---breath out of images and images out of breath---
Curious to know more about the quote at the end of Doug's posts. Image's
effusive breath, perhaps. Speaking of images, I have just discovered
Henri Bergson _Creative Evolution_, the novel he won the 1927 Nobel
Prize in literature for is back in print and at a price within my price
range, even if at the top end of that range, so I have ordered it.
Memories of the days of reading a rare 1940s edition of the English
translation, passed from hand to hand.
I recently picked up a first edition of Patrick White _The Twyborn
Affair_ since that was all I could find. For a used book, the price I
paid competes with a brand new copy of Bergson. I still have my second
edition of Auden's Orators, buried somewhere in books overflowing from
boxes surrounding my writing desk. And some Gore Vidal first editions,
of which _Myra Beckinridge_ is my favorite. Covered in a fading black
paper, to disguise the title, bent and water stained. My theory is that
the book was thrown over the side of a boat as it entered Sydney Harbour
and was not sufficiently wrapped in a water proof cover. The owner of
the book then passed through customs without the offending material in
possession, being a banned book in Australia at this time, I should add.
Accomplices were then ready to retrieve the book as it floated onto the
sands of Lady Jane Beach, or perhaps it was thrown overboard as the boat
sailed pass Coogee and was then picked up at Gordons Bay.
I am not really a very good book collector. It is just the books I want
are often out of print and rare bookshop owners come to know me, as I
search for another not popular out of print title. I was lucky to
stumble across Jean Genet _Prisoner of Love_, another first edition
English translation. I have discovered these books do have some re-sale
value when you get down to your last dollar. (Better then keeping it in
the bank, I may add.)
Anyone else into searching out books no longer in print?
best wishes
Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]>
|