The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 52, December 7, 2003, Article 9

BUY THE BOOK: AN ANECDOTE

  Joseph Lasser, of New York, who admits to being
  "sufficiently computer and typing illiterate" forwarded the
  following item via "snail mail" this summer.  Your editor
  is only now getting a chance to type it up.  He adds,
  "The E-Sylum gives me a weekly lift."  Sorry for the delay.
  Here goes:

  William Swann, the New York bookseller, offered a copy
  of Lord Anson's "A Voyage Around the World in the Years
  MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV" at auction, I wanted it because I had
  several "Lima" minted from Anson's booty.

  Successfully bid -- in due course, the book arrived at my
  home carefully packed -- very carefully packed -- because
  it was in miserable condition.  The spine was broken; the front
  and back covers had fallen off and were stained and split;
  several sections of pages were detached; the engravings of
  scenes and the maps were discolored and improperly folded,
  etc. etc.  Overall, it was a mess; completely useless as a book.

  What could be done?  I made a call to a recognized conservator,
  Jeff Rigby, and asked what I should do.  His reply was simple
  and direct.  "The book is an antique.  Have someone make a
  book box labeled "Anson's Voyage."  Put the book in the box
  and place it on a bookshelf."

  Dismayed, I replied "I bought the book to read about Anson's
  adventure.  I don't want a book box ornament.  His response
  was "You made a mistake.  Antique books are no longer antique
  if you recondition them."  "But, Jeff, I want to read about Anson.
  My coins will have much more meaning,"  "Sorry, Joe, you'll
  no longer have an antique."

 We argued the pros and cons and I won.  Jeff said he would
  restore the book and give it a presentation binding.  I sent it to
  him and four months later it was at my home again -- pristine --
  at a cost of more than the book itself.

  -- And I've had the pleasure of reading a well written and well
  illustrated history of Anson's four year round the world expedition
  to South America, Manilla and Canton; then back to England.

  My book, no longer is an antique but it has brought my coins
  to life -- and it even may become an antique again in another
  hundred years.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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