The Playful Antiquarian

Musings of an overtired bibliophile

July 8th, 2004

It is two a.m., and I have just finished reading — from front pastedown to rear pastedown — John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors* for probably the tenth time in my life. I picked it up to read about an area of bibliography (issues, states, editions, impressions, and variants) that I am still having trouble with, and as has happened before, I could not stop reading.

It is an easy book to disappear into — well-written, witty, and logical in a way that only reference books can be. When I read it, I feel as if I am at a party where the guests are all book collectors, dealers, and librarians and everyone is making droll remarks about bookbinding, paper, and the eccentricities of the rare book world. And while I cannot engage in the repartee, I am delighted to observe and listen to the other conversations.

On this most recent reading, I thought that I was beginning to get a feel for the tongue-in-cheek cleverness of Carter’s unique dictionary. I caught myself musing that it would be very clever and Carter-esque to add a book label or bookplate to one of the front endpapers of my copy, reading: “This is a book label” [or bookplate, if it was a bookplate, of course] . . . But, now that I have bothered to record this fleeting thought in a post, it does not seem so clever after all.

* Note: Check out the WorldCat link. Although certain online megastores with snazzy websites have copies of this book for you to purchase, I am encouraging you to support a local academic or public library, instead. (Or, if you would prefer to have your own copy, try the publisher, first).

Entry Filed under: Rare Book School