Editorial Journal of John Cooper on Oscar Wilde
WELL DONE, IT’S RARE
Assessing what is the rarest printed work by an author is not an exact science. For instance, a book might have many known copies but appears to be rare because it seldom comes up for sale. This is often the case if the present owners are institutions or collectors who have little interest in selling. We would call this scarce.
A better way to look at the question, perhaps, is to consider how many copies of a particular work actually exist?
Continue reading “Elf Exemplaren”
A Rare Typescript of “De Profundis”.
On a balmy Sunday lunchtime last Spring I found m yself in the refreshment area of the prestigious New York Antiquarian Book Fair.
A kindly stranger asked me: “Are you a dealer or a collector?” with an air of inevitability that suggested a third alternative did not exist. As I was that third alternative I hoped my response: “I’m just browsing,” would replace the probability of being neither with the possibility of being either.
However, it soon became apparent to me, if not to my new friend, that even the self-imposed rank of ‘browser‘ wildly overstated my standing as a potential customer.
Continue reading “King’s Ransome”