A Find

Collecting books—both an art and a mystery. I especially enjoy discovering a book by an author I've never heard of, never read of—someone under my radar. No review to inform me, no book club to tout the book, and no reading at a local bookstore.


The book and author may be familiar to someone else, but not to me. I understand why people seek out uncharted places to explore—but not everyone is equipped to discover a new route up a mountain, explore unmapped rivers, or visit remote regions of the universe.


Years ago when yard sales spilled out of every driveway I found and rummaged through a milk carton containing books. Many were either missing front covers or smelled too musty. I did find a book about Pitcairn Island. Imagine living on an island that is hundreds of miles away from your nearest neighbor? Imagine having about forty-nine neighbors? Imagine finding a boat out of New Zealand and traveling nine or ten days to arrive at your destination? Imagine being a descendent of Mutiny on the Bounty?


Of course that was years ago. Now —modern houses, VCRs DVDs. The island has a web site, Pay Pal accounts—cruise ships. They've been discovered.


I can't imagine how scholars felt when they heard about the discovery of seventy metal books in a cave in Jordan. "If the dating is verified , the books could be among the earliest Christian documents." Of course they will need to verify the authenticity before they move on to reading these small pages. To add to that the books are in an undisclosed location —smuggled out of Jordan by a Bedouin. The Jordanian government "is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection."


No one tries to repatriate the books I find—which is fine with me.