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"Before you know it as the years go by, you're just like other people you have seen, with all those peculiar human ailments. Just another vehicle for temper and vanity and rashness and all the rest. Who wants it? Who needs it? These things occupy the place where a man's soul should be." -- Henderson the Rain King

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair

I started off my Literary Lollapalooza weekend with a trip to the 2006 Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair at Seattle Center.

Ever seen a $75,000 book? I can now officially say that I have. In fact the show featured numerous books with sticker prices in the five digit range. Perhaps more amazing though was browsing through the countless bookshelves of autographed first edition copies of works by the likes of Raymond Carver, Saul Bellow, Allen Ginsburg, Harry Crews, and Kurt Vonnegut. There's something both exhilirating and daunting about picking a book up off a shelf and opening the cover to find that it's worth $700+. In the end, I couldn't actually bring myself to buy anything with the knowledge that I can find a $5 or less version of each with a little patience and a few trips to the local Half Price Books. After all even a cheap unsigned third edition copy provides the same amazing reading experience provided by a great book.

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posted by Jamie at 11:56 PM