Here I present a proud selection/purchase of mine from an in house estate sale--one of those where the deeply bereaved allow strangers to burrow through the belongings of the deceased, evaluating and pricing all thus found. So yeah, I spent maybe a quarter for it. What can make even that seem more melancholy is that the book itself bears none of those markings of possible resell that an experienced bargain book hunter such as I could notice. While this copy was printed back in 87, there are no stamps from hole in the wall used book shops. On no corners or along the spine are the residue of stickers. Within the cover are no penciled notes as to a revised price. Likely as not, this book had been the property of the recently gravely met since originally purchased back in the late 80's.
Though the spine is crisply without breaks, both covers show that singular wear from being shelved and removed in similar rubbing fashion. He probably read it more than a couple times a year...or showed it to guests/children as evidence of humor not otherwise apparent. Wrinkles are an excellent mask against the facial expressions of happiness, of course. Then he died and I bought it. Bought it laughing and with a smile placed it on a shelf with other books* of similar mind breaking premise. As I shall not die, my laughter is a sure giveaway, this leaves two owners in total. So...does this make the book sad or happy?
*Sometimes, I feel like I should throw in the occasional "tomes" just for evidence of thesaurus capability...but that's not really how I talk of think. This sorta junk is, however. So it gets flung here.
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