Rummaging through the volumes of discarded publications at my local used book shop, I came across an old "friend" and, feeling a bit nostalgic, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give this one a new home. I first noticed the all too familiar spine of
Gardner's Art Through the Ages (same typeface used 80 years later) on a curiously compact and hand-held version of the 50 pound tome I lugged around during my art school days. Upon further investigation, I came across only one publishing date (c. 1926) and nearly eight decades of history that had not happened yet. So there I am holding a first edition of
Gardner's, a book that brought me much enlightenment with it's seemingly endless information (and even more long nights of misery cramming for tests, writing research papers and putting together slide presentations for various history classes), paranoid that some other customer will see what I have found and steal it from me (irrational). Like a scheming thief, I semi-conceal the book near my body occasionally looking over my shoulder until I got to the cashier and gently placed it on the counter for purchase. The kind gentleman punched a few buttons on his register and kindly told me that the book cost $5 and some change (and yet another disparity).
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| One of four color plates throughout Gardner's Art Through the Ages (First Edition) | |
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| Copyright 1926, First Edition verified by my two volume Eleventh Edition. |
Rummaging through the volumes of discarded publications at my local used book shop, I came across an old "friend" and, feeling a bit nostalgic, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give this one a new home. I first noticed the all too familiar spine of Gardner's Art Through the Ages (same typeface used 80 years later) on a curiously compact and hand-held version of the 50 pound tome I lugged around during my art school days. Upon further investigation, I came across only one publishing date (c. 1926) and nearly eight decades of history that had not happened yet. So there I am holding a first edition of Gardner's, a book that brought me much enlightenment with it's seemingly endless information (and even more long nights of misery cramming for tests, writing research papers and putting together slide presentations for various history classes), paranoid that some other customer will see what I have found and steal it from me (irrational). Like a scheming thief, I semi-conceal the book near my body occasionally looking over my shoulder until I got to the cashier and gently placed it on the counter for purchase. The kind gentleman punched a few buttons on his register and kindly told me that the book cost $5 and some change (and yet another disparity).
