This has been an exciting week for me. My son-in-law attended an auction and came back with masses of books. I am a bookseller so of course I was very interested in what books he had bought. Very often when attending auction sales , I am left with a sense of unease. Who owned the books previously? Why did they come up for auction? Often when examining them one finds clues as to the previous owner’s name, their interests and even thoughts, which they leave behind in marginalia and inscriptions on the inside front flyleaf.
The letters, banknotes (occasionally) and bookmarks have stories to tell and the subject matter of the collection can give an insight into the interests of the previous owner.
I always find myself asking, why did this collection end up on auction? Didn’t the family members or friends value his collection? It seems such a pity that the collection has to be broken up and in the process, a part of the memory of the last owner is lost forever.
These feelings do play on my mind but it is offset by the knowledge that I am offering someone else a chance to share in the book’s private world and of course I will make a profit on the transaction but I still wonder, at where it all began.
