On Finding Famous Signatures in Old Books
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- Опубліковано 3 бер 2023
- Was it my destiny to learn Old Norse? To see why I wonder, watch this narrative for bibliophiles in which I tell the tale of how three volumes, originally belonging to James Henry Breasted, Morris Moe Berg, and my own father, made their way into my library.
If you enjoy learning from my videos, then you might also enjoy learning by interacting with me in my virtual academy: www.alexanderarguelles.com/ac... You can join me this week to follow the Path of the Polyglot; read French, German, or Spanish literature; learn to read Medieval languages; practice spoken Latin at various levels; participate in Great Books seminars; study the comparative history of religion; or get support for guided self-study of languages.
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If you enjoy learning from my videos, then you might also enjoy learning by interacting with me in my virtual academy: www.alexanderarguelles.com/academy/ You can join me this week to follow the Path of the Polyglot; read French, German, or Spanish literature; learn to read Medieval languages; practice spoken Latin at various levels; participate in Great Books seminars; study the comparative history of religion; or get support for guided self-study of languages.
ماهي الخطوات العملية التي ممكن ان نقوم بها لدراسة كتاب صعب للغة اجنبية؟
Just found your channel because of this video. Your content looks interesting.
Welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy it!
Fabulous! I love signed books. If I read a book and love it, I write to the author and say I love it and ask then sign a sticky label, which I then put in my copy. My family think I'm crazy, probably am. I love looking at old signatures in books. Glad it's not just me. Fabulous video.
Thank you kindly, and it is NOT just you!
Fascinating stories, thank you for sharing! A few years ago I found a classic Maori dictionary by H.W. Williams among an eclectic assortment of books that a barber (of all things) was selling on the side of the road. Not quite as serendipitous as finding an Old Norse dictionary hidden away in a steamer trunk, that really is something...
Hello Chris - if a baseball player can learn Old Norse, why can't a barber learn Maori?
I've slowly but surely been watching any and all of your videos that pique my interest - they're all fantastic. This one in particular caught my eye because I had a mundane but exciting experience with older books recently in my high school library. My high school isn't too old, but being a high school, it has received many book donations over the years. Some of those donations are classics, which are seldom checked out because they're supposedly stuffy, dull, and too wordy to understand. There's a benefit to the complete disinterest teenagers have in classics for the most part: they don't suffer the same wear and tear that a popular library book does. Copies of "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses" by James Joyce have been floating around in my high school library for just over 40 years, and for even longer before that. I find older books fascinating, but library books are a special kind of older book because they have check-out cards with names and dates going back as far as they've been in circulation for. While generally insignificant, I find that used books are fascinating nonetheless because they allow us to feel connected to readers of the past. That notion isn't new, nor is it rarely repeated, but if nothing else it's certainly true. When I read an older, or used, book, I always find myself wondering who had it before me and whether it was important to them or not. Pre-owned objects are my favorite kind of history.
You sound like a kindred spirit!
Interesting stories behind your books
Hello Claudia, nice to hear from you here. If you have any updates regarding the research in Innsbruck, please write to me at my website email.
Those are some really wonderful stories! I hope that when I eventually get my hands on some old books I will have stories just like that to tell. For now all I have as far as old books go is a few short guidebooks for problem-solving in basic chemistry class from my very first prof at University, she was very lovely and pleasant and we were her last group before she retired!
My language-related books are all brand-new, so no fun signatures there yet.
Good to see and hear from you here, as always, Yan, but you are sorely missed in Latin and we hope you can return soon.
Amazing story about your dad's book! any book with a history is a wonder.
The most antique of my mostly-random collection is a Complete Byron (including all the letters; the man never shut up) printed in 1838 (I think... it's a bit fuzzy). It's inscribed from son to father dated 1845... looked up the name and turns out the family still lives in Boston. The binding is rough but it's complete, and cost me the princely sum of $5.
The prize of my collection is the Wingan Labrador book from the 1930s. Only 26 copies (of IIRC 300) are known to still exist... never thought I'd even see one, much less own it... having searched high and low, one day took a notion to look on eBay, and there it was, for $25!! and inscribed to a prominent retriever person of the era. Mine. :)
Thanks for sharing your own wonderful stories about books with histories of their own.
You mentioned that your father discarded the translation of an Italian novel after he learned Italian and could read the original. I've been tempted to do the same with works in German, which I can read quite easily. However, I read an article about Adalbert Sifter's Bergkristall in a translation by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, and the mention of the poet Marianne Moore as co-translator so intrigued me that I ordered the translation-it has an introduction by W. H. Auden-and read the translation and the original together. It was an amazing experience. Whether it was Elizabeth Mayer or Marianne Moore, the ability of the translators to select the absolutely right English word (le mot juste) amazed me. Sometimes it was not the first word that would come into your mind. This it put me to shame, as I have done a fair amount of translation myself, often wracking my brain to find the right word, when every word that came to mind was slightly wrong. So I recommend that bilinguals or polyglots occasionally read original texts and translations side by side. The NY Times has just published a review by Colm Toibin of a new translation of Thomas Mann's Unordnung und frühes Leid, which motivated me to dig out my old copy of the German original and H. T. Porter-Lowe's translation in a Vintage paperback that I bought for $1.95.
Thank you for the insight. Indeed, comparing originals with translations is an integral stage of learning for me.
Interesting. I don't think I have any notable owner's signatures on any of my books. The next best I could do in this regard is one or two author signed books - John le Carré and Jonathan Sumption being two (rather different!) examples that come to mind.
Author-signed books are great, too!
I was surprised when you mentioned Moe Berg. I learned about him from reading The Bastard Brigade book by Sam Kean. It was the first time I heard the word polyglot. It’s cool that you have one of his books.
To think that I have had it for going on 30 years without knowing who he was...
Dear Alexander, it would be helpful to know: how early to start with Writing exercises? How much depends on our listening skills?, etc. Have a nice day!
I don't really understand your question. If you care to flesh it out and send to the Q&A section of my website, I will try to answer it there.
I have a book signed in 1903 by Charles F D Belden, director of the Boston library and president of the American Library Association. Its a first edition Variety of Religious Experiences, by William James. Found at a used book store for a few dollars. Guess who's studying pragmatism now 🤪
I am glad that the experience I share here resonates in others like this!
Awesome stories professor! Just a question: Do you still actively "study" any languages? If so, which ones? Or is most of your time used with the academy? Thanks so much for the videos! So interesting.
Study as in learning new ones that I don't know? Not currently. Study as in try to improve ones I already know to some degree? Of course, all of them.
Like kitty cares that you're doing a video and showing us books... Anyway, that's a cool story about your father's book. It's like something out of a movie. I have a serious question. Do you see any point in buying first time reader type books, or just go buy cheaper used children's' books for reading practice?
Depends on the quality of the reader. If they are annotated with vocabulary, sure.
What’s your opinion on signing an old book yourself?
I sign it to indicate when it became mine and thus add to its potential history.
@@ProfASAr Been thinking about doing the same. But it almost feels sacrilegious putting my name in a book that’s a hundred years old.
@@kitgusto2390 In a hundred more years, someone will be delighted that you did it.
I have a lot of books I could send to you for your library. What would be your preferred mailing address please professor? All the best
Hello James Wright and thank you for the offer. If you are serious about having books that you think could go into a library that I aspire to share with others, please write to me at my website email so we can discuss the logistics. Thank you kindly!
HOW OLD OR YOUNG IS YOUR CAT ?...................................................................................................
He will be 10 at the end of April.
Haha. Despite all logic and rationality, I sometimes can't help but be inclined to believe occult forces and portents. Interesting video.
Thank you for letting me know that you share the sentiment!
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Berg
Nice story prof
Glad you enjoyed it!
Alexander, study Ezekiel Chapter 1, decoded at "haitheory" and be amazed. Inform people.
Thank you for the suggestion.