What is your most prized book?

[Black_Bird]

Well?

In case someone special sees this: Yes, I'm stealing this question, hon. I hope you don't mind.

 

[alexandraaah]

Well?

In case someone special sees this: Yes, I'm stealing this question, hon. I hope you don't mind.

I can't afford anything in hard cover.
No first editions here.
However, I have a handful of favorite books/authors.
Does that count?

 

[Black_Bird]

Re: Re: What is your most prized book?

I can't afford anything in hard cover.
No first editions here.
However, I have a handful of favorite books/authors.
Does that count?

AGH - she's following me! Um... just tell us what your favorite/most prized book is.

 

[kotori]

I have an autographed copy of The Curious Sofa by Ogred Weary (aka Edward Gorey). Last time I looked on E-Bay, it was worth about $100.

 

[BigDawg69]

My most prized book is a hard cover edition of Shakespeare's complete works. It was printed in 1956, and had hand written notes from my mother and myself from our college classes. (Both Duke, about 20 years apart.) The cover was hard once but use as softened it. With this thick volume I can find almost any scene, quote instantly.

 

[Texan]

I have a first edition (1847) copy of "Evangeline, A Story of Acadie"; the epic poem by H.W. Longfellow. The book has been in our family for several generations, and was given to me by my mother.

 

[alexandraaah]

Re: Re: Re: What is your most prized book?

AGH - she's following me! Um... just tell us what your favorite/most prized book is.

You're mean.

I don't have just one, but Geek Love is right up there.

I also liked Confederacy of Dunces.

Anything by David Sedaris.

*resume thread's intended purpose*

 

[MissTaken]

My most prized book is

whatever book I am reading at the moment. Right now, it is The Black House by Stephen King.


After that, my writing and journaling books get the special places high on the book shelf!

 

[PainSlut]

I have a 1971 copy of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" that a friend stole years ago then ended up giving to me... it has always been my favorite book.. i have 3 copies..two brand new.. but i never read them... but once a month or so i bring out this worn old hard covered copy.. its dust jacket long ago lost..the pages yellowed and dog eared.. and i read it all in one or two nights.

 

[Aphrodisiac]

My most prized book would have to be " Aztec" by Gary Jennings.

 

[The Nitelight]

A paperback copy of San Diego Lightfoot Sue, And Other Stories, by Tom Reamy.
Bought it for under three bucks.
It isn't worth much more.
It's what's inside the cover that makes it priceless......

 

[HotXBunz]

A 350 page collection of short stories I wrote that chronicals my sexual awakening.

 

[teresafannin]

My most prized book is a small journal of my son's thoughts. Just random notes he jotted down. I have a lot of books, but that is the only one that is irreplaceable.

On a side note to Aphrodisiac, I loved "Aztec". Gary Jennings is one of my favorite authors. My favorite book of his is "Spangle". The research he does is amazing. Have you read the sequel to "Aztec". I saw it at my favorite bookstore & think I might need to get it.

 

[morninggirl5]

The original release of Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard. I searched for this book for three years in three different states in every used bookstore I came across. Finally after not looking for a couple of years I found it.

It's now been re-released twice and I have copies of those, but the original is priceless.

It was a good book, too.

 

[Dillinger]

alexandraaah - I loved Confederacy of Dunces!

*smile*

I'm taking this thread to mean not necessarily what is my favorite book or author but, phyisically, what book is prized - and that could be for many different reasons...

I've got a hard cover copy of James Joyce's Ulysses in german. Not that old a printing (1956) but a nice one. I don't read German but I've read Ulysses several times (in English) so... I've read this book, in German, just because... I love the sound...

Among my most cherished books (and memories because I remember buying these one at a time with my dad at the Columbia bookstore library in NYC when I was a kid) is a nearly complete hardcover set of all the L. Frank Baum Oz books with original illustrations by John R. Neill. I've looked these particular editions up online not that long ago and they sell upwards of $200 a piece on eBay. But its not the monetary value that makes them so important to me.

I've got the 4 Masks of God books by Joseph Campbell - hard cover - original 1968 printing. The set includes Creative Mythology, Primitive Mythology, Occidental Mythology and Oriental Mythology. Also a gift from my dad (who was an anthropologist).

Then there are the collections of those philosopher's/authors who have had the most influence on my life - Robert Anton Wilson, Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie (along with other members of the Golden Dawn), and Octavio Paz...

 

[LovetoGiveRoses]

Leatherbound copy of the Merchant of Venice, 1856. It's my favorite story, a present from my dear old Auntie. Love Portia dearly. She's a strong and very smart lady, and sexy as hell too.

 

[Black_Bird]

Well... I suppose it's time for me to tell everyone here *my* most prized book.

I own a copy of the New Testament in Latin. It's the neatest little thing. I love it just because it's so quirky and out of place on my shelf, and because of how I found it. It was left in an old barn by a man who was studying for preisthood. He left America for his native land, and failed to find a way to take all his books with him. Most of them were in bad shape - but this little book wasn't...

If I could own a shelf full of old manuscripts, myths in their original languages and translations... I'd be one happy man.

 

[LovetoGiveRoses]

Good motivation to go learn latin

If you haven't already. A little fuzzy with me now after a few years. About all I remember is veni, vidi, vici. - Julius Caesar.

 

[cymbidia]

I cherish the hardback copy of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet that my mother gave me on my 15th birthday. It contains prints of his original illustrations, the paper is some kind of heavy cream colored vellum, and it's printed with brown ink. I've never seen anything else like it. I take it with me wherever i go, no matter that i have long since committed to memory the parts that mean the most to me.

 

[Guest]

While it's not worth much, monetarily, I have a collection of Anne Sexton poems. There is an inscription, within the front cover, from an old love that means the world to me.

 

[Moridin187]

The Little Prince.. My mother gave me my first copy of it for Christmas when I was 17.. Her mother gave her her first copy for Christmas when she was 17... Should I ever have children.. I know what I'm going to give them for their 17th Christmas.

 

[Guest]

I have a signed copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation, have no idea what it is worth. But the one book that I go back to as a reference year after year is William Fleming's Arts and Ideas.

I have several versions of the Bible that I use. I perfer Jersuleam for verse, and New Engalish for prose. I also have several editions of The Book of Common Prayer in all the trail verisons as well as the 1928 and 1980 authorized books.

I just moved six trash cans full of books from my mother-in-law's garage that have been there for nearly 30 years, so I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends.

 

[Samuari]

Damn Cookies,

I have a signed copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation, have no idea what it is worth. But the one book that I go back to as a reference year after year is William Fleming's Arts and Ideas.

I have several versions of the Bible that I use. I perfer Jersuleam for verse, and New Engalish for prose. I also have several editions of The Book of Common Prayer in all the trail verisons as well as the 1928 and 1980 authorized books.

I just moved six trash cans full of books from my mother-in-law's garage that have been there for nearly 30 years, so I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends.

this is mine.

 

[MissTaken]

I nearly forgot.

I do have an original edition of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.


It probably has some worth, but actually given that I learned to read early by reading Dr. Seuss, it is cherished.

 

[Mae13]

I think mine would be an old, love-worn original copy of the Lost Princess of OZ. One of the great illustrated ones published in 1917...it was given to my mother by her mother, and my mother passed it onto me when I was old enough to appreciate it and treat it well. I love my matriarchal lineage, we have passed down the coolest stuff...