20101211

古董書之幽情

我有一本哲學書,雖無古董的價值,但我已當它是古董書,因為那是在1871年印刷的,距今已幾乎一百四十年了,那時還是清朝同治年間,光緒皇帝也正是這年出世的。

這是 John Stuart Mill 那部影響深遠的名著 On Liberty,嚴復譯為《群己權界論》,是自由主義(liberalism)的奠基之作。此書初版出於1859年,我的那本是第七版,相距不過十二年而已。Mill 卒於1873年,我擁有的這本書印刷時,他還在生!想到這點,我把書拿起,摸著那黝黑樸拙而有點殘破的硬皮,心裏竟有種奇妙的感覺,彷彿和 Mill 的時空相隔突然縮小了很多,不那麼覺得他已是作古之人。(雖然我很愛用我的 Kindle,裏面也藏有 On Liberty 的電子版,但電子書就不可能給我這個特殊的經驗。)

這本書是我大約十二年前在 Berkeley 一間二手書店買的,因為不是初版,所以不值錢 *,只花六美元便買到了。書頁內有題字,應該是第一手書主簽上名字,並記下買書的地點和時間(我也有這習慣):


英國哲學家的著作,美國的讀者,在哈佛大學於1873年1月相遇,一百三十多年後這個相遇為我所知,書落入我手;這期間,環繞著這本書不知有沒有發生了些動人的故事呢?


* 從上圖可看到書頁右上角有兩行字:(1st Edition was 1859 )This Edition 1871,應該是二手書商寫上,以資識別,因為兩個版本價錢相差極大。

16 則留言:

  1. //書頁內有題字,應該是第一手書主簽上名字,並記下買書的地點和時間(我也有這習慣)

    我也有這習慣,同埋會撕下書背的價錢紙。

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  2. Yan,

    我也會撕下價錢紙。

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  3. Yan,

    謝謝你在willsin那邊替我說好話。

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  4. Wong,

    我的說話沒有善良的動機,我只希望說些我所觀察到的事實。

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  5. Yan,

    你至少沒有不良動機吧。我就謝謝你說了公道話好了。

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  6. //你至少沒有不良動機吧

    應該冇。除希望說出事實,仲想做些腦部娛樂,呢個算唔算?

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  7. Yan,

    娛己不損人,唔算。

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  8. 雖然不是初版,137年的書也很寶貴了。
    我最舊的書是John Milton的詩集,要到2014年才夠100年。

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  9. Chris,

    我還有另一本,剛過了一百年,是1909年印刷,William James的Pragmatism

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  10. 過百年的古書,我家有很多。昨天老公才又買了一本,講世界各地的人種的。

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  11. readandeat,

    過百年的書在美國其實很容易買到,不過超過一百三十年的則較少見。

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  12. I have a copy of Karl Marx's Capital, the first American edition, 1906, and a copy of Little Women, printed in 1886. I bought them when I was an undergrad. That gave me the idea that it would be so cool if I started collecting antique books. But, I soon realized I had neither the money and the space to really to take up such a hobby.

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  13. lin,

    Were the two copies expensive?

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  14. The price written on Little Women was $40 and Capital was $17. I remember getting a discount on them though. It was probably 1993 or 1994 when I bought them. They were kind of expensive to me at that time.

    I checked e-Bay and saw a copy of the same edition of Little Women is being sold for $200 now.

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  15. I have forgotten about how I got those books but now my memory is coming back. At my undergrad university, they had a holiday fair at the end of the Fall Semester with vendors selling mostly holiday gift items, like candles and scarves, etc. I remember that I wandered around, found this booth with used books and saw the Little Women and Capital. I really wanted the books but agonized if I should buy them or not. I went home and mentioned it to my roommate how much I wanted them... And eventually, I went back, and was so happy that they were still there, and bought them.

    This has completely buried in my memories for a while!

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  16. Lin,

    //I checked e-Bay and saw a copy of the same edition of Little Women is being sold for $200 now.//

    - Not a bad investment at all!

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