Sunday Haul of Second Copies

It was an odd but interesting haul I came up with yesterday at Abids. I found second copies of books I already have and also a second copy of a Mont Blanc catalogue i had picked up only recently. I found only one new magazine and it was about watches. I picked it up not because I love watches but because it had a picture of an unusual fountain pen.

I am not a fancier of wrist-watches though I do like to look at good specimens. I don’t even wear a watch for that matter. I can know what the time is in my mobile phone. Wearing a watch makes me feel overdressed just as wearing a belt makes me feel. However, there are people who also collect wrist watches. Many who collect fountain pens also seem to have a fancy for watches. I personally know three fountain pen collectors who also have a good collection of exotic watches. But I never could understand why there are so many magazines about wrist watches but only a handful that deal with fountain pens?

Yesterday at Abids I picked up the first of my haul, a magazine called ‘Europa Star’ and it said under the title ‘The World’s Most Influential Watch Magazine’. It was an “International Edition’ issue of October/November 2007.

‘Europa Star’ was a slim magazine and I read in the editors note that Caran d' Ache has brought out a Special Edition, the 1010 Limited Edition that celebrates the special genius of watch makers. There was a picture of the pen but only part of it with the watch mechanism on the body of the pen. Inside were more stunning pictures of beautiful watches with brand names I hadn’t heard before- Harry Winston, Panerai, Wyler, Parmigiani, Milus and other names alongside names I am familiar with- Raymond Weil, Patek Phillippe, Longines and such names. It was worth the ten bucks I paid for it.

The rest of the haul consisted of books and catalogues I already have. I found yet another copy of ‘Feelings- Hundred Years of Mont Blanc’ that I had found only a couple of months ago. Yesterday’s copy was a better copy and I got it for the same rate I had got the first one for- ten bucks. Coincidentally, I found it with the same seller.

SECOND COPIES
Of the second copies of books I already have, the first find was Dirk Bogarde’s ‘A Postillion Struck by Lightning’ which was in excellent condition. I didn’t have the heart to let it go so I picked it up for only twenty bucks. Dirk Bogarde’s autobiography is in three volumes and this is the first. The other one is ‘An Orderly Man’ and I don’t remember the name of the third book.

The second find was Paul Theroux’s ‘The Great Railway Bazar’ which too was in a good condition though a little faded. This book too I didn’t have the heart to pass up. I got this book for only twenty rupees. I haven’t yet read this book. I might give it away to a friend who told me he hasn’t yet read a single book by Theroux. I am saving his books to be read on a long vacation at a beach side place, maybe.

It wasn’t exactly an exciting find yesterday but it was enough to put me in a good mood. Next Sunday I will be at work so won’t be getting the time to visit Abids.