Tuesday, Nov 26, 2024

Books and Thanksgiving?

 

One of my greatest pleasures, as a specialist in fine press printing, is the opportunity it gives me to see so many pieces of fine press ephemera.  While we all love the book our fine press printers bring forth, it seems to me that the ephemeral pieces are, in some sense, even more special.

Just recently I sorted through a large-ish collection of such; printed by such notable Bay Area printers as Peter Koch, Adrian Wilson, Jack Stauffacher, and Andrew Hoyem - among many others.

One piece in particular caught my attention, as it brought together in my mind the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the importance of family (and friends), and that most wonderful of treasures - the printed book.

Entitled A Father's Admonition, the text comes from what was called in the twelfth century an "Ethical Will".  According to the web site of Fordham University (copyright held by Paul Halsall, October 1997), "Many Jews were in the habit of writing wills, in Hebrew, in which they imparted instruction of an ethical and religious nature to their children and to their descendants. Such ethical testaments were not uncommon among Moslems and Christians at this time."  Below we present a selection of this "Admonition", from the piece printed by Jack Stauffacher for the 1984 joint meeting of the Roxburghe and Zamorano Clubs.  I hope you enjoy the reading of this piece as much as did I.

My son, list to my precepts, neglect none of my injunctions.

Set my Admonition before thine eyes, thus shalt thou prosper and prolong thy days in pleasantness!  I have honored thee by providing an extensive library for thy use, and have thus relieved thee of the necessity to borrow books.

Make thy books thy companions, let thy cases and shelves be thy pleasure-grounds and gardens.  Bask in their paradise, gather their fruit, pluck their roses, take their spices and their myrrh.  If thy soul be satiate and weary, change from garden to garden, from furrow to furrow, from prospect to prospect.  Then will thy desire renew itself, and thy soul be filled with delight!

Never refuse to lend books to anyone who has not the means to purchase books for himself, but only act thus to those who can be trusted to return the volumes.  Cover the bookcases with curtains of fine quality; and preserve them from damp and mice, and from all manner of injury, for they books are thy good treasure...