I’m reading a 1920 copy of GK Chesteron’s The Man Who Was Thursday. The book is small and hard covered. When I’m turning a page, the pages are so thick, I often think two pages are stuck together. The front cover has library return date stamps from the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s. As I hit page 135, I saw a stamp from 1940.
It made me imagine the sheer number of people who have read this copy over the last 90 years. How different the world was each time someone read the book. 2009 looks a lot different than 1970, 1940, and 1920. But it’s the same book, with same intriguing story that has drawn people into a different world.
How I would love to know about the lives of the other people who have read the book. I read mine on the couch. Did they read their’s in the parlor like Elizabeth Bennet? I’ll have to let my imagination answer those questions.
Filed under: Creativity
It’s pretty cool to think about holding a 90 year old object. I also like that all those people lived in Chapel Hill. I wonder where they read it and what they looked like.
I didn’t really think about the idea that they would have all been in Chapel Hill. That makes it even more interesting!
Wow! I love the way your mind muses.