March 23, 2006
Paperback Copy of Walden with Sketches of Cars and Boats
A previous owner of this copy of a 1950 paperback edition of Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience sketched a front view, side view, and what looks like the beginnings of a view from above of a car on the title page:
On the last page, there are sketches of two boats:
The notes near the top of the title page are pairs of cities written like fractions: Milw/Pitts; Brooklyn/St. L.; the "denominator" of the third one is "NY," but I can't make out its "numerator": it looks like "Culs," to me.
On the spine, between "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience," he has written a dash followed by the words "my name":
On the blank page facing the first page of Civil Disobedience, there is this sketch of a jet plane (or perhaps a rocket car):
There are some scribbled notes on the top left, but they are, sadly, too faint to read.
And here is what is inscribed at the top of the initial page of "Civil Disobedience:
Art is fart.
Posted by: josh at March 23, 2006 01:55 PMlove the found-item, literature, academia combo.
Posted by: claire at March 23, 2006 03:06 PMall I know is that the rocket car sketch is awesome. looks better from the side.
Posted by: bobnash at March 23, 2006 06:33 PMMy name is Walden too.
Posted by: Wesley at March 24, 2006 09:25 PMThis is so beautiful... I can't take my eyes off of it. The sketches add to the mysterious nature of the book and the individual ownership of it. I love it. Thanks for posting it.
Posted by: Leslie at March 25, 2006 03:43 AMA concisely post-modern student mastery of the works of Thoreau. The Hot-Rod is bitchin. One is a boat, the other is a ship.
Posted by: -keith in Silicon Valley at March 30, 2006 01:09 AMI think instead of "culs" it's "Cubs". That could make it baseball teams playing each other (Brooklyn probably being the Dodgers).
Posted by: Julie at April 1, 2006 02:34 AM