Worn Collars
Part Seventeen
"Uneven Circumstance"
I
find myself; a bibliognoste (Part Two footnote), before the reader as
Uneven
circumstance?
Boorish
babble about odd volumes and their forlorn concerns
Left
me peddling the circumstance of ‘hundreds’ of ‘boxes’ of ‘old books’ with the
The
probability of the unknown possibility that the boxed books hold on to
The
second (and ‘lost’) volume “SOMEWHERE” while I KEEP the first and found volume
in the shoe box ‘with the others’ as a ‘best plan’ (Part Sixteen) and then
suggest that I
Should
fret about
Dieing
‘before’ I ‘go through’ all of the ‘hundreds’ of Benton Shelby’s old
(rare)...purloined by I... book room’s ‘content’
To
see
IF
...I... can be a “FIND THE SECOND VOLUME”.
Helping
to ‘uneven’ the circumstance is that the found volume is volume number two so
the missing volume is volume number one so I am
“Looking
for the first volume of a two volume set that I have found the second volume
of:
This
early American edition... legal or illegal... edition (?)... of Sir Walter Scott’s
ROB
ROY.
HERE
NOW the uneven circumstance becomes very clear for delineation for
One
is still back there hoarding their “WHO WAS ROB ROY?” (Part Sixteen)? That is... one has no book, no odd
volume book, no two volume book set or... even inkling of early American
‘pirated editions’ and their ‘they collect those?’. AND the legal editions too (“they collect those”.).
Oh.
SO.
Okay
I
AM ROB ROY (Macgregor).
May
I ask... who are you? Are you
Francis Osbaldistone... who marries Diana Vernon? OR are you Diana Vernon... who marries Francis? It does not matter...
Because
you ‘do not know’. But let me assure
that those who biblioclose THEIR door on YOU... do know... Scottish...
English... American... editions.
Pirated editions.
Permission Granted editions. “Copyright” editions... and... Vague
editions.
Francis
marries Diana? No... Diana marries
Francis. It all works out in the
end:
Volume
one is found and reunited with volume two and
I
am Rob Roy Macgregor... the outlaw who
Purloins
old book rooms
For
money.
There
we are. Or is it HERE WE ARE. IT’S ABOUT MONEY. It is so much easier... when its about
money.
The
ROB ROY set is ‘worth money’?
No. If no one knows who Rob Roy is... so...
why would they “pay money for that”?
Meanwhile.
(What
is this ‘meanwhile’? EVERYTHING is
meanwhile... in old books
And
their uneven circumstance. So let me...
not be... too ‘meanwhile’).
So...
meanwhile...:
Arlington
St. John’s of HIMSELF shows a Rob Roy HIMSELF. How did he get all of those boxes of books on floor of the
right front room of his house (Part Sixteen)? Why... that rotten man... peered into the ‘show him’ box of
old books that the book sale committee head called him ‘look at’ and
He
did. Look in that box. And then he told her that if THIS box
be a THIS box like the rest of the “HOW MANY BOXES DID YOU SAY?” “SHE DIDN’T
KNOW” boxes then... Arlington said... “SHE PROBABLY CAN SELL ALL THE BOOKS for
quite a SUM”. “SUM”... (and/or
“SOME”) is a word related to money that Arlington was always skillfully
bantering. “OH FINE YOU TELL HER
THAT WOULD YOU PLEASE ARLINGTON”.
After
saying “Thank you” and changing his ‘sum’ to ‘some’ regarding the money of
these books in boxes he ...scampered off... as only Arlington scampered... to
the ...nasty domestic state... of the “We are getting rid of the books” (Part
Sixteen) boxes of old books and
Stated
concisely that... inclusive of the “uneven circumstance” of the “household
library” these “all of the boxes of books ” he “could find a (“Ahhhh”) home
for” from a “BUYS BOXES OF USED BOOKS ALL THE TIME” and “PUTS THEM IN HIS BARN”
for... “some” “small sum”...
“IF
YOU CAN BRING THEM OVER TO MY HOUSE I’LL CALL HIM RIGHT AWAY I WILL TELL HIM
FOUR DOLLARS for EACH BOX for as MANY AS YOU CAN GET FOR ME.
That
turned up as thirty-two boxes but she brought four more boxes by four days
later... too.
So...
obviously... I
Was
the guy
Who
buys.
Arlington
suggested the ‘sum’ of “four dollars a box” “AFTER I TAKE OUT ANYTHING I WANT.”
I
said “Ok”.
I
was Rob Roy. NO ACTULLY Arlington
claimed that he was the outlaw Rob Roy and ...as of Robin Hood TOO. Merrily he groundhoged (Part Sixteen)
the boxes. That; his groundhoging
the boxes of books... is about money.
For him. For me. He even groundhoged the four boxes that
‘came in’ four days later. “YOU
CAN HAVE THOSE.” He said. “THERE’S
NOTHING IN THEM”.
So
the uneven circumstance of the boxes of books and the uneven circumstance of
what to do about them was cleared up by Arlington. No one ever mentioned the boxes of books again. Even I didn’t say anything to Arlington
about them... ever again.
It
was six years before I ‘happened upon’ the missing volume one of the two volume
Philadelphia 1821 edition of Scott’s ROB ROY. Actually... I think it was seven years. But... because I put the first odd
volume back in the shoe box... I was able to put them back together... ‘in a
few days’ ‘when I got to it’ ‘while I was out there’ (in the barn full of
...boxes of old books). Please
understand that this went so well because of that old shoe box that Benton
Shelby had used. That shoe box did
not ‘fit right’ into my book-packing-boxes so... was ‘always kept out’ and was
‘floated on top’... of my book box fortress (Part Fifteen [A]) of Benton
Shelby’s old book room books... in boxes.
“Floated up on top” so I could ‘see it’ and just had to ‘jig it’ with a
stick to ‘get it’ (Benton’s old shoe box with his ‘set them aside’ Byron and
Scott ‘early American editions’.
The box created an uneven circumstance... but that worked out okay in
the end.
I
have always used the same size and shape; ‘identical’, boxes for ‘extracting’ (my
title) old rare book room contents... from estates. In fact I use that for ALL estate content books, printing,
paper... et all. They “fit
better’. I’ve used the same boxes
over and over for years. One box
is emptied so goes ‘back on the (empty box) pile. My book box fortress’ are never uneven... unless they have a
‘float’ up on top.
I
still have the Rob Roy set around.
No one has bought it. Not
that I’m pushing anyone to... buy it.
For money. I told you
already: It is worth... “NO
MONEY”. And that’s what you
want. Right?
From
‘old books’: You... want... money.
And
you will get that. Sort of. Getting money... from old (rare)
books... is an
Uneven
circumstance.
I,
myself, prefer to be a little snarl... lee... on the ‘practice’ of ...turning
old (rare) books into money. What
is my ‘snarl-lee’? It is ‘I don’t
mess around’ with the “YOU” and the “YOUR RARE BOOKS”. If... from my vista, you ‘don’t know’
then... you don’t know. Rob Roy be
damned... I’ll rob you
Roy.
Arlington,
to his credit, understood this; the uneven circumstance of our
intercourse. And, as I mentioned
(Part Sixteen) I will be returning to his ‘flee’ and ‘pretend’ too (Parts Two
& Three). But, by his old
up-his-sleeve ‘sum’ and ‘some’ trick, I, through uneven circumstance, did get
the ‘best’ of the boxes. You think
Arlington is going to take away the ‘good’ books? HE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT WAS. Box after box.
Adjusting,
uneven circumstance IS where ‘good’ old ‘rare’ books... that are “WORTH MONEY”
come from. They do... not... come
from pat sources. A pat source,
for example, are vendor’s table tops at flea markets; an ‘old book’ ‘sitting
there’ ‘for sale’. “No.” describes
that tome’s... uneven circumstance.
IF... it were a “YES”... it would already be ‘gone’. The hang-fire-time... in that
setting... of a ‘yes’ is... “No; none”.
One must do better than that... and do that better very well... in
uneven circumstance. An example?
When...
after ingratiation... I visited Benton Shelby’s book room... over and over...
for decades. I soon noticed and
denoted that “there is a door to the outside” in the room and that... was a,
being ‘behind’ but not quite ‘the back’ of the house... would be and could
be... from stepping out the door... a... traveling at a diagonal... to a “leaf
pile” (composting organic yard waste gleanings) ‘at the edge’ of the... ah...
‘property’ ‘tree line’. SO...
Benton... I learned... “preferred” to go out the door to the ‘leaf pile’ to
...pee. “Ho, ho, ho” and I,
too, became an allowed ‘that’ too.
Like I said: “Ho, ho,
ho”. So Benton raked around the
yard and put his rakings there too.
And the neighbor’s dog’s dog shit too. (Benton hated that dog). So he peed there.
I peed there. Ok? This is about uneven circumstance...
for getting ‘old rare books’ ‘worth money’.
So
Benton used a rake from the garage.
One of several. This went
on for... well... three decades.
The ...ah... ‘neighbors’ starting “GETTING” “LEAF BLOWERS”. They no longer raked leaves. Benton always raked... his...
leaves. And put them where we
peed.
So Benton’s dead. I got the contents of his book
room. His wife sold it all to
me. She said she “had other people
look at it” but... ah... I don’t feel she did. Anyway: I got
it. I made the boxed books fortress
in the barn. I floated the shoe
box up on top. Done deal.
Like...
three years later she comes around to “CATCH YOU” and says she’s moving out,
selling out, moving to a ‘smaller place’ “near my sister”. “Yeah, OK.” I ‘bought her out’; the
“STUFF” “LEFT” in her “HOUSE”. She
didn’t have any real antiques... but the house had fifty years of ‘single owner
occupation’... with no uneven circumstance. That kind of place has a lot of ‘quality’ ‘stuff’ like...
rakes at the back of the garage that were ‘hardly ever used’ kind of
“STUFF”. Like... The guy (Benton) had an old L.L. Bean
hunting jacket (and boots; don’t forget the boots. They all have the boots). He wore it once a year ...for four days... over forty
years... and his wife hung it up in a closed door closet on the first floor of
their home... for the rest of the year...: You get the idea?
So
I’m in the back of the garage ‘cleaning out’ the rakes. So I’m handling the rakes and I
“REMEMBER” Benton, his raking, his leaf pile, ‘out back over there behind’, the
book room, us in there, the door, going out the door to the leaf pile, to pee,
doing that for years and how THAT
Uneven
circumstance; I being allowed to pee on the leaf pile too... “GOT ME” the
contents of Benton’s book room.
THAT
is the ‘uneven circumstance’ one needs to find... old rare books ‘worth money’.
I
set the rakes in the truck bed and then... went out back to Benton’s old leaf
pile and
Peed
on it.
I understand (now) (I think?), yet I am not sure that I would recognize the (an) "uneven circumstance" even if I participated.Things do sometimes come my way because of my plain (simpleton) way of being.
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