Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2012 Issue

The Gutenberg of clear thinking traced to Poughkeepsie

The truth about lying

The truth about lying

Sellers of all sorts and auction houses across the spectrum, surprisingly do not get the many chapters they deserve but can take solace in knowing its because the rooms of the iniquitous are jammed to the rafters.  Sinning is common; it is virtue that is rare.  As in all aspects of life there is competition for recognition and God help those who get it.  In particular those who copy the descriptions that others have labored over should feel this book is written for them.  In fact a few may soon decide they wrote it.  The next chapter then pounds the peg in deeper “The man who exaggerates…”.  Here we learn that miscreants abound, the author enumerating with inventive description the many ways and levels in which the truth becomes the greased pig disappearing into the dark of night.  It’s not a wonder that we lie.  It’s a wonder we tell the truth at all, and even then, it’s often to wrap a whopper in credibility.  Mr. Wilson it turns out is Socrates on the Hudson.

Those who buy books are of course not spared for they are optimistic when buying and disingenuous to the extreme in later explaining their passion to partners and spouses who in turn must labor hard to act believing while awaiting the day the dustman can be called to cart away the dusty crap.

And because misadventures with words are as natural today as they were 101 years ago this book[let] remains highly relevant.  It turns out some things are immutable.  So the final chapters offer some perspective on the Presidential election now concluding – offering suggestions to the wayward campaigns whose alternate realities recently crossed paths during the debates.  Someone was not telling the truth and Mr. Wilson offers us perspective on this shattering recognition.  No doubt persons of all persuasions will, if they take a few minutes to read this fine work, find both solace and insult in sufficient volume to feel equally enlightened and abused by the experience.

This said, abused or not, insulted or not, its important to vote.  Of course, if you don’t you can always lie about it.  The Poughkeepsie Bard has you covered.

In the meantime this rare pamphlet has been unearthed.  In its inevitable forward progress up through the ranks of the merely collectible onto the lists of “essential” its value will rise like a helium balloon in July.  Along the way dealers and auction houses will cajole and coerce for the opportunity to re-sell, inciting phantom competitors and quoting evidence of broad interest to explain ever-higher emerging valuations.  Gems after all are to be treasured and this one no doubt will soon be ensconced in a velvet-lined box, the mark of a gentleman’s book.  In time forgers will enter the realm for books of simple construction and high value command their disproportionate attention.  In time rumors will abound and special knowledge be required to separate the real from the unreal.  Controversies will break out.  For the Bard of course this is all to the good.  His book[let] that apparently never saw a second printing will now never know another moment of peace.  Its return to public view will occur with less regularity than Americans choose their Presidents but each time the copy returns all that has been said about humanity in this little book will be solemnly reconfirmed.

The full text is provided on page 3. 


Rare Book Monthly

  • High Bids Win
    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
    and Machine Manuals
    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
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    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
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    December 24 to January 9
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
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    Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines
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    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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