When I’m not reading or writing these days, or walking my dog Scamp, I piddle around with my watercolors. This is my latest piece. — Art by Pat Bean
“A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.” – Martin Farquhar Tupper, 1810-1889
Morning Thoughts
I am a fan of quotes, especially the ones that say a lot in a few words. So, it was that John Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations was one of the reference books in my personal library during my earlier writing days.
It was a thick, sturdy book with a green cover that I had acquired sometime in the 1960s. And it was among the hundreds of books that I gave to friends, sold to a second-hand store, or donated to a charity thrift store in 2004 when I downsized all my belongings to only what would fit in a 21-foot RV. I had bookcases in every room of my h
And this was the one before that. –Art by Pat Bean
Recently, my friend Jean found a copy of Bartlett’s book and gave it to me. It was a 15th edition, published in 1980 on the 125th anniversary of the book’s first edition published in 1855. This one, also a sturdy book meant to last, has a faded red cover and 1,540 pages.
As I hold it in my hands and peruse the contents, it feels like I am holding a valued treasure – but one that has lost its purpose. To find the quote I used at the beginning of this post, I first searched the 500-plus page index for the word books.
There were well over 200 entries in print so small these old eyes had to hold the book under a bright light to read them.
Each few-words entry was followed by a page number and a line designation. It took about 20 minutes for me to find the quote I used, and I only looked up about a dozen of the entries.
Today, when I’m searching for an appropriate quote for my posts, I type in a word on my Bing search engine, and immediately have hundreds of entries to choose from.
So, I won’t be using Bartlett as a reference source. But it’s quite fun reading on its own, and bringing back memories long forgotten by this old broad. One was the songs of Stephen Foster, lines from which were included among the quotes and which were quite popular when I was a kid.
Oh Susanna, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home, Jennie with the Light Brown Hair, Old Black Joe, Beautiful Dreamer, My Old Kentucky Home. I sang them all with my grandmother.
It feels good to once again have Bartlett’s book sitting on a shelf in my home.
Bean Pat: To my friend Jean for her thoughtful gift. And to book lovers everywhere who value written words.
Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.
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