okay, so to those who do not know I have just made a purchase of the life time. I have bought both Volumes one and two of Dante Alighieri Devine Comedy.
The books themselves are both matching half leather bound (half calf) 1903 copies with illustration plates by the one and only Gustave Dore
Now I do not expect people to take much of a interest nor expect them to be as excited as I am or to have knowlege like I do on the subject, but some of the comments today crack me up.
So I am talking to someone at work and the subject moves onto my new books, I explain I am awaiting a delivery and I am excited, they ask why and I explain I am waiting for two new books to arrive. they asked why if it is only books so I explained the actual deal behind it, them being antique books, rare/uncommon and very valuable as well as well as special to me. they then ask how much it set me back, quite rudely in fact, I explained how much I paid for the pair and with the obvious response of "that's a lot just to read a story" which obviously gets the retort from me of "Oh, I won't be reading these books." I await the typical reply of "Why buy them then" to which I am unsurprised and give the standard, "I've already read the books and know what happens" they then ask "well how if it's an expensive book" well yeah but you can buy copies today for £2.00 etc or even free by the Gutenberg project. and then the most impromptu and unexpected response came "But you could use that money to get drunk" Well I'll be damned, "they then proceed to explain how it's better to get drunk than to buy "a book or two" well of course they're right. why would I want to buy a book or two for a collection and something I will enjoy for years to come, as well as increasing in value, why wouldn't I want to spend the money on getting "Pissed" as they say.
The funny, these people are older than me, and what I would consider more mature, evidently not. So what, am I just too mature for my age, do I just have taste, or have I got it wrong? Am I missing something with the wasting my money on drink and puking it up?
