Chapter 24 Diagnosis of Bookworm (1)

For many years, I had a keen interest in British politics.Because of an accident, I changed my sect and became a so-called liberal. I think this is worth mentioning.It was one afternoon when I walked into a bookstore in Upper Holborn and found the Honorable William E. Gladstone [Gladstone (1809-1898), a British politician who served as Prime (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894).Actively promotes education and parliamentary reform, and supports Irish self-government. ] is already there first.I had never seen Mr Gladstone before.The reason why I can recognize him this time is through those political cartoons (very similar), and those standard portraits published in newspapers (not so similar).

As I was walking into the bookstore, I heard the bookseller ask, "Which books should I send home?" In reply, he swung his arm very imposingly, enclosing every corner, and said, "That's all." As soon as the voice fell, he turned around and left.I moved forward and asked for a book that I had my eye on a few days ago. "I am very sorry, sir," said the bookseller politely, "but the book is sold." "Already sold?" I called out. "Yes, sir," replied the bookseller, smiling, with evident pride, "Mr. Gladstone has just bought it. I have no more books to sell, and Mr. Gladstone has just bought them all." !"

The bookseller went on to tell me that whenever Mr. Gladstone walked into a bookstore, he would buy everything in sight.His sweeping sweep of all books—theology, history, sociology, folklore, medicine, travel, biographies—with his grand sweeping gestures caught the fish and never slipped away. "This is the third time Mr. Gladstone has condescended to visit our shop," said the bookseller, "and it is the third time his old man has left my little shop clean." "The fellow is a good fellow," I said to myself, "and such an eminent bibliophile must be infallible. So the Zemstvo thing must be right after all."

I learned from others who knew him well that Gladstone was an omnivore when it came to reading.He ordered books not in volumes but in cars, and his house in Hawarden was already full.I have also heard that he had a habit of going through his library, and throwing out in great numbers those which he no longer wished to keep.These discarded books are all given to second-hand dealers.It is said that it was not uncommon for these second dealers to take advantage of the opportunity to play tricks on Gladstone, and they sold him back (at a high price) again and again with a large number of books that he had previously rejected and discarded.

Every book lover has his own way of searching for books, so there are as many ways of searching for books as there are book lovers.Having said that, Judge Methuen and I agree that all book hunters fall into the following broad categories: A desperate book hunter. A shrewd and cunning book hunter. A timid and hesitant book hunter. Of the above-mentioned three types of people, the third type is the least worthy of our consideration, although there are a large number of book lovers who fall into this category, and therefore many of them are my friends.I do know people who hesitate, ruminate, and vacillate about a book for weeks, no, months.It's not that they don't want it, it's not that they think it's too expensive, and it's not that they're too poor to afford it.Their hesitation is simply due to a lack of decision in their natural nature--the same terrible bane of indecision that has caused so much misery in human life.

I have studied these people, and found that most of them were bachelors, and that their inseparability is due to the fact that the same hesitation which made them so often miss the rare books they coveted also arose in their marriages. had the same effect.While they were thinking back and forth, the other more courageous guys had already taken the lead, grabbed the spoils and walked away. The most daring book hunter I ever knew was the late Mr. John A. Rice of Chicago.As a competitor in the big auction, this person is invincible and invincible.Why is this so?Because once he is determined to buy a certain book, there is no upper limit for the price his old man asks.He instructed his agent in this way: "I must get those books. As for the price, it doesn't matter."

A British collector has discovered a set of rare editions in Mr Rice's collection that he has been coveting for years. "How did you get them by such a coincidence?" he asked. "You bought them at Spencer's and bid on them with me. You know, I'll tell my agent if necessary , can pay up to a thousand pounds!" "That's why I'm better than you." Mr. Rice said calmly. "I didn't give an upper limit. I just told my people: Buy those books." Collector's mettle was on display early on in Rice.I remember hearing him say once, when he was a boy, that he was walking by a newsstand in Boston where there was a huge stack of pamphlets.Suddenly, his eyes fell on a booklet called "The Chase of the Cow", so he picked it up and read it.This is a poem based on the story of three generals, Wayne, Irving, and Proctor, who won battles.Its last paragraph looks like this:

Now, I'm going to end this epic lingering, I tremble because I show this to people, Lest this pugnacious stockman, Wayne, Always go after that hapless poet. Rice noticed that the pamphlet was imprinted: James Rivington [Rivington (1724-1802), American publisher and newspaperman.He made his fortune in the book business in London in his early years, and later immigrated to the United States due to bankruptcy, and continued to operate news publishing with great success. ], New York, 1780.It made him think that this cheap eighteen-page booklet might be worth a lot in a few years' time.Anyway, he bought it for fifteen cents, along with another pamphlet called The American Conservative, A Satire, for ten cents.