Category Archives: books

As You Like It, originally uploaded by kbb.

I bought this for $5 in an antique shop in Fargo, ND. I already have at least two copies… But this one was gorgeous and the quote in the inscription is fascinating, it’s from an 1894 lecture titled ‘Shakespeare. A lecture’. I think Judy fudged the last word, but I’m not going to fault her – I wish my friends inscribed books like that.
Here it is with a bit more context:

Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean, whose
waves touched all the shores of thought ; within
which were all the tides and waves of destiny and.
will ; over which swept all the storms of fate, ambi-
tion and revenge ; upon which fell the gloom and
darkness of despair and death and all the sunlight of
content and love, and within which was the inverted
sky lit with the eternal stars an intellectual ocean
-towards which all rivers ran, and from which now
the isles and continents of thought receive their dew
and rain. — Robert G. Ingersoll

The whole lecture is digitized and available online (this quote is from 73). I love the interweb, but I still think there is no substitue for a real book.

Electra, originally uploaded by kbb.

Inscribed in The End of Nature by Bill McKibben.

I’m pretty sure Joe never gave the book back, he got a few bucks for it at booksmart. I wonder what the nicknames mean?
I never lend out books. They never seem to come back.

war&peace, originally uploaded by kbb.

This guy is a jerk.

Vanity Fair, originally uploaded by kbb.

Another find from a few years ago. I bought it, even though the spine is shot and I’ve read the book (there’s a few hours I’ll never get back).
It’s silly to buy a copy of a book I’ve already read, but I’m a sucker for the inscription. I wonder if Jim sold it? or was it his heirs?

This makes me want to get a fountain pen. But I’m sure my chicken scratches would only be marred with ink blots.

Check out that X in Xmas. Click through to flickr to zoom in. Lora had some hot penmanship. I bet she was hot too. In her defense I have to point out that In ancient Christian art χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ’s name. It has the added bonus of pissing of nut-ball religious types too.

I’m refusing to accept books as gifts unless they’re inscribed.

The Arabian Nights, originally uploaded by kbb.

I don’t remember where I bought this. The book itself has no dates on it, just the inscription. The yellowing paper combined with the typeface make this a difficult to read.