What I like about a second-hand book just as much as the book itself is its "provenance" - a word I picked up from the BBC's Antiques Roadshow without understanding its full meaning. What I know about this beautiful volume of Lawrence Durrell's "Prospero's Cell" is that it was read by an Anthony Greenham on a flight from Sydney to Cairns because he had placed this boarding pass as bookmark between the pages 112 and 113, just before the end of the book and presumably just before his arrival in Cairns.
A whole morning's worth of memories, all for just two dollars
(For Des who is unfamiliar with literary allusions, click here;
unfortunately, by explaining it, it ceases to be an allusion)
"Prospero's Cell" was Lawrence Durrell's love letter to the island of Corfu and this book and its "bookmark" bring back not only happy but also warm memories of Corfu and Cairns on a cold morning like this. And it reminds me of the Durrells who lived on Corfu between 1935 and 1939.
Cairns had been my jumping-off point every time I came down from New Guinea to Australia, and Corfu was the place where I fell in love with Greece. And so will you if you read "Prospero's Cell" or, on a less literary level, watch the BBC's delightful comedy-drama "The Durrells In Corfu".
What would I be without all those memories? And where is Anthony Greenham now? "... we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
