The Old & New Side-by-Side

       
Progress on the New Bridge ~   See you in Cayuga-on-the-Grand!

Smile for Today ~

"On the anniversary of Queen Victoria's death, her children would visit the mausoleum at Frogmore.  One year, as they knelt piously in prayer, a dove entered the mausoleum and flew about. 'It is dear Mama's spirit,' they murmured.  'No, I am sure it's not,' contradicted Princess Louise.  'It must be dear Mama's spirit,' they persisted.  'No, it isn't,' said Princess Louise.  'Dear Mama's spirit would never have ruined Beatrice's hat."

Queen Victoria born May 24, 1819, died on January 22, 1901 after a long reign on the British throne -- sixty-three years, seven months.

The Neat L'l Bookshop will be closed for holidays; opening again on Wed., January 8, 10:30.

 We are available by phone 905.577.5635 or e-mail lbwalker@shaw.ca OR neatlittlebookshop@gmail.com

Eleven years to produce a dictionary ~

"Andrew Millar, the bookseller who published Johnson's Dictionary, had great difficulty in extracting the copy for this work from the author. [Johnson's dictionary took eleven years to produce.]  At last a messenger was dispatched to Millar with the final page.  Upon the messenger's return Johnson asked, 'Well, what did he say?'
  
   'Sir,' Replied the messenger, 'he said, 'Thank God I have done with him.'
   'I am glad,' said Johnson, 'that he thanks God for anything.'

~ Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) English Journalist, critic, poet & lexicographer, the son of a bookseller.
Source:  THE LITTLE BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman General Editor.  1985.

    Wishing you health, happiness & prosperity in the New Year.
                               ~ The Neat L'l Bookshop

"What a lot of books!  Have you read them all?"

Umberto Eco's Answer:  "...while your jaw stiffens and rivulets of cold sweat trickle down your spine.  In the past I adopted a tone of contemptuous sarcasm 'I haven't read any of them; otherwise, why would I keep them here?'  But this is a dangerous answer because it invites the obvious follow-up: 'And where do you put them after you've read them?'  The best answer is the one always used by Roberto Leydi: 'And more, dear sir, many more,' which freezes the adversary and plunges him into a state of awed admiration.  But I find it merciless and angst-generating.  Now I have fallen back on the riposte: 'No, these are the ones I have to read by the end of the month.  I keep the others in my office,' a reply that on the one hand suggests a sublime ergonomic strategy and on the other leads the visitor to hasten the moment of his departure.'

"The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait." ~ Anatole Broyard.

~ Umberto Eco, How to Justify a Private Library, Author of The Name of the Rose.

"...a shock of banality occurs to many people in my condition ~ that is, people who possess a fairly sizable library (large enough in my case that someone entering our house can't help but notice it;  actually, it takes up the whole place).  The visitor enters and says, 'What a lot of books!  Have you read them all?'  At first I thought that the question characterized only people who had scant familiarity with books, people accustomed to seeing a couple of shelves with five paperback mysteries and a children's encyclopedia bought in installments.  But experience has taught me that the same words can be uttered also by people above suspicion.  It could be said that they are still people who consider a bookshelf as a mere storage place for already read books and do not think of the library as a working tool.  But there is more to it than that.  I believe that, confronted by a vast array of books, anyone will be seized by the anguish of learning and will inevitable lapse into asking the question that expresses his torment and his remorse."

~ Umberto Eco, author, professor of semiotics, University of Bologna. [two essays, 1994]
Source:  A Passion for BOOKS, edited by H. Rabinowitz & R. Kaplan.  1999.  Three Rivers Press/Randomhouse.
[Tomorrow:  Eco's answer to "Have you read them all?"

Authors don't always have it easy ~

Scott Fitzgerald wrote to editor Max Perkins:

Dear Max:

. . .

"My big mistake was in thinking I could possibly deliver this collection for this fall.  I should have known perfectly well that, in debt as I was to the tune of about $12,000 on finishing "Tender," I should have to devote the summer and most of the fall to getting out of it.  My plan was to do my regular work in the daytime and do one story every night, but as it works out, after a good day's work I am so exhausted that I drag out the work on a story to two hours when it should be done in one and go to bed so tired and wrought up, toss around sleepless, and am good for nothing next morning except dictating letters, signing checks, tending to business matters ect; but to work up a creative mood there is nothing doing until about four o'clock in the afternoon."

~ Baltimore, Mayland, November 8, 1934

~ Dear Scott Dear Max/ The Fitzgerald ~ Perkins Correspondence,  Edited by J. Kuehl & J. Bryer.  CASSELL & COMPANY LTD.  1971