My Library Part 3

A few weeks ago I began a search on the internet for a first-edition of John Updike's Assorted Prose--the first of five books that Updike published containing his broad assortment of essays, book reviews, and short pieces, most of which were originally published in The New Yorker. I had managed to find the last four of Updike's book review collections, but Assorted Prose (published in 1965) eluded me.

Then it happened.

Last week I noticed a small stack of older books sitting atop the headboard of our bed--where the wife and I often talk at night and, occasionally, wrestle. I had forgotten about this little stack of books--which Becky intended to serve as "bedroom decor". Why we'll never know.

But one title in particular caught my eye. I gathered up the stack and began reading the flyleaves of these books. I was astounded.

One of the books was a first-edition copy, in pristine condition, of John Updike's Assorted Prose. Another book was a 1902 copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. And a third book was a collection of Aesop's Fables that had been published in 1895.

Then it hit me. I'd purchased these books back in 1983, during my first summer pastoral internship near Asheville, North Carolina. I often visited an antiquarian bookstore in Asheville and spent my meager salary ($35 a week) on books instead of food. I purchased books by John Updike instead of eating vegetables. I lived on bread and water and bacon grease and spent everything I had on old books . . . books that I intended to read some day in my old age while sitting on the back porch.

Now I am that old man, and I have a front and a back porch, and I have the books. But I'm nearly blind and need thick reading glasses.

But at least I can say that, back in 1983, I had the foresight and the vision to buy a book I'd be looking for in 2010. Not bad, huh?