The Hero by W. Somerset Maugham -- Gone
A sad note. Can't help but express my personal sentiment here. Bear with me.
I had my eye on the first edition of Maugham's The Hero (1901) for some time, but because of the price I had been unable to make up my mind. With expenses on other hobbies and activities, I had sort of let it go. Just now I checked on it again and it had disappeared, sold, I guess. I have not been able to identify another copy, with that neat Maugham symbol printed upside down.
It is interesting how the imperfect with time becomes more precious, more sought after. Interesting too is the human sentiment: as I said, I had sort of given it up, but now knowing that it is no longer there waiting patiently for me to make up my mind I feel the urge to possess it, no matter how much it costs. I bet in the future I may have to pay double the price of the one I had lost – i.e. if I ever find another copy among the other 1,499 –, and I had only myself to blame.
Now that I have said all this, I hope I can simply let this go instead of turning it over and over in my mind, savouring the self-blame and regrets. Alas, if I could learn the fox's trick (and to a certain extent, wisdom): sour grapes!
I had my eye on the first edition of Maugham's The Hero (1901) for some time, but because of the price I had been unable to make up my mind. With expenses on other hobbies and activities, I had sort of let it go. Just now I checked on it again and it had disappeared, sold, I guess. I have not been able to identify another copy, with that neat Maugham symbol printed upside down.
It is interesting how the imperfect with time becomes more precious, more sought after. Interesting too is the human sentiment: as I said, I had sort of given it up, but now knowing that it is no longer there waiting patiently for me to make up my mind I feel the urge to possess it, no matter how much it costs. I bet in the future I may have to pay double the price of the one I had lost – i.e. if I ever find another copy among the other 1,499 –, and I had only myself to blame.
Now that I have said all this, I hope I can simply let this go instead of turning it over and over in my mind, savouring the self-blame and regrets. Alas, if I could learn the fox's trick (and to a certain extent, wisdom): sour grapes!
I was hoping maybe someone ordered that last one for you, for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately no...
DeleteYeah, I saw that was gone. I am considering to start saving a dollar a day until the next copy shows up. I would really like to have one with the inverted monogram though.