On 9/10/2011 17:59 PM, J wrote:
On Sep 10, 4:46�pm, "Francis A.
wrote:
I went to three sales in all, starting Friday morning. �I
came away with two real finds;

Dick Francis, Nerve (Harper& Row 1964) book club edition,
near fine (bookplate of former owner) in a very good- jacket
(two small tears).


I'm a big Dick Francis fan, and have the entire series, most in
British or American firsts (a few even signed!). The hardest one to
get was FORFEIT, perhaps because that's the book that won him the
Edgar. I finally found it a few weeks ago on eBay, for a bit more than
I'd wanted to pay--but when I got the book, I was very pleased with
its condition, and satisfied to have completed my collection.

Not long after that, I spotted the last Simon Raven novel I needed,
PLACES WHERE THEY SING, this for a very good price indeed. It really
just seems to be a matter of patience, and going out there and
looking, both in cyberspace, and in the real world. (I found a Richard
Matheson short story collection at The Strand--where they are not
noted for under-pricing "rare" books--for less than anyone else was
asking!)


Very nice indeed. Dick Francis was prolific, so that must
have been quite the effort.

You remind me of something I read a few years back about the
rare book library at the University of Toronto. They had a
collection of the works of Margaret Atwood, the Toronto
novelist. They boasted the completeness of their
collection, including a copy of every one of her works in
translation! Now that is something that the average person
is not going to be able to achieve.

--
Francis A. Miniter

Mesure is Medicine þauh þou muche ȝeor[n]e.
Al nis not good to þe gost þat þe bodi lykeþ,
Ne lyflode to þe licam þat leof is to þe soule.

William Langland, The Vision of Piers Plowman
Passus I, lines 33 - 35