Saturday, February 16, 2013
My eBay Bargain — Six Word Saturday —
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my Six Words: ..
My book find is a 1958 (55 years old) first printing of "Traveling with the Innocents Abroad; Mark Twain's Original Reports from Europe and the Holy Land; Edited by Daniel Morley McKeithan." It was published by the University of Oklahoma Press at Norman.
My book contains 325 pages not including the preface of eighteen pages, marked with Roman Numerals. Five of these 325 pages make up the index at the end.
I will start my reading with Chapter 32, titled Camping Out, on page 178. Here Twain picks up "In Camp, Mountains of Lebanon, Syria, September 11th, 1867." The group had just returned from Ephesus, Asia Minor (now Turkey).
After finishing reading my book (who knows when?) I will start over. I may reread the preface before beginning my reading as the part I read in getting information for this post was very interesting.
I have had no buyer's remorse because of this purchase. Instead, I am a VERY happy camper with it. Mrs. Jim and I have visited many of the places where Mr. Twain tells of his travels. In 1980 we visited on a cruise tour of Greece, the Mediterranean isles, Ephesus (Turkey), Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. Since then we have visited most of the rest of the places he has gone.
The last page, 326, shown above in the picture on the right, says the following about my new-to-me book:
Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words for Six Word Saturday. Click the box at right to visit Cate's blog with Mr. Linky showing all the other blogs participating this week. Cate is the boss at Six Word Saturday. She would like for you to participate.
my Six Words: ..
A Good eBay Bargain for Me
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[click again for larger still]
My book find is a 1958 (55 years old) first printing of "Traveling with the Innocents Abroad; Mark Twain's Original Reports from Europe and the Holy Land; Edited by Daniel Morley McKeithan." It was published by the University of Oklahoma Press at Norman.
My bargain price was $0.50 U.S. plus $3.88 shipping and $0.03 Texas Sales Tax for a total of $4.41. I watched it for several days and then before the eBay auction was to close I bid $6.01. Since the seller had established a starting bid, my bid was entered for 50¢ and it would automatically increase to meet competition as needed until I would be outbid. Then I would enter another higher price and monitor the bidding accordingly. That was not necessary as my 50 cent bid was the only one made.
The lowest on-line book store price I could find it for was $19.95 for a former library copy (plus shipping and also Texas Sales Tax if 'the seller did business in Texas').
Our college library, where I taught Business Law and other business courses, had this book on their shelf. I started reading that copy several years back and only got about half finished with it. It was a wonderful book to read in ones leisure because each chapter was a letter from a different place that Mark Twain had visited. The library disposed of this book before I retired so I could not finish my reading.
Mark Twain took The Quaker City, a steamship with auxiliary sails, on a European cruise-tour. He was one of seventy-six passengers who sailed from New York City on June 8, 1867 and returned after five plus months on November 19.
Twain was under contract with the San Francisco Daily Alta California (newspaper) who paid for this voyage with Mark to send letters back of his travels. This he did by sending back 58 letters, all of which are published in my book. Six of the letters were written for the New York Tribune, one for the Naples Observer, and the one for the New York Herald after his return. The rest, fifty, were written for the Daily Alta California.
From these letters Mark Twain wrote his travel novel, The Innocents Abroad, which was published in July, 1969. "(It) has been the most popular book of foreign travel ever written by any American" (my book preface, page xi). You may have read this book, The Innocents Abroad, I have not.
My book contains 325 pages not including the preface of eighteen pages, marked with Roman Numerals. Five of these 325 pages make up the index at the end.I will start my reading with Chapter 32, titled Camping Out, on page 178. Here Twain picks up "In Camp, Mountains of Lebanon, Syria, September 11th, 1867." The group had just returned from Ephesus, Asia Minor (now Turkey).
After finishing reading my book (who knows when?) I will start over. I may reread the preface before beginning my reading as the part I read in getting information for this post was very interesting.
I have had no buyer's remorse because of this purchase. Instead, I am a VERY happy camper with it. Mrs. Jim and I have visited many of the places where Mr. Twain tells of his travels. In 1980 we visited on a cruise tour of Greece, the Mediterranean isles, Ephesus (Turkey), Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. Since then we have visited most of the rest of the places he has gone.
The last page, 326, shown above in the picture on the right, says the following about my new-to-me book:
Traveling with the Innocents Abroad
has been set in eleven and one-half point
Linotype Caslon with one and one-half
points of leading, and is printed
on an antique wove paper.
University of Oklahoma Press
Norman
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Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words for Six Word Saturday. Click the box at right to visit Cate's blog with Mr. Linky showing all the other blogs participating this week. Cate is the boss at Six Word Saturday. She would like for you to participate.
Labels: Jim Does, Six Word Saturday
Comments:
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That sounds like a lovely find! I love when things like that happen. And so cheap too. Wish you happy reading & traveling from your armchair :)
Wow! What a lovely bargain. I shall look out for it and for others of this ilk. I like Mark Twain very much, having grown up with Tom and Huck.
I grew up near Hartford, CT where Mr Clemens lived for some time & we used to visit often. And I went to Mark Twain Elementary School, so I'm drawn to all things Twainy. I'm jealous of your find, Jim.
# posted by 
: Sat Feb 16, 08:10:00 AM 2013
: Sat Feb 16, 08:10:00 AM 2013
Good for you on getting such a great book for a very low price. Excellent.
Have a fantastic weekend. ☺
Have a fantastic weekend. ☺
I am so glad you got the book - and that you bid so well - I love Ebay! You will have a great time enjoying and reading that book!
This looks like a wonderful find, Jim! I have heard of it but didn't know what it was about. My very favorite works by Mark Twain are "The Diaries of Adam and Eve". If you haven't read them, you must! Wonderful stuff!
Ya, I enjoy ebay bidding, waiting for the countdown and clicking in your last bid before the timer runs out. Then hurriedly pressing the refresh page to see if you've won the auction. Sounds like a good book. I love finding good books for cheap prices! I hope you enjoy reading it! : )
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