I got a
good book in today and it was pretty darn thrilling. Not thrilling in the sense of taking your
first sky dive or watching your team win the Super Bowl – but more of an internal
rush without the involuntary exclamations or high-fives. It’s a feeling
difficult to share with others unless they are of a biblio-bent. So that’s why I’m sharing it with you, because
if you are reading this you’re either a bibliophile or a relative.
The book that thrilled me is the
first American edition of Richard de Bury’s Philobiblon,
A Treatise on the Love of Books (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1861). The book was published in an edition of 230
copies (30 on large paper) by the noted printer Munsell for Samuel Hand who
edited the volume. This intriguing example is one of the 200 regular copies and
is inscribed by Hand to a “Mr. Porter.” There is also a bookplate of a “Johann
S. Lawrence.” I had heard of none of
these gentlemen when I reeled in the book with little resistance on Ebay. It is the only presentation copy I’ve
encountered. And those of you who follow
me know of my utter incapability to resist a potentially interesting
association item.
