The day after Christmas, and already I'm in Gardner's Used Books to spend that Christmas money!
First -- The 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue. Now I'll know what sort of shoes, clothing, carriages, appliances, books, cutlery, etc. are proper for the late Victorian Era, in case I write a story about Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Jekyll & Hyde, H. G. Wells, Lizzie Borden, et al. I actually have similar books for 1895 and 1909, but they are so small I can't read the print, while this is the size of a good old-fashioned big city phone book. Now hand me that Tincture of Arnica. I cut myself whilst pedaling my Velocipede.
Second -- Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, by William Westervelt -- a tiny hardback, smaller than the usual paperback book, first published in 1915. Westervelt wrote several volumes about Hawaiian myths and legends; this is the only one I didn't have.
Third -- In the Midst of Life and Other Stories by Ambrose Bierce -- I've been wanting a paperback-size collection by Bierce for a long while. This volume includes "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," "The Damned Thing," "The Eyes of the Panther," and many other tales.
Fourth -- More Soviet Science Fiction, edited by Isaac Asimov -- I have the plain-old Soviet Science Fiction; it's an interesting look at how the Cold-War Russians envisioned the future, but a particular story I recall from my youth is in this second volume. It was about a scientist trying to prove Darwinism by creating artificial life-forms -- that refuse to work the way evolution says they should. Daring, for Communist Russia.
Missing in Action -- only a week ago I saw The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, a nice Penguin Books paperback, in the Classics section. "I'll wait 'til after Christmas," I said to myself. "No one's going to a) go to 'Classics' and b) take this ancient Greek saga." I was wrong, apparently. It wasn't here, or misplaced on any nearby shelves. Well, 4 out of 5 ain't bad.
