Monday, April 16, 2007

Two Months, Three Days


The title of this blog entry refers to how long I was able to restrain myself from buying My Brother's Keeper by Marcia Davenport. The struggle was a long one, but now it's at an end. I grew tired of my frugal, practical self. She's no match against my inner biblio-barbarian who won the battle and won big.

How big? Not only did I buy a copy of this out-of-print 1954 novel, I bought one in collectible condition. A true first edition from Scribner's with the "A" on the copyright page indicating this. Did I mention the terrific dust jacket? Although I really love that pulp-fictiony paperback cover from Cardinal Books, this dust jacket is subtly brilliant in regards to the action in the novel.
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The reasoning behind such extravagance is that if I should hate the book, I'll be able to resell at the same price or at a profit. Still, spending that much money on a book makes me feel a little shaky. I'm more of a reader than a collector. I usually prefer volume to quality.
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Now that the die is cast and the book is in the mail, I'm grimly concocting different ways to ensure that I will actually "deserve" this book. The list is a little on the twisted and ascetic side, but two ways I can readily share are that I must eat a lot of ramen as well as other Dickensian-type meals to make up for the purchase, and I must blog about the book in great detail after I've read it.
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Ooops. I meant to orchestrate some suffering for my purchase, but damn, blogging's fun! Looks like the biblio-barbarian strikes again.

4 comments:

kookie said...

Ooh, you are brave!

I won't even pay retail for a trade paperback if I haven't already read it. Only used copies and library books for me.

I really, really hope you like this one.

Anonymous said...

Don't be silly. Books are an investment. Particularly first editions. It's practically prudent. Thrifty. Besides, buying books isn't a choice, is it? I think not.

But I hope you do like it!

MissMiller said...

Wow! I got paroxysms of excitement when I read your triumph of acquisition. You'll have to read him gently and thoroughly. Have you begun, or peeped at a few pages at random yet?

Bybee said...

Kookiejar,
I feel as if I've opened up a Pandora's Box with this purchase...see my April 18 blog entry...and weep with me!

Carrie K,
This book = about 160 packages of ramen. Yum.

Acquisitionist,
I just did this wild-eyed thing, so it's still in the mail. Even though it's too early, I'm already haunting the mailbox like a spectre.