic Japanese title in italics in the comments, followed by Christie's English translation in quotes. Since many people don't have their browsers set up to see the Kanji characters, that should probably be switched to the comments. What's your opinion on what should go in the title field? English or Japanese phonetic? Probably doesn't make a bit of difference for combining since few of these works will be shared, and if there are some, it can be done by hand.

posted by Larxol at 12:45 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2009

Well, I'll just brace myself for the outcry on the hyphen. You have to have a thick skin, sometimes.

On the other hand, I just opt out of Crambo! when they go for imperfect rhymes. For me, a syllable has to be stressed to serve as a rhyme. "Vampire" doesn't have any perfect rhymes in English.

posted by Larxol at 1:08 pm (EST) on Nov 6, 2009

Hi Jerry!
You should look at the recent activity on my Profile Page.
The problem created from that most recent addition is that I've found he'd written ~another~ book prior to [The Big House], so now I'm compelled to find ~that~ one, too.

This latest acquisition is now at the "top" of my TBR "pile". It's a virtual stack, if you know what I mean...
Regardless, it's going to have to wait until I finish my current read. (*note to self: update the profile page to reflect the actual current read.)

Many thanks (again) for the 'heads-up'.

Mike

posted by WholeHouseLibrary at 10:04 pm (EST) on Oct 28, 2009

Hi moibibliomaniac:

In Leeward Oʻahu -- Waiʻanae; my wife always says "Makaha" (Makaha is a subdistrict. Waiʻanae is both a district and a subdistrict. It does get complicated and controversial what disrict or subdistrict you are in, but there is only one local government on Oʻahu -- the "City and County of Honolulu".

You probably know this geography. We are about 35 miles NW of urban Honolulu. We have also lived in the Waikiki-Kapahulu area of Honolulu, and 6 years in the Kingdm of Tonga, in the South Pacific.

I hope you give us a call when you are here in April. The number is under my real name in the directory --same as the screen name with capitals and spaces + an initial F. after the -d.

posted by rolandperkins at 4:46 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2009

Hi Jerry,

I really loved reading your blog, that book was waiting for you to find it! I shall look forward to more of your posts.

Best wishes

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 5:37 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2009

Thanks again for your messages of Sept. 22, 23, and 25. We have reconnected the computer as of last weekend, and the problem of the too wide screen did not reappear.

I will retain your messages in case of a future problem.

posted by rolandperkins at 1:39 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2009

Thanks for your message of Sept. 23.

I'm not back on line on my own Mac yet.

I don't have any idea what the trackbed is, but I can find out.

I used to say I'm not "computer illiterate", I'm just a slow reader. Maybe I'll have to revise that evaluation.

Thanks again.

posted by rolandperkins at 8:20 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2009

Thanks for your message.

My computer is disconnected now (for purposes unrelated to this problem -- for doing a move). I don't know for how long. I'm typingthis on a Public Library computer.

I can reach any part of the right hand screen, but only at the cost of being without the left hand. And vice-versa. About 1/4 or 1/3 of the screen is gone whichever position I have it in.

I not sure what I should do with the cursor when I'm at the bottom-right of the screen, but won'et be able to try anything until re-connection. But I'm grateful for your advice.

posted by rolandperkins at 7:30 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2009

Hi Jerry,

many thanks for the link. I have enjoyed looking at the virtual museum and will definitely be reading about Mary Hyde.

Best wishes

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 3:41 am (EST) on Sep 23, 2009

Apparently, I am dealing with a master of phrases that you cannot get out of your head. The last did help me get thru my last meeting, thanks!

posted by live2read_read2live at 6:07 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

Thanks for the kind note....of course now I am going to be reciting that all day in the back of my head. (-:)

posted by live2read_read2live at 4:03 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

Hi moibibliomaniac:

Thanks for your message.

One member advised: go to the top and drag LEFT until I see the bottom RIGHT of the screen. But, doin g that I donʻt see the bottom right. I canʻt see the bottom at all when Iʻm in the far left position; I have to go all the way to the RIGHT for that, and make the scrolling appear.

posted by rolandperkins at 2:36 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

Hello There!

Here in England we have a fabulous radio station called Radio Four and currently they are featuring as their classic serial 'Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson'. It is very enjoyable and hopefully you should be able to go onto the website and hear it through the 'listen again' feature if not even down load it?

I knew a little about Johnson prior to this (thank you Staffordshire University) but am now becoming an ardent admirer and so have been looking at your collection. oh dear more books that I need to read/ buy...

best wishes

Ruth

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 6:53 pm (EST) on Sep 7, 2009

I assume you're talking about the Miss Manners play. I wasn't sure if it really worked, but one little apostrophe couldn't hurt all that much . . .

posted by jennieg at 5:05 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2009

Rats, I blew it. I'll try to sin no more. Or at least pay attention.

posted by jennieg at 5:30 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2009

*glares and pouts*

The closest I have is "All There Is to Know: Readings from the Illustrious of the Encyclopaedia Britannica" and needless to say, it's not an antique.
http://www.librarything.com/work/222180

Well. I do have some older books, but they're storybooks.

posted by infiniteletters at 4:27 pm (EST) on Jul 27, 2009

i expect you've seen this about the world's oldest book.

http://www.ldsgenesisgroup.org/goldenplates.html

your comment re: our former lives and my affinity for library aromas, which amused me, led me to wonder about the oldest extant book and i stumbled on the URL above.

my sense of smell is both a delight and a nuisance. one of the first questions that pops into my mind when i read or hear a description of something or some place is to wonder how it smells. it ain't just libraries although they are, or used to be, places of wonder to me.

posted by mirrordrum at 11:02 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2009

oh me, oh moi. i laughed till i hurt over the book lessons video. brilliant!

i owe you big and have nooooo way to pay you back. so i'll just pass the laughter on.

many thanks for the endorphin rush. heh!

posted by mirrordrum at 6:09 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2009

thanks for the info. i wasn't aware of facsimile editions and looked them up last night including the one you have. there were no images, unfortunately, but i got an idea of what such an edition comprises.

i wish i still had access to the university library. actually, what i *really* wish is that i had access to the stacks at the cal libraries. stack access in the main library was arguably the best part of being a grad student at cal and i was too ignorant to take full advantage of it. but i remember the marble steps and the aroma, never-to-be-forgotten, of the old circular iron stairs and the endless volumes, the reverent silence--well, i was reverent. and the *card* catalogues. computers have taken away one of the most delightful of sensory experiences: riffling through card catalogues. i loved the heft and feel of the wooden drawers, how they sounded when i pulled them out, the smell of the thousands of cards, their edges softened by so many searches and browsings. the world is poorer for their loss but i am richer for your fascinations.

posted by mirrordrum at 12:36 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2009

moi, those images are amazing. the book looks as though it ought to smell wonderfully old. too bad they can't infuse such books with the aroma of antiquity.

i wonder you can ever tear yourself away from fingering your volumes long enough to post anything let alone put up images for others.

how generous you are. i can't thank you enough. wow!

posted by mirrordrum at 11:08 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

>The Original Illustrated "Strand" Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Facsimile Edition by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

you posted this on the book game. do you by any chance have a shot of any page or the cover or anything? i should dearly love to see something from it and can't find any images online.

cheers.

posted by mirrordrum at 7:32 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

Very cool! One day I will have such a room in my house--dedicated to books and cool book items like this. Thanks for sharing.

posted by sussabmax at 3:10 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2009

Nice, very, very nice! Not sure I have seen anything like it. Where did you find it?

posted by BookerBoy at 4:37 pm (EST) on Jul 14, 2009

Lovely. And I think I recognize that dictionary on the stand . . . ;-)

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 11:38 pm (EST) on Jul 12, 2009

marvelous. it takes me back to my youth. i spent hours and hours over many years pouring over the illustrated dictionary on a stand in my mom's library [i.e. the library at a military boys school where she worked as the librarian].

what's the dictionary, if one may be so bold as to enquire? and is that a loupe on the shelf beneath it for magnifying the print and if not, what is it?

also in the last or next-to-last image you have what appears to be a press of some sort--large, heavy-looking metal thingy with a knob. whassat?

excuse my questions but when you post these fascinating images you pique my interest.

posted by mirrordrum at 2:43 pm (EST) on Jul 12, 2009

Wow! You certatinly got more out of that book that I did...one way or another. What really hurt was the subtitle "A simple explanation anyone can understand." I did pick up "Einstein for Dummies", which was my first book ever from the "for Dummies" series. I was pleasantly surprised by its style -- clear, but not simplistic.

posted by LynnB at 6:26 am (EST) on Jul 7, 2009

I love your library. Very sophisticated!

posted by MissTeacher at 3:33 pm (EST) on Jun 15, 2009

Thank you! A very happy birthday to you!

posted by MissTeacher at 3:30 pm (EST) on Jun 15, 2009

Thank you for joining my thread

posted by callmejacx at 5:18 pm (EST) on Jun 14, 2009

Inviting some people to the thread I just started. Thought it might be of interest to you.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66785

posted by callmejacx at 10:42 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2009

I see you picked up an Elbert Hubbard yesterday. A few years ago, before LibraryThing showed up to satisfy my OCD keyboard time, I transcribed about a thousand letters my grandfather sent to my grandmother during a protracted courtship, mostly via mail, in the 1890s and early 1900s. He often referred to articles in The Philistine. In order to get her thinking domestically (she was a very early career girl), he would also pick out furniture from the Roycrafter's catalog and solicit her opinion if such-and-such a piece would "fit" for them. She eventually succumbed, but it took more than ten years.

posted by Larxol at 9:21 am (EST) on Jun 13, 2009

Wow, your library is gorgeous! I love the book table, and the shelves themselves look so nice. That is the kind of thing I would love to do if a) I had a room I could dedicate to a library, and b) I had that kind of building skill. I am going to remember this for future times when I might have more room/time/money to hire someone to do this, though. Thanks for sharing!

posted by sussabmax at 6:27 pm (EST) on Jun 11, 2009

It's far neater than my collection of books--can't quite call it a library as there is no room dedicated to them. Such books as I have shelved are mostly the ones for the online book business (used books on Amazon); these I need to be able to find quickly. But someday I shall order some more of those foldable, stackable bookcases--they work well and I can envision moving them some day when I escape this town.

I particularly like the bookcase in the hallway. I have one (much newer looking, alas!) with glass doors--actually bought with my gambling winnings! best use I ever made of them.

I have a dictionary stand that I will have to photograph so you can see it. It has aroused some envy, I will say. It's one of a set of a dozen or so that my old boss designed and had made by a trade school shop class. It's the perfect height for using while sitting; it has a lip sufficiently wide for even unabridged dictionaries; and it is on rollers. Wonderful.

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 5:16 pm (EST) on Jun 11, 2009

thanks for the new view of your library. it's extraordinary and much appreciated.

i'm convinced it has a distinctive aroma from all the old editions and all the love and study that happens there. i'm very olfactory and the odor of old books, which has just appeared in my brain so that i believe i can truly detect the smell, gives me a strange and wonderful sensation.

i had one old, quite small, leather-bound book of poetry, much loved. i sent it to a soldier in iraq or afghanistan with whom i corresponded who loved poetry. i do miss it and wonder if he ever got. i used to just smell the cover sometimes and feel the weight of it and the texture.

i must say i don't support the US's wars but, having had a father who was a pacifist and a medic in WWII and was seriously wounded in the battle of the bulge, i have compassion for them, knowing as i do how war's effects can last a lifetime.

posted by mirrordrum at 3:17 pm (EST) on Jun 11, 2009

i hope you'll excuse the lower case. manual impairments make shifting prohibitive.

i'm fascinated by the images of your table and frustrated that they're so small and highly pixelated.

do you by any chance have larger copies that you'd be willing to make available via personal e-mail or upload? i particularly like #11 in the slide show but would also like to be able to see the table or desk more clearly from your favorite perspective.

what is its provenance and history, if one may inquire?

posted by mirrordrum at 4:53 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009

Thanks so much for your help. I think I will pass on the Communicator's Commentaries for right now. I'm trying to concentrate on cataloging the books I have rather than acquiring more right now ;)

posted by BookerBoy at 12:14 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2009

By the way. I love that library table!!

posted by BookerBoy at 8:37 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2009

The only place I could find a date in the book is on a page about 4/5 of the way thru the book that starts a new section entitled "Private Devotions Containing Directions and Prayers for Morning and Evening etc." That date is 1766. The inscription says: London: Printed only for John Hinton, at the King's -Arms, in Paternoster-Row, M.DCC.LXVI.

The book is in pretty good shape for being printed in 1766. Their is some mildew. The binding is intact.

On the inside cover of the book is a note: "Ann Emery her Book given her by Mr. John Mophet 1770." (maybe Movphet...there appears to be another letter between the o and p but I'm not sure) I was wondering if maybe Ann or John might have had a connection to John Wesley. It also appears in some of the genealogy information written in the book that Ann Emery later married a James Burden on July 23, 1776.

posted by BookerBoy at 5:49 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2009

Do you know anything of the background or value of your "The New Whole Duty Of Man (1766)" book? Do you know anything about the authorship. My copy was a gift from a friend. There are family genealogy notes in it and I was told the book was somehow connected to John Wesley but I have never been able to verify that connection.

posted by BookerBoy at 8:28 pm (EST) on May 31, 2009

You posted: Was John Cleveland really the author of Majestas Intemerata; or, the Immortality of the King?

Both the Library of Congress and the British Library seem to think so. Why the doubts?

posted by Larxol at 8:42 am (EST) on May 30, 2009

Re: the hoax--and some people think this kind of humor originated with Three and a Half Men!

Pretty funny, though.

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 1:24 pm (EST) on May 28, 2009

Thank you for sending me a link to your fascinating Elements of Style post. What a collection you have! I myself have a slight fetish for collecting various edition of Tolstoy's War & Peace (one of my fav books ever). I have probably a dozen or two, with a few Russian language editions. But nothing extremely valuable like yours.

I have to admit Elements of Style was one of the first writing texts I ever read. Courtesy of my mother, an English teacher, of course. I have no idea what edition that must have been, as it was her copy, not one reprinted contemporaneously in my own student-time.

Keep up the good work and let me know when you post other interesting articles.

Cheers,

Thomas

www.thomasfortenberry.net

posted by kurvanas at 1:32 am (EST) on May 28, 2009

Jerry,

Thanks for the invite to view your Elements of Style information. I have and still use one of the 1979 editions you show, although I did use versions of my mother's in earlier schooling. Best wishes on completing your collection.

Laurie

posted by Prop2gether at 1:56 pm (EST) on May 27, 2009

Nice summary of the collection.

I think LibraryThing severely limits the html allowed in reviews to cut down on security holes and abuse by commercial users and spammers.

posted by Larxol at 5:29 pm (EST) on May 26, 2009

Jerry,

Thanks--now I'm wondering what edition I have. I'm fairly sure it's from the late 1960s or early 1970s, around the time I acquired it, probably on the advice of Sister Clare Marie, my high school English teacher. She was a fierce old nun with one glass eye, but she loved me despite the fact that I'd been reared a heretic (well, Protestant, but I was the only one in my class).

At any rate, now that I know you collect these, I'll keep an eye out. You never know what I might find in a box of books!

Cheers,
Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 12:42 am (EST) on May 26, 2009

Thank you for your reaction!
Your library is certainly very interesting to a booklover like me.
Greetings from Paris!

posted by JanWillemNoldus at 10:30 am (EST) on May 2, 2009

Thank you for accepting my friends invitation. I hope my profile gave you some new insights into Volney, Jefferson and Franco-American history. I will be glad to answer any questions you might have regarding Volney, his views, or book purchases. All Zee Best, TCW

posted by ThomasCWilliams at 11:56 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Jerry---I have a friend in Montana who has the 2 volume 1766 edition of Johnson so I've been checking the values for him, and also the ebay stuff. Did you know that Noah Webster copied much of Johnson for his 1828 version? So what do you think of my Webster collection? I just got Vol I of his Diseases book--now I have both volumes. I noticed you have a Prompter. I have seven of them.
DJY

posted by dyarington at 12:04 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2009

Dear Jerry,

Wow; I admit that I wondered vaguely how one cataloged dead people's books, but I now have a much better understanding of the challenges. But research is fun, isn't it?! Currently, I share one book with Lamb (Moll Flanders), one with Johnson (Thucydides), and none with Boswell. On the other hand, at least half my library is not yet cataloged, so maybe those numbers will change . . . or maybe it's just a matter of edition, as I don't have the 1664 Shakespeare but a rather later edition!

I'm once again copy editing for my former employer; it's an online bibliography project. Very happy to have the work in these troubled times. And there are intimations of spring here, very welcome.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 11:44 am (EST) on Mar 23, 2009

I commented in the Bookcases forum but wanted to say thanks for posting the link to your filled book cases. I love seeing what other people have and was especially taken with the book table. A great piece of furniture :)

posted by booksngames at 7:43 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

Hello,

I wish you luck with finding your book stand - I would love one as well! It would be so good to have a book on display regularly (swapped over of course)

posted by Bowerbirds-Library at 11:03 am (EST) on Feb 22, 2009

OOPS! Sorry. . . I really didn't quite understand. Probably beyond me to work it all out! I'll delete my note or you can if it's still there

posted by Esta1923 at 1:08 pm (EST) on Jan 26, 2009

Not to worry, I wasn't making that assumption. I am familiar with a number of his sources, though probably not all of them :-)

Thanks!

posted by staffordcastle at 11:07 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2009

I see that today is Bacon's birthday!

posted by staffordcastle at 6:51 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

Thanks for the tip, moibibliomaniac. I'll have to check that out.

posted by staffordcastle at 4:44 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

Thank you - I'm glad you liked them. :)

posted by ejeans at 2:46 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2009

Thanks for the nudge - I've been out of pocket for a few days. I'll get one started.

posted by dulcibelle at 8:18 pm (EST) on Dec 22, 2008

I got mine yesterday :) My classes just ended so how do I celebrate? By staying up all night reading an enormous tome about legal writing, natch!

posted by mathilde at 6:40 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2008

You know, I haven't read those, and having thoroughly enjoyed everything else he's written, I need to!

posted by A_musing at 1:41 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2008

It is easy to be misunderstood on email, I grant you. Thanks for getting back to me.

posted by abbottthomas at 2:17 pm (EST) on Dec 11, 2008

Sorry to be gone from the game for so long. Busy, busy! You can also find me at femminismo@yahoo.com. I check that every day - even when I'm busy, busy.

posted by femminismo at 7:43 pm (EST) on Dec 4, 2008

Jerry,
Thanks for the heads up on posting a new topic. I wondered about that. If you can't tell, this was my first time joining in a game. - jeanne (femminismo)

posted by femminismo at 9:45 pm (EST) on Dec 1, 2008

Thanks! It’s certainly an honor to be noticed by Charles Lamb and yourself. I’m now doubly motivated to read some Elia essays. Your library is truly impressive, and it must have been fascinating to be able to go through Lamb’s books. All my copies are the run of the mill variety – except for a 21 vol set of Raphael Sabatini books – 1924 edition – that I haven’t gotten around to cataloging yet. I guess that would be the pride and joy of my library. I’ve had The Historian waiting around for a while now – I’ll bump it up on my list, and I look forward to comparing notes - it should be an interesting read after hearing so many conflicting accounts of the book. And thanks for the recommendation. I always enjoy books with puzzles and riddles. Along similar lines, you might like Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Brandreth, who turns Wilde into a rather incongruous sleuth overtly imitating Sherlock Holmes. While it was entertaining, I’m not quite sure what to make of these celebrity mysteries (I even saw one that hijacked some Austen plot – can’t think of the title at the moment) and would like to hear another’s opinion.

posted by thepequodtwo at 2:33 pm (EST) on Nov 11, 2008

have you seen either arthur machen or g k chesterton got up as the great cham of literature? they both loved to impersonate the redoubtable dr.

posted by Porius at 1:40 am (EST) on Oct 27, 2008

>I thought you might want to add a link to the essay on the Johnson page, as well as catalog the additional books.

posted by Larxol at 5:20 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

I am taking my Capstone Seminar-it finishes up a B. S. in Finance. Light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, but before long, someone will order more tunnel. I also am taking courses to retain my certification as an AP specialist. To that add Clerk of Session, Board of Directors at the Penn Home (Pennhome.org,)and organizing my parents paperwork and it does add up to a tolerably busy life.

I found some of the books but will have a few questions over on the appropriate thread.

Best-

Mary

posted by mthespinner at 2:07 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

Jerry-

I recieved your email; but had to print them out at work -Verizon had a disconnect with Macafee. I will be starting tonight as all my homework is finished!

Thanks!

Mary

posted by mthespinner at 6:16 pm (EST) on Oct 8, 2008

Yes, I'll be ready to go on Boswell. I've been fixing up some of the longer titles for Doctor Johnson, now that the length limit has been relieved.

posted by Larxol at 8:15 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2008

I would be honored to assist in helping with Boswell's Library-and if you go on to Mrs. Piozzi's-count me in!

posted by mthespinner at 5:23 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2008

Jerry,

How do you find these things? For all my love of the past, I've never wanted to live there--I'm much too fond of flush toilets, showers, antibiotics, and such, putting aside cable TV and the internet.

Work is keeping me pretty busy still. It's all good.

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 12:24 pm (EST) on Sep 11, 2008

Hi,

I am not a book collector. I amass books. Somewhere here I should have a mass market paperback of The Elements of Style, third edition, from my freshman English class at Cornell (fall of '62 or spring of '63), and I know that I bought The Elements of Style Illustrated in the past couple of years. They are for reference and wistful necessity. As I remember, White was well regarded there; I believe that Scott Elledge, who taught my Milton course, wrote a biography of White.

I wouldn't be surprised if John Holt's fiction were a little mannered.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 6:30 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2008

Thank you for the reference to Abebooks. I'm going to pass it up. He and I conversed when we crossed paths, but we didn't make it a point to cross paths. He ran Topgallant Publishing Company and moved in circles that are growing more rarefied year by year. I did not move in those circles.

He loved the islands, and he had deep respect for all kinds of culture.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 1:28 am (EST) on Aug 26, 2008

Hi,

I was startled by your entry of a book by John Dominis Holt in Another Silly Game.

I knew John Dominis Holt, a formidable presence. I knew he had done some tomes on aspects of Hawaiian culture; I did not know that he had put together a book of stories.

At the dissolution of his estate I wished that I traveled in those circles where I would be able to pick some pieces. I particularly wanted his home. Some books of his with excellent plates were scheduled to be guillotined so that the plates could be auctioned off separately; they were withdrawn from the market -- I have hoped that the books were preserved as intact volumes.

He took it upon himself to read all of Aquinas once upon a time. He once urinated in an elephant foot umbrella stand in some posh hall closet, I think in New York City. I miss him; there are no other alii whom I know that way.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 10:22 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2008

Hey Jerry:

I usually notice if I respond after someone else responds to a post, but claim caffeine deprivation this morning. Thanks for the heads-up - I've changed my book to Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.

karenmarie

posted by karenmarie at 8:12 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2008

Wow! Going through Fred's books must be an incredibly fascinating experience. I certainly hope you can get the Lincoln autograph authenticated.

That reminded me that I had a poetical ancestress, but when I checked to see if she might be among those in the book, I found I was off by a mere 50-odd years: she was the author of “The Land I Love: poems and views of Florida” by Mrs. Hilda Muirhead Norwood, published in 1907. I found one copy on Alibris--I hinted to my brother to buy it (since he's the one who discovered her connection to us), but don't know if he did.

Oh--and if Fourpaws hadn't beaten me, I would have put People of the Earth, one of the legion of sci fi/fantasy books I have but have yet to read. I just finished The Fourth Perspective, my first Early Reviewers book, and The Hobbit, which I reviewed for the "Go Review That Book!" thread. Between those and the book club books, I almost feel as though I don't get to choose my own reading anymore--silly, as it's all self-inflicted. But I do have piles and piles of books I haven't read, and I wish I had nothing but leisure for reading. Alas--what I really need to be doing is reading through a dictionary at a greater speed than I have been doing.

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 2:41 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2008

Regarding the Lumley library, I don't think I should tackle it until the Dee library is finished; time is limited! But I'll take a look at the book on eBay :-)

posted by staffordcastle at 5:11 pm (EST) on Jul 31, 2008

I'm not os old--not even 80 yet. I am, however, the only person I know who has a list of every book he has read completely

posted by Schmerguls at 8:47 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

I saw your entry of Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary by Henry Hitchings. Have you read it and, if so, did you like it?

It seemed so interesting, I've just added it to my bi-weekly shopping cart for Amazon.

posted by TadAD at 9:14 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Oh, and I copied your map idea. I like it a lot!

posted by TadAD at 2:45 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Wow. Fred's books are beautiful. I'm just a bit covetous about the Yeats, I always liked him. Had to go read "Among School Children" again--remembered the last line but couldn't think of the rest of it. Still incredibly beautiful.

Had a nice long email from Sandy. Responded with excruciating detail (since he asked) about my career in lexicography, such as it was/is.

posted by ejj1955 at 2:37 am (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Yes, I am taking notes from your "Books about Books" section. You have more books on books than I have books in my entire library! Ah, someday... I have a small blog about old books on books-- www.homelibrarycorner.blogspot.com -- if you're interested.
Susan/armillarygal

posted by armillarygal at 5:17 pm (EST) on Jul 8, 2008

Some more of that freaky ESP we have, I think!

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 9:09 pm (EST) on Jun 18, 2008

Hi,

I've been working in reference publishing most of my career, including a stint with the US Dictionaries program for Oxford University Press, which explains some of my collection. I still have quite a few books to catalog, including a fair number of travel books (I used to proofread those), more reference, and most of my non-genre fiction.

I've noticed a trend in recent years toward very light reading, though, and I keep resolving to do some more serious reading even as I line up another fantasy trilogy to amuse myself! On the other hand, I just finished copy editing some rather dense legal history encyclopedia articles, so maybe the light leisure reading is justified.

I shall enjoy browsing your library, though . . .

Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 10:43 am (EST) on May 3, 2008

Hi,

I had to add your library as an interesting one based on the titles I see you leave in the "another silly game" thread! We don't have many books in common but the ones we do are telling, I think.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

posted by ejj1955 at 1:54 am (EST) on May 3, 2008

Hi, Just to say that you have an amazing collection and your comments are fascinating.
Julie

posted by StringerTowers at 5:45 am (EST) on Apr 24, 2008