The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 18, April 28, 2002, Article 18

DEAR SIR: I FOUND YOUR CONSIGNMENT MOVING

  In response to last week's note about the book with the
  "perfectly preserved Spider",  David Lange writes:
  "Several thoughts come to mind:  Was this book printed
  on the BEP's famous spider press?   Was it ever featured
  on the author's website?   Is this why so many of us get
  stuck on books?

  Actually, I suspect the spider remains were not of the spider
  itself but of its shed exoskeleton.  The only way spiders can
  grow is by casting off their old armor.  Of course, that could
  mean that there's an even larger spider lurking somewhere
  else in the book.

  When Cal Wilson was doing numismatic literature auctions
  in the '80s he told me of one particularly disturbing encounter
  with nature. He took a consignment from the Southwest that
  included about fifteen years' worth of Coin World newspapers.
  When he opened one of the cartons he was assailed by a
  legion of tiny black widow spiders, there evidently being a
  nursery inside that box.

  What followed was the first staged production of the musical
  "Stomp," sans the music.  Needless to say, that consignment
  never made it to auction. I believe Cal just refunded the
  consignor's postage cost and gave him some nominal amount
  over that to conclude the deal. In the meantime, his rented
  space (you couldn't really call it an office) had to be fumigated
  and carefully swept.

  I seem to recall that he was not alone when it happened.
  He had a fellow bibliophile with him at the time of the assault,
  perhaps Ken Barr or the late John Bergman."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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