Call me Ishmael - I trust you've read your Moby Dick - but I like the story about the Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassem Ismael who, to avoid parting with his collection of 117,000 books while travelling, had them carried by a caravan of four hundred camels trained to walk in alphabetical order (by author or title, I wonder?)
That was back in ca. 1000 AD. Keeping camels - let alone training them to walk in alphabetical order - is considerably more expensive these days (even though I have far fewer books than good ol' Ismael and wouldn't need quite so many camels) but, like this Grand Vizier, I still wouldn't want to part with my own collection of treasured books.
In fact, I've just added to my already large collection with another two-hundred-dollar (in real Australian money!) order to thriftbooks.com.
"When I have a little money, I buy books;
and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."
Erasmus
These twelve books should give me enough food for thought to compensate for next month's bread-and-water diet. And if the wife complains - well, the dogs bark but Ismael's caravan moves on.
