I was in Berkeley all weekend with my Model UN students - a great, experienced group, and an easy trip, even though the Berkeley campus was bigger and busier and a little trickier to navigate than we're used to at Stanford. I also got to meet up with my former student, Ruby (MMS Class of 2018) who attends Berkeley now, and Miles took the train over from SF to spend some time with me on Saturday.
We wandered into a bookstore and I found this vintage book, _Woman_, published in 1901. It includes several well-known (to me, and to people in 1901, ha) contributors, including international suffragist and peace activist, May Wright Sewall; abolitionist, women's rights activist, and colonel of one of the first black regiments in the Civil War, Thomas Wentworth Higginson; and David Starr Jordan, the first president of Leland Stanford Junior University (aka Stanford University).
The book is in perfect condition, and looks brand new, which is bad for books, but good for collectors.
I was recently reading an essay by John Steinbeck in which he explained why he cared nothing for collecting old or valuable books. He complained when his publisher released special anniversary or leather-bound editions of his works, or asked him to sign copies for special distribution or sale. He did not like the idea of trying to add value to a physical book, beyond the value of the words inside. He said he never spent his money collecting books, and would rather see beloved books bent and used up and passed along to someone else.
Point taken, but I love my new 118 year old book in pristine condition.
:)
