Special book gift

Yesterday afternoon, I was as happy as a child when his father bought him a new toy from Hamleys ,London.

I was smiling from ear to ear and thanked my mentor for a special book gift as shown in the picture. The book is actually a collector's item.It is a special edition limited only to 1500 copies and mine is No: 561.Now,this book is the oldest book on my bookshelf(the second oldest is The Jungle Book,printed in 1951). It is printed by John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd,London,1928! The edges are jagged and the paper is quite thick and I think it feels like pure raw pulp.The book was bought last week at Bosorne Books,St Just,Cornwall.Thank you Tan Sri for your kindness and generousity.

The book is entitled Three Gifts,An Arab Love Story.It was translated by Sir frank Swettenham(sounds familiar) into English from the French version : Tangu et Felime by Monsieur De La Harpe,published in paris in 1780.The book has Marillier's five illustrations reproduced from the French edition.

Verily, I love every page of the book!

Comments

[Kura-Kura]

You might find the short history of The Bodley Head at http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/lane.john.bio.html interesting.

[beta-blogger]

Frank Swettenham was a man of many talents. He took many photographs of old Malaya, was a prolific writer and maybe even an able administrator, but wan't at all a sweet man. The former Lake Sidney in the former Lake Gardens was named after his wife, but soon as they came back, he tried to dump her, and their divorce, Swettenham v. Swettenham, was read by many generations of law students.Later he got rid of her by getting her sectioned, i.e. he got two men in white coats to declare her insane. You're lucky to have been given such a valuable book; but I'm not sure if it's the same Sir Frank who translated it.

[Adib]

Yes,it is the same person.Last Sunday,NST has a story on Sir Frank Swettenham with the title The Dark side of FAS.

What a coincidence;-)