A Used Book's Journey to My Reading Chair

This summer I have decided to only read books by dead women authors.

My friends know I have strange reading tastes.  I don't want to read anything on a best seller list--unless that list was compiled in 1915.

I enjoy searching used book stores and on line for copies of books that are the vintage of the authors who wrote them.  I want the copy of Jane Eyre from the 19th century(and I have an 1840 copy that I found for 5 pounds in England.)  I want to read Flannery O'Connor with a good original 1950s dust jacket.  Heaven would be to find a 1943 copy of The Fountainhead.  Currently I am happily  tucking into a 1963 copy of Edna Ferber's autobiography "A Kind of Magic."

When I received this copy--I cracked it open--and what greeted me?  Not a tender dedication of the book from a long ago giver to a long ago recipient. No--this was a former library copy with huge black letters saying WITHDRAWN.  WITHDRAWN FROM CIRCULATION. Hastings Nebraska Public Library

Strangely--this made me sad.  I am gobbling up Edna Ferber's books--and wondering how my good solid midwestern high school and college education could have overlooked this good solid fabulous midwestern born and bred writer.  I guess we were too busy reading Willa Cather or Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis.  But, WITHDRAWN???  Aren't there good librarians everywhere who know the virtues of Edna-?  And certainly a librarian in the heartland of America--small town Hastings Nebraska??

I have never been on a library board--although My Dear Husbola was on one many years ago.  Who makes decisions for books to be withdrawn from circulation?  Do libraries check the circulation history of a book and the least checked out tomes get retired?  And who is the hatchet man (or woman) who sits at the sturdy wooden library table, with the spongie black ink pad and huge rubber stamp and  opens books and slams down WITHDRAWN?  Is there a PETA organization for books?

I can guess this book's journey to my home.  Someone purchased it as a used book sale at a library, maybe read it, or maybe just sold it to a used book store.  This used book store sells on line--and during my search, I landed on it.

There is a thrill I get pawing through boxes of books at auctions and estate sales.  Our book shelves are filled with used "orphans" that have been much loved and I love them still.

By the way-Edna Ferber led a fascinating life-"A Kind of Magic" is a delightful snapshot of a great American writer.  Ask to borrow my copy--and the WITHDRAWN treasure can continue its journey.