The Little Dog Laughed

While we were getting soaked to the skin in Lincoln and conspicuously failing to see two Lancasters, or even one Lancaster, let alone any Red Arrows, I bought a book from a secondhand/antiques sort of place.

Well, OF COURSE you did, I hear you muttering. What ELSE would you do?

The book is Afro-American Folk Tales, selected and edited by Roger D. Abrahams. The shop actually had two copies--on different shelves--and the first one I picked up was £4.50. The one I came home with was £4.00, possibly because it has a protective cover stuck to it, over even its original price sticker. £7.95. On the sticker it also says Random House UK and something that looks like Wet UK or maybe Het UK or Met UK? Mysterious. It's also possible the price difference is down to the large library stamps on the inside covers: NORTH AREA AFRO/ASIAN RESOURCE LIBRARY. Mysterious, again. One of the stamps is clearly under the protective cover, which must therefore have been applied after the book was stamped.

It's also a bit odd that although this is a 1985 edition, there's an ISBN sticker (again, under the protective cover) with a 13-digit ISBN. These 13-digit numbers weren't introduced until 2007.

Obviously, this is a book with a bit of a history, but I don't see much hope for finding out what it is.

Nothing unusual inside the book so far as I can see, although recently in secondhand books I've found a Cambridge bus ticket and a note that defies interpretation. See photo.



Apparently Xatral is a drug used to treat swollen prostates (SR stands for Slow Release) so this note was probably written on a pad given out free to a doctor or medical establishment by a pharmaceutical rep. But the note itself--V eight side for Sunday--is enigmatic.

It's good that books come with histories. Sometimes though it would be nice to know what those histories are.

While in Lincoln, I also acquired another book, although its sojourn with me will be temporary. It's a Book Crossing book, a travelling book, the first one I've ever found. It was sitting on a low stone pillar outside Lincoln cathedral, in a plastic bag. I found out on the Book Crossing site that it had been there since the previous day--presumably I was the only person bold enough to pick it up.

It's With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George, an author I've never read before. I shall read it then turn it loose once again. This may of course take some time....

Also, my dad came home from his book club with some books that had been donated to the library but which weren't, apparently, wanted.

Four Days in June by Iain Gale;
Great Battles: Decisive Conflicts that have Shaped History, edited by Christer Jorgensen
and
The Year After by Martin Davies.

All's grist to t'mill.