Chapter 100 buy books

buy books Buying books is also my hobby, just like smoking.But I'm not really good at either, especially buying books.In this place of Beiping, buying like I did, and the books I bought are really cold to say; but what I want to talk about in this article is neither a secret nor an experience, but just a few small stories, so it’s okay to think about it. When I was in middle school in my hometown, my family gave me one yuan a month for pocket allowances.Most of them went to Guangyi Bookstore to retrieve some magazines and new books.The boss, surnamed Zhang, was a bit swollen in the shoulders, and he was always holding a hookah; but he was a nice guy, and we didn't think he was a philistine.He is willing to keep accounts for our class of children.Every festival, I always owe him more than one yuan.He didn't push too hard; he discussed it with his family, and it was enough to pay one yuan first.At that time, my favorite book, "Easy Explanation of Buddhism" (written by Jia Fengzhen, published by Zhonghua Book Company) was bought from Zhang.At that time, I didn't buy old books because I had them at home.Only once, I didn't know where to check the name of "Wen Xin Diao Long", and I was eager to read it, so I went to a second-hand bookstore to ask: a family showed a Guangzhou version, which cost one yuan, and I couldn't afford it; later I bought another one. One, the quality of the book is not bad, the paper and ink are not so good, but it only cost a small ocean.This book is still there, but it was replaced with a magnetic paper cover two or three years ago, but it seems unworthy.

When I came to Peking to study and entered the philosophy department, I still liked to read Buddhist books.At that time, the distribution center of Buddhist scriptures was Jiufeng Temple on Reclining Buddha Temple Street in Xicheng.I got off the car at the intersection of the street and walked straight until I was almost at the root of the city before I saw the temple.It was a gloomy autumn afternoon, and I was alone in the street.I went to the temple and bought "The Theory of Enlightenment into Zheng", "Theory of Baifa Mingmen", "The Collection of Translation Names" and so on.This kind of stupidity is quite interesting in aftertaste; just like the time when I came out of the Temple of Heaven, next to the root of the city, and went alone on an adventure to visit Taoranting through many alkaline lands that no one walked.In the year of graduation, I went to Liulichang Huayang Bookstore and saw the new version of Webster's dictionary, which was only priced at fourteen yuan.But fourteen yuan is not easy to find.After much deliberation, I had no choice but to harden my heart and take the purple fur (cat skin) otter collar cloak my father made when I got married, and took it with my own hands, went to a pawnshop by the back door, and said that I would pawn it for fourteen yuan.The person on the counter seemed to agree without any difficulty.This cloak is of cloth face, earthy style, with a small and hairy collar - it was originally put together with two pairs of "horseshoe sleeves".It took a lot of trouble for my father to make this dress.When I took it as a pawn, I also hesitated, but finally I was reluctant to part with the dictionary.Thinking about redeeming it in the future.Unexpectedly, it could not be redeemed. This is what I often regret when looking through that dictionary.

After returning to Peking, one year I suddenly wanted to collect some Du poems.A small bookstore called Wenyatang found a lot, and they were not too expensive; the guy was a pockmarked guy with a smile on his face, and he was the young shopkeeper in the shop.The shop is supported by his father, and there are not many good books. His father died last year, and he himself is not very knowledgeable, so he was eaten by his buddies. Now he will not come here for a long time.Speaking of Du's poems, once, a bookstore sent a Korean copy of "Du Lu Fen Yun", two books, asking for 300 yuan.The book is extremely irrelevant and the asking price is so high, it is ridiculous. Moreover, the original purchaser clearly stated on the paper that "you will get it with two taels of silver".The next day another store delivered the same book, and I bought it right away for only two yuan.The price of books in Peking is so strange.

The bookstalls in Changdian during the first month of the lunar calendar are worth seeing; some people visit every day.I live far away, so I only go there for one afternoon every year—there are few stalls in the morning.Huge crowds of people come and go shoulder to shoulder inside and outside the Earth Temple.I also bought some odds and ends; one of them was "London Bamboo Branch Ci", which cost 30 cents.After I bought it, I happened to be in need of manuscripts, so I copied some and sent them, with some explanations added, I was actually paid five yuan for the manuscript.This is the only time, the book bought made money.

When I was in London, I walked out of the apartment and walked through the nearby streets.There is a shelf of old books at the door of a small bookstore.I went up to wander for a while, and saw a copy of "The Bo#kLovers'Anthology" (Thebo#kLovers'Anthology), hot stamped cloth, not sloppy binding, more than 400 pages, the book is not small, must be 70% to 80% new , only one shilling and sixpence, which was equivalent to one yuan and thirty cents in China at that time, which was cheaper than the old foreign books in Dong'an Market.This anthology is an excerpt of many famous poems and essays, covering all aspects of the book; its nature is a bit like Ye Dehui's "Shu Lin Qing Hua", but it is not as systematic as "Qing Hua"; their purports are different.Because I bought this book, I got to know the shopkeeper; he later found me many cheap second-hand books.There was a certain kind of book that he couldn't find an old one, so he told me that they would charge seven or five discounts for new books, and he would sell it to me at nine discounts for a discount of one discount.I didn't ask him to do it, but thanked him for his kindness.

(Originally published in "Mercury", Volume 1, Issue 4, January 10, 1935)