前　言

在这个世界上，有这样一些人——他们一走近书店，心就怦怦乱跳，不管有多少琐事缠身，总忍不住进店转转；见到一本心仪的书，不弄到手就坐立难安，哪怕买了书就要挨饿，也觉得心满意足。他们最爱做的，是在午后时分沏一杯香茶，捧读一本墨香淡淡、诗意浓浓的好书；他们最难忍的，是眼见好书被人蹂躏却无可奈何，抑或爱书在眼皮底下被抢去借走；他们最渴望的，莫过于拥有一间窗明几净、翰墨芬芳的书房，坐拥书城、徜徉书海。这些人，便是所谓的爱书之人了。

许多名人亦为爱书人，他们会在文章中经意不经意地流露爱书之情。这些文章林林总总，篇幅不一，或论读书历程和体会，或谈购书方法与艰辛，或道藏书室中的轶闻趣事，或抒群书散尽的悲伤感触。这套专为爱书人准备的“新东方双语书话译丛”系列之中，就收录了百余篇这样的文章。

此套丛书共五本，分别是：

•　探讨读书方法与阅读境界的《书林辟径——邂逅生命中挚爱的书》

•　分享书海轶闻与随想感悟的《书海逸趣——有书陪伴的人生不寂寞》

•　介绍书籍天敌与呵护爱书的《护书之苦——书若安好，便是晴天》

•　讲述静处书斋与淘书苦乐的《藏书之乐——书架上的珍宝》

•　谈及爱书缘起与书虫定义的《一派书心——缘何此生只爱书》

在这套书中，你将看见形形色色的爱书人。有些以清新隽永的文字，如炉边谈话般将阅读心得娓娓道来；有些以诙谐幽默的笔触，令你或是会心微笑或是心有戚戚；有些担忧书的未来演进，如数家珍地罗列自己与书的陈年往事；有些则对此不以为然，并以各种事例证明，书籍永远是人类的挚友……同为爱书人的你，是否深有共鸣？

值得一提的是，为了让读者在文山书海遨游的同时，能够领略大师笔下清晰明澈的英文，“新东方双语书话译丛”系列特以中英对照的形式呈现。其中每一篇英文，无不经过多方查找、层层筛选，意图穷尽西方books about books的经典之作，以及《纽约书评》《伦敦书评》等报刊的最新评述；每一篇译文，也都经过反复修改、多重校对，力求在贴近原文风格的同时，更符合当代读者的眼光、口味。

“新东方双语书话译丛”系列虽只有小小五本，但从策划、选文到翻译、注释再到编辑、出版却尝尽了“十月怀胎”的艰辛。在这漫长的征程中，我与王岑卉、钱卫、陈滢、姚洋、李鹏程等诸位优秀译者常常为一个句子的结构推敲再三，也曾为一个短语的用法争执良久，为一个动词的译法辗转半宿更是稀松平常之事。足足十个月废寝忘食的坚持，才有了今天呈现于诸位眼前的精美小书。然而，书海无垠、译界无涯。该系列虽为悉心打造之作，但难免存在疏漏之处。如果您认为选取篇目尚可斟酌、译文质量仍可精进，欢迎随时与我们联系沟通！

我们的电子邮箱：siyadatransart@163.com

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最后，要感谢俞敏洪老师的殷切鼓励，感谢新东方大愚文化传播有限公司的鼎力协助。没有你们的激励与帮助，就没有今天这套“新东方双语书话译丛”系列的诞生。

谨以此书献给天下爱书人！愿各位畅享阅读之乐！

唐静

目录

前 言

第一章 读之抉择

Reading 论读书

The Choice of Books 择书之道

Part of a Man's Life: Books Unread 人生必经之途：未读之书

Books Within Books 书中书

The Art of Reading 阅读的艺术

The Books in My Life 我一生中的书

Pillow Books 枕边书

Why Read the Classics? 为何阅读经典？

A Picture Book Is Worth a Thousand Words 一册绘本抵千字

第二章 书香 · 杂趣

Epitaph 墓志铭

Why Does Nobody Collect Me? 为何没人收藏我的作品？

The Library of Babel 巴别图书馆

How to Organize a Public Library 如何管理公共图书馆

Fifteen Books We Would Memorize if We Were the "Living Books" Characters in Ray Bradbury's Novel Fahrenheit 451 《华氏451度》的选择

Yes, But Is It Art? 好吧，但这真是文学吗？

Learning Something from Books, Before Their Texts Even Begin 从扉页题词说起

A Book Lover's San Francisco 爱书人畅游旧金山

第三章 书人琐记

The Mill on the Floss 弗洛斯河上的磨坊

The Last of His Race 最后的藏书家

Talking of Old Books 谈谈老书

Bibliomaniacs 藏书狂

Bush Is a Book Lover A glimpse of what the president has been reading. 小布什爱读书

Buried in Books 埋首书堆

The Silent-Reading Party 默读派对

第四章 书之归去来

Of the Manner of Lending All Our Books to Students 关于向学者出借书的规范

Welcome Home Borrowed Book 欢迎回家，我的书

On the Return of a Book Lent to a Friend 友人还书记

Lending Books 谈借书

Bibliomania 藏书狂

第五章 淘书琐记

On Book-Buying 关于买书

The Mania of Collecting Seizes Me 为书痴狂

Outlandish Books 奇异之书

Book Collecting Abroad 海外淘书

A Review of the Chase 忆淘书

Book Scouting: Hunting for Valuable Books Can Be a Treasure Hunt for the Mind 书探：淘书与寻宝

Collecting Old Books 收集古书

第一章　读之抉择

——摘自《书林辟径——邂逅生命中挚爱的书》

Reading

论读书

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

鲁齐乌斯·安奈乌斯·塞内加

作者简介

鲁齐乌斯·安奈乌斯·塞内加（Lucius Annaeus Seneca，约前4—65），古罗马政治家、哲学家、悲剧作家、雄辩家，宣扬新斯多葛伦理学，主张无条件屈从神意和不可避免的命运。他曾任罗马帝国会计官和元老院元老以及古罗马暴君尼禄（Nero）的家庭教师和顾问。

塞内加一生漫游各地，勤于思考。他几经仕途的大起大落，因此深通世事，能于平常小事中挖掘出深邃的思想。塞内加著作颇丰，著有11部戏剧、14部问答体作品、一部书信集等，西方人耳熟能详的“塞内加说”犹如中国人常说的“子曰诗云”。塞内加的思想对后世产生了不可磨灭的影响。

本文选自塞内加的代表作《道德书简》（Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium）。该书为世人公认的必读书。书中信件多以自身或他人经历开头，接着从哲理的角度进行严肃的反思和深入的分析。本文通过生动的比喻，阐述了“阅读不可散漫，亦不可随性”的重要性，显示了作者独特的智慧。

Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man's ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.

Be careful, however, that there is no element of discursiveness and desultoriness about this reading you refer to, this reading of many different authors and books of every description. You should be extending your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, deriving constant nourishment from them if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind. To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life traveling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships. The same must needs be the case with people who never set about acquiring an intimate acquaintanceship with any one great writer, but skip from one to another, paying flying visits to them all. Food that is vomited up as soon as it is eaten is not assimilated into the body and does not do one any good; nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent changes of treatment; a wound will not heal over if it is being made the subject of experiments with different ointments; a plant which is frequently moved never grows strong. Nothing is so useful that it can be of any service in the mere passing. A multitude of books only gets in one's way. So if you are unable to read all the books in your possession, you have enough when you have all the books you are able to read.

And if you say, “But I feel like opening different books at different times”, my answer will be this: tasting one dish after another is the sign of a fussy stomach, and where the foods are dissimilar and diverse in range they lead to contamination of the system, not nutrition. So always read well-tried authors, and if at any moment you find yourself wanting a change from a particular author, go back to ones you have read before.

Each day, too, acquire something which will help you to face poverty, or death, and other ills as well. After running over a lot of different thoughts, pick out one to be digested thoroughly that day. This is what I do myself; out of the many bits I have been reading I lay hold of one. My thought for today is something which I found in Epicurus (Yes, I actually make a practice of going over to the enemy's camp—by way of reconnaissance, not as a deserter!). “A cheerful poverty,”he says, “is an honorable state”. But if it is cheerful it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more. What difference does it make how much there is laid away in a man's safe or in his barns, how many head of stock he grazes or how much capital he puts out at interest, if he is always after what is another's and only counts what he has yet to get, never what he has already. You ask what is the proper limit to a person's wealth? First, having what is essential, and second, having what is enough.

我认为，能放下手中的事静心独处一段时间，正是一个人意志力强的最佳证明。

你提及自己爱浏览不同作家的多种书籍。请注意，阅读不可散漫，亦不可随性。如果想靠阅读获取永久铭记的知识，就该多花时间研读被公认为才华横溢的作家的作品，从他们那里不断汲取营养。想要无处不在，只会无处扎根。一生在国外游荡的旅人，会在许多地方受到殷勤的接待，却得不到真正的友谊。那些蜻蜓点水地涉猎各家作品、却不专心研读任何名家的读者，下场同样如此。即吃即呕不利于身体对食物的吸收，对健康无甚裨益；不断改换治疗方法，最不利于疾病治愈；不断测试各种膏药疗效，不利于伤口愈合；不断移栽植物，不利于其茁壮成长。即使再有益的东西，走马观花也无法让人获益。书籍过多只会阻挡前路。如果你无法读完所有的藏书，拥有能读完的书便已足够。

如果你说：“但我想在不同的时候读不同的书”，我的回答是：一道接一道地品尝菜肴，无非是挑食的表现。吃下花样繁多、种类各异的食物，不是滋补身体，而是损害健康。因此，专注地阅读某些名家的著作吧。如果你觉得已经读厌某位作家的作品，还可以重温读过的其他作家的著作。

每天都学点新知识，有助于你直面贫困、死亡和其他不幸。每天，在过眼众多不同的思想后，选取一种在当日彻底消化。我本人就是这样做的：从读过的书里的众多思想中选取一种，将其牢牢掌握。我今天的思想就来自伊壁鸠鲁[1]（是的，我走向了敌对阵营。不过，我这样做的目的是侦察敌情，而非叛逃！）。伊壁鸠鲁说：“安贫乐道是一种值得推崇的状态。”不过，既然是乐，就谈不上穷。穷人不是拥有得太少，而是想要得太多。如果一个人总在觊觎别人的财富，总是计算尚未到手之物，而从不在意已拥有的东西，那么，他保险柜里有多少珍宝，谷仓里有多少粮食，牧场里有多少牲畜，有多少资金在放外贷，又有什么意义呢？你问，一个人要有多少财产才合适呢？标准之一是必要，标准之二是够用。

[1] 伊壁鸠鲁（Epicurus，前341—前270），古希腊著名哲学家，快乐主义伦理学的代表人物，于公元前307年建立了自己的学派。伊壁鸠鲁学派由有着共同兴趣和人生观的人组成，伊壁鸠鲁则是团体中备受敬爱的导师，这个团体经常在他买下的一座花园里活动，因此被称为“花园派”。

The Choice of Books

择书之道

Sir John Lubbock

约翰·卢布克爵士

作者简介

约翰·卢布克爵士（Sir John Lubbock，1834—1913），英国银行家、政治家、自然主义者。作为政治家，他促进了公共假日（Bank Holiday）法案的颁布，同时对保护国家古迹作出了非凡贡献；作为自然主义者，他在昆虫学和人类学方面颇有研究，并撰写了大量科普读物，如《史前时代》（Prehistoric Times）、《蚂蚁、蜜蜂和黄蜂》（Ants, Bees, and Wasps）、《昆虫的起源和变形》（The Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects）等。

卢布克爵士在1889年出版了《生活的乐趣》（The Pleasures of Life）一书，书中有两篇关于阅读的文章，本文即其中一篇。卢布克爵士旁征博引，借名人名言谈论自己的择书之道。感兴趣的读者可查阅原书附录中卢布克爵士所选的“百本好书”书单。

“All round the room my silent servants wait

My friends in every season, bright and dim,

Angels and Seraphim

Come down and murmur to me, sweet and low,

And spirits of the skies all come and go

Early and Late.”

And yet too often they wait in vain. One reason for this is, I think, that people are overwhelmed by the crowd of books offered to them.

In old days books were rare and dear. Now on the contrary, it may be said with greater truth than ever that

“Words are things, and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.”

Our ancestors had a difficulty in procuring them. Our difficulty now is what to select. We must be careful what we read, and not, like the sailors of Ulysses, take bags of wind for sacks of treasure—not only lest we should even now fall into the error of the Greeks, and suppose that language and definitions can be instruments of investigation as well as of thought, but lest, as too often happens, we should waste time over trash. There are many books to which one may apply, in the sarcastic sense, the ambiguous remark said to have been made to an unfortunate author, “I will lose no time in reading your book.”

There are, indeed, books are books, and there are books which, as Lamb said, are not books at all. It is wonderful how much innocent happiness we thoughtlessly throw away. An Eastern proverb says that calamities sent by heaven may be avoided, but from those we bring on ourselves there is no escape.

Many, I believe, are deterred from attempting what are called stiff books for fear they should not understand them; but there are few who need complain of the narrowness of their minds, if only they would do their best with them.

In reading, however, it is most important to select subjects in which one is interested. I remember years ago consulting Mr. Darwin as to the selection of a course of study. He asked me what interested me most, and advised me to choose that subject. This, indeed, applies to the work of life generally.

I am sometimes disposed to think that the readers of the next generation will be, not our lawyers and doctors, shopkeepers and manufacturers, but the laborers and mechanics. Does not this seem natural? The former work mainly with their head; when their daily duties are over the brain is often exhausted, and of their leisure time much must be devoted to air and exercise. The laborer and mechanic, on the contrary, besides working often for much shorter hours, have in their work-time taken sufficient bodily exercise, and could therefore give any leisure they might have to reading and study. They have not done so as yet, it is true; but this has been for obvious reasons. Now, however, in the first place, they receive an excellent education in elementary schools, and in the second have more easy access to the best books.

Ruskin has observed that he does not wonder at what men suffer, but he often wonders at what they lose. We suffer much, no doubt, from the faults of others, but we lose much more by our own ignorance.

“If,”says Sir John Herschel, “I were to pray for a taste which should stand me instead under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading. I speak of it of course only as a worldly advantage, and not in the slightest degree as superseding or derogating from the higher office and surer and stronger panoply of religious principles—but as a taste, and instrument, and a mode of pleasurable gratification. Give a man this taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making a happy man, unless, indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books.”

It is one thing to own a library; it is quite another to use it wisely. I have often been astonished how little care people devote to the selection of what they read. Books, we know, are almost innumerable; our hours for reading are, alas! very few. And yet many people read almost by hazard. They will take any book they chance to find in a room at a friend's house; they will buy a novel at a railway-stall if it has an attractive title; indeed, I believe in some cases even the binding affects their choice. The selection is, no doubt, far from easy. I have often wished someone would recommend a list of a hundred good books. If we had such lists drawn up by a few good guides they would be most useful. I have indeed sometimes heard it said that in reading every one must choose for himself, but this reminds me of the recommendation not to go into the water till you can swim.

In the absence of such lists I have picked out the books most frequently mentioned with approval by those who have referred directly or indirectly to the pleasure of reading, and have ventured to include some which, though less frequently mentioned, are especial favorites of my own. Everyone who looks at the list will wish to suggest other books, as indeed I should myself, but in that case the number would soon run up.

I have abstained, for obvious reasons, from mentioning works by living authors, though from many of them—Tennyson, Ruskin, and others—I have myself derived the keenest enjoyment; and I have omitted works on science, with one or two exceptions, because the subject is so progressive.

I feel that the attempt is over bold, and I must beg for indulgence, while hoping for criticism; indeed one object which I have had in view is to stimulate others more competent far than I am to give us the advantage of their opinions.

Moreover, I must repeat that I suggest these works rather as those which, as far as I have seen, have been most frequently recommended, than as suggestions of my own, though I have slipped in a few of my own special favorites.

In any such selection much weight should, I think, be attached to the general verdict of mankind. There is a “struggle for existence”and a “survival of the fittest”among books, as well as among animals and plants. As Alonzo of Aragon said, “Age is a recommendation in four things—old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old books to read.”Still, this can not be accepted without important qualifications. The most recent books of history and science contain or ought to contain, the most accurate information and the most trustworthy conclusions. Moreover, while the books of other races and times have an interest from their very distance, it must be admitted that many will still more enjoy, and feel more at home with, those of our own century and people.

“屋中随处可见静候召唤的仆从，

一年四季，白昼黑夜，

天使，我忠实的友人

降落凡间，在我耳畔甜蜜呢喃，

天堂的精灵来回往复，

由晨至暮。”

但仆从往往空等。我认为有个理由是，主人迷失在了浩瀚的书海之中。

过去书籍稀有而昂贵，现在的情况恰恰相反。下列话语从未如此真实：

“文字是重要的东西，一小滴墨水，

如露水般滴落于思绪之中，

能使千万人思索。”

我们的祖先获取书籍不容易，我们如今面临的难题则是选书。我们必须精心挑选所读之书，不可像尤利西斯的水手那样，将成袋的空气当作满载的珍宝[1] ——我们不仅要以希腊人的失误为前车之鉴，将语言和定义当作调查和思考的工具，更要避免将时间浪费在糟粕上（此事常有发生）。有人曾将一句一语双关的评论赠与某位糟糕的作家：“读你的书，我可不会浪费时间。”[2]这句颇有讽刺意味的评论也适用于许多书。

确实，有些书称得上是书，但如兰姆[3]所言，有些书根本不配称为书。想想我们曾不假思索地放弃了多少纯粹的乐趣，真是不可思议。东方谚语有云：“天作孽，犹可违；自作孽，不可活。”

我想，许多人对所谓“艰深晦涩的著作”望而却步，是因为害怕理解不了；但只要愿意全身心投入阅读，没有几个人需要因自己思想狭隘而自怨自艾。

然而，阅读时选择自己感兴趣的主题至关重要。我记得自己多年前曾问达尔文先生该如何选择研究的课题。他问我对什么最感兴趣，建议我就选择那个主题。确实，这种方法也普遍适用于日常生活。

我有时会想，或许下一代的读者不是律师、医生、店主、制造商，而是劳工和技师。这难道不是很自然吗？前者工作主要依靠脑力，劳作一日后大脑往往已疲惫不堪，大部分闲暇时光自然要花在户外活动和体育锻炼上。劳工和技师则恰恰相反。他们不但通常工作时间短得多，而且在工作时间已经充分锻炼了身体，闲暇时光则可用于阅读和研究。没错，他们现在还没有这么做；但这是出于显而易见的原因。不过，如今他们已经具备了两点条件：首先，他们都接受了良好的初级教育；其次，他们比过去更容易获得最优秀的书籍。

罗斯金[4]评论道，他并不为人们遭受的苦难感到惊讶，却常常惊讶于人们失去的东西。毫无疑问，我们因为别人的过错受了不少苦，而我们因为自己的无知失去的东西要多得多。

约翰·赫歇尔爵士[5]说过：“如果我要祈求拥有这样一种爱好——无论当下情况如何，无论世事多么坎坷，它都能给我带来欢乐，帮我抵御苦难——我希望这种爱好是阅读。当然，我说的是俗世的益处，我无意用其取代或贬损更高的权威和不容置疑的宗教信条。阅读是一种爱好、一件工具、一种愉悦满足的方式。如果让一个人拥有这种爱好和书籍，除非你提供的书过于邪恶堕落，否则他很难不感到幸福。”

拥有书房是一回事，善用书房则是另一回事。人们选择自己要读的书时如此漫不经心，这常常令我震惊。我们知道，书籍数不胜数，而我们的阅读时间却少之又少。然而，许多人读书几乎是在碰运气。他们会在朋友家里随手拿起一本书，会在火车站的书摊上买一本名字抓人眼球的小说。是的，我相信有些情况下，连书籍装帧都会影响他们的选择。选书无疑并不简单。我常常希望有人为我推荐一张“百本好书”书单。如果有一些优秀的导师开列这类书单，那必定对读者大有裨益。我有时也听人说，每个人都应该自己选书。但这让我想起了一句建议——学会游泳前，千万别下水。

既然没有这种书单，我就自己写一份。我关注那些直接或间接提及阅读乐趣的人，挑选出他们最常提及和夸赞的书；我还大胆囊括了一些他们较少提及，但特别对我胃口的书。每个看见这份书单的人都会想推荐其他书——我就是这样——但如此一来，书目中书的数量便会激增。

虽然不少在世的作者——如丁尼生[6]、罗斯金等人——曾带给我许多乐趣，但出于显而易见的原因，我在书单里没有提及他们的作品。我也略过了科学著作，仅有一两本例外，因为科学的发展实在迅速。

我觉得自己的尝试实在鲁莽，希望得到读者的宽容和指正。实际上，我写这份书单的目的是抛砖引玉，激励那些才能远胜于我的人发表见解。

此外，我必须重申，书单里的大部分作品都曾受到众人推荐，并非出于我的个人喜好。不过我还是添了几本自己特别喜欢的书。

我想，作任何抉择时，考虑人类普遍的判断标准都是很重要的。“物竞天择，适者生存”法则适用于动植物，也适用于书。正如阿拉贡的阿隆索所说：“在四件事上，光阴留痕最值得称道——老柴最好烧，陈酒最耐品，旧友最可靠，老书最宜读。”但这种说法也须加以限定。最新出版的历史和科学书籍，理应包含最准确的信息、最可信的结论。必须承认的是，尽管关于其他种族、其他时代的作品会因距离而产生美感，但关于吾国吾民的书籍却更能带来阅读享受，让人读来更加舒服自在。

[1] 此典出自荷马史诗《奥德赛》。奥德修斯（即罗马神话中的尤利西斯）一行人逃到风神岛，风神送给他们一个口袋，可以把所有逆风都装进去，以使他们一帆风顺地回家。船快行驶到家时，众水手以为口袋里面装的是金银财宝，便趁奥德修斯睡觉时打开口袋，结果被风吹回了风神岛。

[2] 原文一语双关，既可理解为“我会抓紧时间去读你的书”，也可理解为“我不会浪费时间去读你的书”。此处明显取后者之意。

[3] 查尔斯·兰姆（Charles Lamb，1775—1834），英国著名散文家，以散文集《伊利亚随笔》和《伊利亚续笔》闻名于世。

[4] 约翰·罗斯金（John Ruskin，1819—1900），英国政论家、艺术批评家。他推崇中世纪艺术，强调审美教育。

[5] 约翰·赫歇尔爵士（Sir John Herschel，1792—1871），英国数学家、天文学家。他曾为土星的7颗卫星和天王星的4颗卫星命名。

[6] 阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生（Alfred Tennyson，1809—1892），英国维多利亚时代桂冠诗人。他的诗歌辞藻华丽，音韵铿锵，追求音乐性。他的代表作有《悼念》《国王叙事诗》等。

Part of a Man's Life: Books Unread

人生必经之途：未读之书

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

托马斯·温特沃斯·希金森

作者简介

托马斯·温特沃斯·希金森（Thomas Wentworth Higginson，1823—1911），美国教士、作家、激进的废奴主义者。他在19世纪四五十年代的废奴运动中非常活跃，在南北战争中为南军立下不少战功。内战结束后，他一直撰文维护黑人和妇女的权利，终其一生从未曾停下手中的笔。

希金森的作品文笔优雅，词情恳切，富有人文气息，充满对自然的向往。美国著名女诗人埃米莉·狄更生（Emily Dickinson）对希金森极为仰慕，曾去信恳求希金森担任其导师，并自称“您的学生”。两人一度保持通信，交流彼此对文学的看法。狄更生去世后，希金森等人整理出版的诗集引起世人关注，奠定了狄更生在美国文坛的地位。

希金森经常在《大西洋月刊》（Atlantic Monthly）上发表文章，狄更生最初就是通过此刊物与其相识的。本文首次发表于1904年《大西洋月刊》，对“梦中翻阅未读之书”的描写尤为精彩。读罢此文，你或许能够理解狄更生何以对其仰慕不已。

“No longer delude thyself; for thou wilt never read thine own memoranda, nor the recorded deeds of old Romans and Greeks, and those passages in books which thou hast been reserving for thine old age.”

In the gradual growth of every student's library, he may—or—may not continue to admit literary friends and advisers; but he will be sure, sooner or later, to send for a man with a tool-chest. Sooner or later, every nook and corner will be filled with books, every window will be more or less darkened, and added shelves must be devised. He may find it hard to achieve just the arrangement he wants, but he will find it hardest of all to meet squarely that inevitable inquiry of the puzzled carpenter as he looks about him, “Have you really read all these books?”The expected answer is, “To be sure, how can you doubt it?”Yet if you asked him in turn, “Have you actually used every tool in your tool-chest?”you would very likely be told, “Not one half as yet, at least this season; I have the others by me, to use as I need them.”Now if this reply can be fairly made in a simple, well-defined, distinctly limited occupation like that of a joiner, how much more inevitable it is in a pursuit which covers the whole range of thought and all the facts in the universe. The library is the author's tool-chest. He must at least learn, as he grows older, to take what he wants and to leave the rest.

This never was more tersely expressed than by Margaret Fuller when she says, “A man who means to think and write a great deal must, after six and twenty, learn to read with his fingers.”A few men of leisure may satisfy themselves by reading over and over a single book and ignoring all others, like that English scholar who read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey every year in the original, devoting a week to each canto, and reserving the minor poems for his summer vacation. Nay, there are books in the English language so vast that the ordinary reader recoils before their text and their footnotes.

Of course, the books which go most thoroughly unread are those which certainly are books, but of which we explore the backs only, as in fine old European libraries; books as sacredly preserved as was once that library at Blenheim—now long since dispersed—in which, when I idly asked the custodian whether she did not find it a great deal of trouble to keep them dusted, she answered with surprise, “No, sir, the doors have not been unlocked for ten years.”It is so in some departments of even American libraries.

Matthew Arnold once replied to a critic who accused him of a lack of learning that the charge was true, but that he often wished he had still less of that possession, so hard did he find it to carry lightly what he knew. The only knowledge that involves no burden lies, it may be justly claimed, in the books that are left unread. I mean those which remain undisturbed, long and perhaps forever, on a student's bookshelves; books for which he possibly economized, and to obtain which he went without his dinner; books on whose backs his eyes have rested a thousand times, tenderly and almost lovingly, until he has perhaps forgotten the very language in which they are written. He has never read them, yet during these years there has never been a day when he would have sold them; they are a part of his youth. In dreams he turns to them; in dreams he reads Hebrew again; he knows what a Differential Equation is; “how happy could he be with either.”He awakens, and whole shelves of his library are, as it were, like fair maidens who smiled on him in their youth but once, and then passed away. Under different circumstances, who knows but one of them might have been his? As it is, they have grown old apart from him; yet for him they retain their charms.

Books which we have first read in odd places always retain their charm, whether read or neglected. Thus Hazlitt always remembered that it was on the 10th of April, 1798, that he “set down to a volume of the New Eloise at the Inn at Llangollen over a bottle of sherry and a cold chicken.”In the same way I remember how Professor Longfellow in college recommended to us, for forming a good French style, to read Balzac's Peau de Chagrin; and yet it was a dozen years later before I found it in a country inn, on a lecture trip, and sat up half the night to read it. It may be, on the other hand, that such haphazard meetings with books sometimes present them under conditions hopelessly unfavorable, as when I encountered Whitman's Leaves of Grass for the first time on my first voyage in an Azorian barque; and it inspires to this day a slight sense of nausea, which it might, after all, have inspired equally on land.

Wordsworth says in his Personal Talk, “Dreams, books are each a world.”And the books unread mingle with the dreams and unite the charm of both. This applies especially, I think, to books of travel: we buy them, finding their attractions strong, but somehow we do not read them over and over, unless they prove to be such books as those of Urquhart—the Pillars of Hercules especially, where the wealth of learning and originality is so great that we seem in a different region of the globe on every page. One of the most poetic things about Whittier's temperament lay in this fact, that he felt most eager to visit each foreign country before he had read any book about it. After reading, the dream was half fulfilled, and he turned to something else, so that he died without visiting any foreign country. But the very possession of such books, and their presence on the shelves, carries one to the Arctic regions or to the Indian Ocean.

“After all,”as the brilliant and melancholy Rufus Choate said, “a book is the only immortality”and sometimes when a book is attacked and even denounced, its destiny of fame is only confirmed. Thus the vivacious and cheery Pope, Pio Nono, when asked by a too daring author to help on his latest publication, suggested that he could only aid it by putting it in the Index Expurgatorius. Yet if a book is to be left unread at last, the fault must ultimately rest on the author, even as the brilliant Lady Eastlake complained, when she wrote of modern English novelists, “Things are written now to be read once, and no more; that is, they are read as often as they deserve. A book in old times took five years to write and was read five hundred times by five hundred people. Now it is written in three months, and read once by five hundred thousand people. That's the proper proportion.”

“别再自欺欺人；因为你将再也无法阅读自己的备忘录、希腊罗马的先贤著作，或是为晚年预留的书中段落。”[1]

随着藏书日益增多，学者或许不承认文学是良师益友，但他迟早会需要找个木匠。迟早有一天，屋里每个角落都会被书占据，每扇窗户或多或少都会被书遮挡，有必要新添几个书架。他会发现，要把书收拾成理想的样子实在不易，但要回答木匠的提问更加困难。困惑的木匠四处张望一番后，不免要提出这样的问题：“你真的读过所有这些书？”他预计得到的答案是：“那当然，你难道还怀疑吗？”但如果你反问他：“你真的用过工具箱里的每件工具？”他很可能这么说：“一半都没用过呢，至少这个季节是这样。我还带着别的工具，需要的时候用得着。”如果我的回答也像木匠的一样简单、定义清晰、限定明确，那么“打破沙锅问到底”将更加不可避免。书房正是作家的工具箱。随着年龄的增长，他至少应该学会取舍。

对此，没有人比玛格丽特·富勒[2]表达得更加简明扼要。她说：“欲成为思想家之人，6岁后需学会‘动手’读书；欲成为作家之人，20岁后也需如此。”有些闲人满足于反复阅读同一本书，而忽视其他所有书。比如，某位英国学者每年都读一遍荷马的《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》[3]原本。他每周读一篇长诗，短诗则留到暑假读。然而，英文书籍如此浩瀚无垠，普通读者还没看到正文和脚注，就已经望而却步了。

当然，还有些书根本没人读。它们确确实实是书，但就像在很好的欧洲旧式图书馆里一样，人们只查看它们的书脊。这些书曾被郑重其事地保存在布伦海姆图书馆[4]里，不过如今早已散落八方。我曾顺口问过布伦海姆的书库保管员，让那些书保持清洁是不是很麻烦，她一脸惊讶地答道：“不麻烦，先生，书库大门已经10年没开过了。”美国图书馆的某些部门也是如此。

有位评论家曾指责马修·阿诺德[5]知识不够丰富。阿诺德回应说，这个说法完全正确，但他还常常希望能再少点，因为知识让人不堪重负，携现有知识已难轻装上阵。你或许可以理直气壮地宣称，唯一不会成为负担的知识只存在于没有读过的书里。我指的是学者书架上那些久被遗忘、或许将永被遗忘的书。为了那些书，他或许节俭度日；为了那些书，他或许不吃晚饭便跑去买；买回书之后，他曾带着爱意和柔情，千万次扫视它们的书脊，直到可能忘却它们是用何种语言写成。他从没读过那些书，但多年来从未动过卖书的念头；它们是他青春的一部分。在梦里，他会翻开那些书；在梦里，他又会读希伯来文了，也知道微分方程是什么了；“只会其中之一他也会开心！”他醒来，满架藏书依然如故，恰如青春少女对他嫣然一笑，然后便飘然而去。如果一切重来，梦中场景或能成真？现实中，书已老朽，离他远去；但对他而言，书的魅力犹存。

在非同寻常的情形下第一次读的书，无论你是读完了还是半途而废，它的魅力都将永存。哈兹利特[6]总是忆起1798年4月10日，他“坐在兰戈伦一间小酒馆里，就着一瓶雪利酒和一个鸡肉冷盘读《新爱洛伊丝》[7]。”我则以同样的方式忆起，大学里朗费罗教授推荐我们读巴尔扎克的《驴皮记》[8]，以便培养良好的法式格调；而直到十几年后，我在一次演说之旅中，在乡间客栈发现了这本书，才拿来熬夜苦读。有些时候，人和书的邂逅也会发生在不太理想的情况下。比如我初次遇见惠特曼的《草叶集》[9]时，正好赶上头一回坐亚速尔帆船出海。直至今日，翻开《草叶集》还会让我有点头晕目眩，即使在陆地上也一样。

华兹华斯在他的《私语》[10]中写道：“梦与书，各是一个世界。”未读之书与梦境交会，两者的魅力融于一体。我想，这句话尤其适合游记：我们买下游记，觉得它们极具吸引力，但我们不会一遍又一遍地阅读，除非是厄克赫特[11]的作品，尤其是像《赫拉克勒斯之柱》[12]这样知识丰富的原创作品，每一页都能让你驰骋于地球上不同的角落。惠蒂埃[13]的气质中最富诗意之处是，他在读关于某国的作品之前，极度渴望前往该国一游，但读完书后，梦想实现了一半，他就转头迷上了别国。因此直至去世，他从未踏出国门一步。但拥有这些游记，把它们搁在架上展示，足以让你的想象飞向南极或是印度洋。

正如才华横溢而忧郁深沉的鲁弗斯·乔特[14]所说，“毕竟，书是唯一不朽之物”。有时，人们抨击甚至谴责某书，只会让它一举成名。因此，当一位大胆的作家请教皇皮奥·诺诺[15]帮忙宣传新书时，这位诙谐的教皇表示，他只能帮忙将此书列入教廷禁书目录。但如果一本书最后无人阅读，作者本人应该对此负责。才华横溢的伊斯特莱克夫人[16]在描述英国现代小说家时，曾这样抱怨过：“如今的书写来只为让人读一遍，无需多读；也就是说，它们只配让人读一遍。过去一本书写好需要5年，会被500人读500遍；如今一本书写好只需3个月，会被50万人读一遍。这个比例很恰当。”

[1] 节选自《沉思录》，古罗马皇帝马可·奥勒留·安东尼·奥古斯都的哲理闲思录。该书记录了作者对人生哲理的感悟，是古罗马斯多葛派哲学的里程碑。

[2] 萨拉·玛格丽特·富勒（Sarah Margaret Fuller，1810—1850），美国著名记者、评论家、作家。

[3] 史诗《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》均以特洛伊战争为背景，相传为古希腊吟游诗人荷马所著。

[4] 布伦海姆图书馆，坐落于布伦海姆宫，藏书约1万册。

[5] 马修·阿诺德（Matthew Arnold，1822—1888），英国诗人、文艺评论家，牛津大学教授。

[6] 威廉·哈兹利特（William Hazlitt，1778—1830），英语随笔首屈一指的大家，英语文学批评的大家。

[7]《新爱洛伊丝》，法国文学家让·雅克·卢梭的爱情小说，其中包含了卢梭的教育观点、文艺观点以及社会平等的思想。

[8]《驴皮记》，法国文学家奥诺雷·德·巴尔扎克的第一部长篇哲理小说。

[9]《草叶集》，美国著名诗人沃尔特·惠特曼的代表作。

[10]《私语》是英国诗人威廉·华兹华斯的一首关于孤独的诗歌。

[11] 托马斯·厄克赫特（Thomas Urquhart，1611—1660），英国作家、翻译家。

[12]《赫拉克勒斯之柱》，地中海游记。

[13] 约翰·格林里夫·惠蒂埃（John Greenleaf Whittier，1807—1892），美国诗人。

[14] 鲁弗斯·乔特（Rufus Choate，1799—1859），美国律师、议员、演说家，1915年入选美国名人榜。

[15] 皮奥·诺诺（Pio Nono），教皇庇护九世的意大利文昵称。

[16] 伊斯特莱克夫人（Lady Eastlake，1809—1893），原名伊丽莎白，英国女作家。

Books Within Books

书中书

Max Beerbohm

马克斯·比尔博姆

作者简介

马克斯·比尔博姆（Max Beerbohm，1872—1956），英国散文家、剧评家、漫画家。他出生于伦敦，在牛津大学接受高等教育，1898年接替萧伯纳成为《星期六评论》（Saturday Review）的戏剧评论家。他于1911年出版了小说《朱莱卡·多布森》（Zuleika Dobson），嘲讽了牛津大学里的荒诞生活。比尔博姆以讽刺文学作品中的矫揉造作和荒诞不经见长，其文笔睿智老辣，漫画风格独特，被英国文豪萧伯纳（George Bernard Shaw）誉为“举世无双的马克斯”。

本文节选自比尔博姆1914年出版的文集《即使在当下》（And Even Now），主要谈论“书中书”，即小说中虚构人物写成的虚构作品。作者眼光独到，想象奇特，对五花八门的“书中书”如数家珍，令人大开眼界。

They must, I suppose, be classed among biblia a-biblia [Greek]. Ignored in the catalogue of any library, not one of them lurking in any uttermost cavern under the reading-room of the British Museum, none of them ever printed even for private circulation, these books written by this and that character in fiction are books only by courtesy and good will.

But how few, after all, the books that are books! Charles Lamb let his kind heart master him when he made that too brief list of books that aren't. Book is an honourable title, not to be conferred lightly. A volume is not necessarily, as Lamb would have had us think, a book because it can be read without difficulty. The test is, whether it was worth reading. Had the author something to set forth? And had he the specific gift for setting it forth in written words? And did he use this rather rare gift conscientiously and to the full? And were his words well and appropriately printed and bound? If you can say Yes to these questions, then only, I submit, is the title of “book”deserved. If Lamb were alive now, he certainly would draw the line closer than he did. Published volumes were few in his day (though not, of course, few enough). Even he, in all the plenitude of his indulgence, would now have to demur that at least 90 percent of the volumes that the publishers thrust on us, so hectically, every spring and autumn, are abiblia [Greek].

What would he have to say of the novels, for example? These commodities are all very well in their way, no doubt. But let us have no illusions as to what their way is. The poulterer who sells strings of sausages does not pretend that every individual sausage is in itself remarkable. He does not assure us that “this is a sausage that gives furiously to think,”or “this is a singularly beautiful and human sausage,”or “this is undoubtedly the sausage of the year.”Why are such distinctions drawn by the publisher? When he publishes, as he sometimes does, a novel that is a book (or at any rate would be a book if it were decently printed and bound) then by all means let him proclaim its difference—even at the risk of scaring away the majority of readers.

I admit that I myself might be found in that majority. I am shy of masterpieces; nor is this merely because of the many times I have been disappointed at not finding anything at all like what the publishers expected me to find. As a matter of fact, those disappointments are dim in my memory: it is long since I ceased to take publishers' opinions as my guide. I trust now, for what I ought to read, to the advice of a few highly literary friends. But so soon as I am told that I “must”read this or that, and have replied that I instantly will, I become strangely loth to do anything of the sort. And what I like about books within books is that they never can prick my conscience. It is extraordinarily comfortable that they don't exist.

And yet—for, even as Must implants distaste, so does Can't stir sweet longings—how eagerly would I devour these books within books! What fun, what a queer emotion, to fish out from a four penny-box, in a windy by-street, Walter Lorraine, by Arthur Pendennis, or Passion Flowers, by Rosa Bunion! I suppose poor Rosa's muse, so fair and so fervid in Rosa's day, would seem a trifle fatigued now; but what allowances one would make! Lord Steyne said of Walter Lorraine that it was “very clever and wicked.”I fancy we should apply neither epithet now. Indeed, I have always suspected that Pen's maiden effort may have been on a plane with The Great Hoggarty Diamond. Yet I vow would I not skip a line of it.

Who Put Back the Clock? is another work which I especially covet. Poor Gideon Forsyth! He was abominably treated, as Stevenson relates, in the matter of that grand but grisly piano; and I have always hoped that perhaps, in the end, as a sort of recompense, Fate ordained that the novel he had anonymously written should be rescued from oblivion and found by discerning critics to be not at all bad. Such a humiliation as Gideon's is the more poignant to me because it is so rare in English fiction. In nine cases out of ten, a book within a book is an immediate, an immense success.

On the whole, our novelists have always tended to optimism—especially they who have written mainly to please their public. It pleases the public to read about any sort of success. The greater, the more sudden and violent the success, the more valuable is it as ingredient in a novel. And since the average novelist lives always in a dream that one of his works will somehow “catch on”as no other work ever has caught on yet, it is very natural that he should fondly try meanwhile to get this dream realised for him, vicariously, by this or that creature of his fancy. True, he is usually too self-conscious to let this creature achieve his sudden fame and endless fortune through a novel. Usually it is a play that does the trick. In the Victorian time it was almost always a book of poems. Oh for the spacious days of Tennyson and Swinburne! In how many a three-volume novel is mentioned some “slim octavo”which seems, from the account given, to have been as arresting as Poems and Ballads without being less acceptable than Idylls of the King! These verses were always the anonymous work of some very young, very poor man, who supposed they had fallen still-born from the press until, one day, a week or so after publication, as he walked “moodily”and “in a brown study”along the Strand, having given up all hope now that he would ever be in a position to ask Hilda to be his wife, a friend accosted him—“Seen The Thunderer this morning? By George, there's a column review of a new book of poems,”etc. In some three-volume novel that I once read at a seaside place, having borrowed it from the little circulating library, there was a young poet whose sudden leap into the front rank has always laid a special hold on my imagination. The name of the novel itself I cannot recall; but I remember the name of the young poet—Aylmer Deane; and the forever unforgettable title of his book of verse was Poments: Being Poems of the Mood and the Moment. What would I not give to possess a copy of that work?

Though he had suffered, and though suffering is a sovereign preparation for great work, I did not at the outset foresee that Aylmer Deane was destined to wear the laurel. In real life I have rather a flair for future eminence. In novels I am apt to be wise only after the event. There the young men who do in due course take the town by storm have seldom shown (to my dull eyes) promise. Their spoken thoughts have seemed to me no more profound or pungent than my own. All that is best in these authors goes into their work. But, though I complain of them on this count, I admit that the thrill for me of their triumphs is the more rapturous because every time it catches me unawares. One of the greatest emotions I ever had was from the triumph of The Gift of Gifts. Of this novel within a novel the author was not a young man at all, but an elderly clergyman whose life had been spent in a little rural parish. He was a dear, simple old man, a widower. He had a large family, a small stipend. Judge, then, of his horror when he found that his eldest son, “a scholar at Christminster College, Oxbridge,”had run into debt for many hundreds of pounds. Where to turn? The father was too proud to borrow of the neighbourly nobleman who in Oxbridge days had been his “chum.”Nor had the father ever practised the art of writing. (We are told that “his sermons were always extempore.”) But, years ago, “he had once thought of writing a novel based on an experience which happened to a friend of his.”This novel, in the fullness of time, he now proceeded to write, though “without much hope of success.”He knew that he was suffering from heart-disease. But he worked “feverishly, night after night,”we are told, “in his old faded dressing-gown, till the dawn mingled with the light of his candle and warned him to snatch a few hours' rest, failing which he would be little able to perform the round of parish duties that awaited him in the daytime.”No wonder he had “not much hope.”No wonder I had no spark of hope for him. But what are obstacles for but to be overleapt? What avails heart-disease, what avail eld and feverish haste and total lack of literary training, as against the romantic instinct of the lady who created the Rev. Charles Hailing? “The Gift of Gifts was acclaimed as a masterpiece by all the first-class critics.”Also, it very soon “brought in”ten times as much money as was needed to pay off the debts of its author's eldest son. Nor, though Charles Hailing died some months later, are we told that he died from the strain of composition. We are left merely to rejoice at knowing he knew at the last “that his whole family was provided for.”

I wonder why it is that, whilst these Charles Hailings and Aylmer Deanes delightfully abound in the lower reaches of English fiction, we have so seldom found in the work of our great novelists anything at all about the writing of a great book. It is true, of course, that our great novelists have never had for the idea of literature itself that passion which has always burned in the great French ones. Their own art has never seemed to them the most important and interesting thing in life. Also it is true that they have had other occupations—fox-hunting, preaching, editing magazines, what not. Yet to them literature must, as their own main task, have had a peculiar interest and importance.

No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt. It is nonsense to imagine that our great novelists have just forged ahead or ambled along, reaching their goal, in the good old English fashion, by sheer divination of the way to it. A fine book, with all that goes to the making of it, is as fine a theme as a novelist can have. But it is a part of English hypocrisy—or, let it be more politely said, English reserve—that, whilst we are fluent enough in grumbling about small inconveniences, we insist on making light of any great difficulties or griefs that may beset us. And just there, I suppose, is the reason why our great novelists have shunned great books as subject-matter.

…

I crave—it may be a foolish whim, but I do crave—ocular evidence for my belief that those books were written and were published. I want to see them all ranged along goodly shelves. A few days ago I sat in one of those libraries which seem to be doorless. Nowhere, to the eye, was broken the array of serried volumes. Each door was flush with the surrounding shelves; across each the edges of the shelves were mimicked; and in the spaces between these edges the backs of books were pasted congruously with the whole effect. Some of these backs had been taken from actual books, others had been made specially and were stamped with facetious titles that rather depressed me. “Here,”thought I, “are the shelves on which Dencombe's works ought to be made manifest. And Neil Paraday's too, and Vereker's.”Not Henry St. George's, of course: he would not himself have wished it, poor fellow! I would have nothing of his except Shadowmere. But Ray Limbert!—I would have all of his, including a first edition of The Major Key, “that fiery-hearted rose as to which we watched in private the formation of petal after petal, and flame after flame”; and also The Hidden Heart, “the shortest of his novels, but perhaps the loveliest,”as Mr. James and I have always thought…How my fingers would hover along these shelves, always just going to alight, but never, lest the spell were broken, alighting!

我想，它们一定属于希腊语中的“非书之书”。它们不见于任何藏书目录，没有潜伏在大英博物馆阅览室最幽深的角落里，一本也没有印出来过，哪怕是供私下流通。这些书出自小说里的虚构人物之手，纯粹是美好设想的产物。

但毕竟，真正能称之为书的作品又有几本呢！查尔斯·兰姆曾开列过一份书单。他心慈手软，只列了寥寥几本“非书之书”。“书”是个光荣的称谓，不可轻易获得。兰姆提醒我们，读来毫无困难的书不一定可称之为书。关键在于，此书是否值得一读：作者是否言之有物？下笔时是否有如神助？行文是否秉正翔实？印刷、装帧是否恰如其分？我认为，只有你对上述问题都回答“是”，这部作品才配得上“书”的称号。如果兰姆活在当下，他定的标准或许会更严格。在他的年代，出版的作品不多。（当然，仍然不够少。）眼见如今出版商在每年春秋两季如此疯狂地推出新书，即使是他这么宽宏大量的人，也会认定其中至少有90％称不上是书。

那么，他会如何评价小说？无疑，这些商品一经宣传会很有市场。但我们暂不考虑宣传。叫卖成串香肠的家禽贩子不会假装其中每一根极为出色。他不会向我们保证“这根香肠发人深省”或“这是一根极其美妙而彰显人性的香肠”或“这无疑是年度香肠”。那为什么出版商要关注这种区别？有时，他们出版了一部可称之为书的小说（如果印刷、装帧恰当，至少看上去是本书），却想尽办法来宣扬这种区别，甚至是冒着吓跑大多数读者的危险。

我承认，自己属于大多数读者。我不愿读“大师杰作”；只因为我很多次大失所望地发现，出版商大肆宣传的作品名不符实。实际上，那些失望已渐渐淡出我的记忆，因为我早就不把出版商的宣传当作购书指南。如今，对于该读哪些书，我只相信一些精通文学的朋友的建议。但每当有人告诉我“必读”某书，我嘴里答应着马上看，心中却生出奇怪的抵触情绪。我之所以喜欢“书中书”，是因为它们从不让我良心不安。它们并不存在，这点让我特别舒心。

然而，“必读”会惹人反感，“读不到”则会激起甜蜜的渴望——我多想尽情品味“书中书”的芳泽！在凉风习习的街头，从4便士一本的廉价书箱里，淘到阿瑟·潘登尼斯[1]的《沃尔特·洛兰》或是罗莎·布尼恩的《激情之花》[2]，该是多么有趣、多么奇妙！我想，可怜的罗莎的灵感，在那个年代或许令人激情澎湃，现在看来却是老调重弹；但她能赚多少零花钱啊！斯泰因爵士[3]说《沃尔特·洛兰》“很机敏，很邪恶”。我想，时至今日这两个形容词都用不上了。事实上，我一直怀疑，潘登尼斯的处女作应该与《大钻石》[4]不相上下。但我发誓，书里每一行字我都不会跳过不看。

《光阴一去不复返》也是我垂涎已久的作品。可怜的吉迪恩·福赛斯[5]！据史蒂文森[6]所述，吉迪恩那部关于恐怖大钢琴的作品遭受了残酷的对待。我一直期望着，或许在最后一刻，命运之神会拯救他匿名写成的那部作品，让其免于被世人遗忘，让挑剔的批评家发现它并不糟糕，以此作为对他的补偿。吉迪恩遭受的羞辱让我倍感心痛，因为这种情况在英国小说中极少出现。书里出现的书十之八九会一炮打响、大获成功。

总的来说，我们的小说家总是抱有乐观主义精神，尤其是那些用文字取悦大众的人。他们用各种各样的成功来取悦大众。成功越巨大、来得越突然、越猛烈，这个情节在小说里就越重要。由于小说家一般都心怀梦想，希望自己的某部作品能“风靡一时”，取得前所未有的成功，他们自然会通过笔下人物为自己间接实现这个梦想。没错，作者通常很有自知之明，不好意思让笔下人物靠写小说一夜成名、财源滚滚。他们往往靠写戏剧取得成功。在维多利亚时代，在丁尼生和斯温伯恩[7]的自由繁荣的时代，一本诗集就能使人成功。多少三卷本小说提到过“薄薄的八开本”诗集——从书中描述来看，它们和《诗歌及民谣》一样引人入胜，和《国王叙事诗》一样大受欢迎！这些诗通常是某个穷小子的匿名作品，他从未奢望自己的作品能付梓。直到某一天，在诗集出版后一周左右，他“心情烦躁、心不在焉地”走在斯特兰德大街[8]上，放弃了向希尔达求婚的打算。这时，一个朋友和他打招呼：“看今天早上的《雷神报》了吗？乔治的专栏评论了一本新诗集。”等等。我曾在海边读过某部从小型流动图书馆借来的三卷本小说。书里有位一举成名的年轻诗人，此人给我留下了深刻印象。我已记不得小说的名字，却记住了年轻诗人的名字——艾尔默·迪恩，还有他那本令我永世难忘的诗集的标题——《诗，瞬间心情之花》。为了拥有这样一本作品，我可以不惜代价。

尽管艾尔默·迪恩曾历经磨难，且磨难往往是杰作极好的前奏，但我起初并没有想到他能摘得桂冠。在现实生活中，我擅长预知未来的成功；但看小说时，我却是事后诸葛。以我的愚钝之眼看，那些事后火遍全城的年轻人，之前并未展示出多少天赋。在我看来，他们的作品里表达的思想不比我的深刻或犀利多少。这还是作者最优秀的思想渗入作品的结果呢。尽管我对作品颇有微词，但我得承认，他们的成功总能在不知不觉之中让我惊喜感动。我最激动的一次是读到《天赋之礼》这部小说中的小说大获成功之时。故事主角不是年轻人，而是一位年迈的牧师。他一辈子都生活在某个农村的小教区。他是一位和蔼可亲、生活简朴的老人，也是一个鳏夫。他有一大家子人，收入却少得可怜。后来，他惊恐地发现长子、“牛津大学基督教士学院的学者”，背负了数百英镑的债务。该找谁帮忙？这位父亲自尊心很强，不愿向关系不错的贵族、昔日在牛津的“密友”开口借钱。这位父亲也没有任何写作经验。（作者告诉我们，“他的布道都是即兴演讲”。）但多年以前，“他曾计划以友人的故事为素材撰写一部小说”。如今时机已经成熟，他开始动笔写这部小说，尽管“不抱成功的希望”。他知道自己患有心脏病。但据书中所写，“他穿着陈旧褪色的睡袍，彻夜伏案，奋笔疾书；直到晨光依稀，烛光黯淡，才休息几个小时，以便白天履行教区职责”。难怪他“没抱什么希望”，难怪连我都不看好他。但有什么障碍是不能逾越的呢？心脏疾病、年老体衰、狂热急切、缺乏文学训练，这些怎么能对抗创造查尔斯·黑林牧师的女作家的浪漫情怀？“所有一流的评论家都宣称《天赋之礼》是一部杰作。”此外，钱也很快“到手”，这一大笔钱是其长子所欠债务的十倍。尽管查尔斯·黑林几个月后就撒手人寰，但他是否死于过度劳累，我们不得而知。我们看到他在弥留之际深知“家人将衣食无忧”，只会满腔喜悦。

我一直想知道，为什么英国廉价小说里乐于频频出现查尔斯·黑林和艾尔默·迪恩这样的人，我们伟大的小说家却很少让主人公撰写杰作。没错，相较于法国小说家始终燃烧的写作热情，我们伟大的小说家从来对文学创作本身没什么热情。在他们看来，文学创作从来不是生活中最重要、最有趣的部分。没错，他们往往身兼数职——猎狐、布道、编辑杂志等等。但文学创作作为其主业，应该是兴趣独具、尤为重要的事。

没有专心致志和自我牺牲，没有埋头苦干和怀疑精神，就不可能写出一本好书。如果你认为，我们伟大的小说家单靠推测写书的过程，就能依照英国传统方式那样或快或慢地取得成功，那你就是大错特错了。一本好书由许多因素共同促成，小说家选择的主题在其中最为重要。但由于英式的伪善——或更礼貌地说，英式的矜持——我们一方面抱怨鸡毛蒜皮的小麻烦，一方面轻视可能困扰我们的大麻烦。我想，正因为如此，我们伟大的小说家避免用“伟大的作品”作为主题。

……

我渴望——或许是愚蠢的心血来潮，但我确实渴望——亲眼见到那些书完成创作、出版。我想看见它们整齐排列在精美的书架上。几天前，我就坐在那样一间看不见门的书房里。放眼望去，屋里尽是一排排密集的书卷，每扇门都被四周的书架淹没，每个书架都极其相似；为了整体效果的美观，书架上放满了装帧一致的书脊。有些是真正作品的书脊，其他则是特制的书脊，上面印着滑稽的书名。这让我相当沮丧。我想：“邓库姆的作品应该放在这个书架上展示，尼尔·帕拉迪和维里克的作品也该放在这儿。”当然，别放亨利·圣乔治的作品——那个可怜人自己肯定也不愿意！除了《绝影》之外，我不会买他的其他作品。但雷·林伯特可不同！——我想拥有他的全部作品，包括《大调》的初版。那本书里有这么一句话：“我们看着那朵火焰玫瑰如何铸就，一片花瓣接一片花瓣，一簇火焰接一簇火焰。”我还想要《隐藏之心》[9]。我与詹姆斯先生一致认为，该书是“他最短的或许也是最美的一部小说”。……我的手指在书架边盘旋，欲落未落；唯恐指尖落下，咒语便被打破。

作者是否言之有物？下笔时是否有如神助？行文是否秉正翔实？印刷、装帧是否恰如其分？我认为，只有你对上述问题都回答“是”，这部作品才配得上“书”的称号。

Max Beerbohm 马克斯·比尔博姆

[1] 阿瑟·潘登尼斯，英国小说家威廉·梅克比斯·萨克雷作品《潘登尼斯》中的主人公。

[2] 英国小说家威廉·梅克比斯·萨克雷曾以迈克尔·安杰洛·提特马斯为笔名，在报纸杂志上发表了一系列附有自创插画的故事和讽刺文章。他去世后，人们将“提特马斯”的文章集结成册，名为《提特马斯的圣诞读物》。罗莎·布尼恩是书中出现的一位女诗人，《激情之花》是她的诗集。

[3] 斯泰因爵士，《潘登尼斯》里的人物。

[4]《大钻石》，英国小说家威廉·梅克比斯·萨克雷的另一部作品。

[5] 吉迪恩·福赛斯，英国作家罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森的讽刺幽默小说《入错棺材死错人》中的人物。

[6] 罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森（Robert Louis Stevenson，1850—1894），苏格兰小说家、诗人与旅游作家，其冒险小说《金银岛》最为人熟知。

[7] 阿尔加侬·查尔斯·斯温伯恩（Algernon Charles Swinburne，1837—1909），英国诗人、批评家。

[8] 斯特兰德大街，英国伦敦中西部的一条大街。

[9] 亨利·詹姆斯写过一组描写作家、艺术家生活的中短篇小说。邓库姆、尼尔·帕拉迪、维里克、亨利·圣乔治和雷·林伯特均为其笔下的作家。《绝影》《大调》和《隐藏之心》分别是这些虚构作家的作品。

The Art of Reading

阅读的艺术

André Maurois

安德烈·莫洛亚

作者简介

安德烈·莫洛亚（André Maurois，1885—1967），法国作家、法兰西学院院士。他在一战时应征服役，担任英军与法国炮队之间的翻译联络官。在此期间，他根据军旅生活所见所闻，写成《布朗勃尔上校的沉默》（The Silence of Colonel Bramble），并一举成名。

莫洛亚著有长篇小说《贝尔纳·盖斯奈》（Bernard Quesnay）和《爱的气候》（The Climates of Love）等，并写下了大量脍炙人口的传记文学作品，如《巴尔扎克传——普罗米修斯》（Prometheus: The Life of Balzac）、《拜伦传》（Byron）和《泰坦巨人：三代仲马传》（Titans: A Three-Generation Biography of the Dumas）等。

本文选自安德烈·莫洛亚1939年出版的作品《生活的艺术》（The Art of Living）。书中，作者以流畅的文笔展示了自己的人生阅历和前贤的嘉言懿行。全书虽无深邃的哲学思想，却有隽永的人生哲理。本文畅谈阅读的艺术，细数阅读的规律，对爱书人有一定的参考价值。

Can reading be called work? Valery Larbaud calls it the “unpunished vice”, and Descartes, on the contrary, says it is “a conversation with the most honest people of past centuries.”Both of them are right.

The vicious reading occurs in people who find in reading a kind of opium that liberates them from the real world sinking them into an imaginary one. They cannot spend one minute without reading; to them, everything is good; they will open an encyclopedia and read an essay on water-color technique as voraciously as they will read an article on firearms. Left alone in a room, they will go straight to a pile of newspapers and magazines and plunge into the middle of any column, rather than be left their own thoughts for a moment. They seek neither ideas nor facts in reading, but merely the endless procession of words which prevents them from facing the world or their souls. They retain very little substance of what they read; they set up no scale of values amongst the various sources of information. As practiced by them, reading is completely passive; they hold the texts; they do not interpret them; they do not make any room for them in their minds; they do not assimilate them.

Pleasure reading is much more active. The novel lover reads for his pleasure, to find either beautiful impressions, or the awakening and exaltation of his own emotions, or the adventures which life has denied him. Another will read for the pleasure of discovering among the poets and moralists a more perfect expression of his own observations and feelings. Still another will read, without studying a particular period of history, for the pleasure of verifying the similarities of human suffering throughout the course of the centuries. This sort of pleasure reading is healthy.

Finally, work reading is the sort done by the man who is seeking in a book definite knowledge or material needed for the creation or completion in his mind of a structure whose magnitude he has conceived in general terms. Work reading must be done with pen or pencil in hand, unless the reader possesses an extraordinary memory. It is useless to read if we must reread each time we need to return to the subject. If I may cite my own example, when I read a volume of history or a serious book of any kind, I always write a few key words indicating the important topics covered. Underneath each word I write the page number where the corresponding passage is located, in case I need to consult it without having to read the entire book again.

Reading, like all work, has its rules. Let us outline some of them.

The First rule is that a perfect knowledge of a few writers and a few subjects is more valuable than a superficial one of a great many. The beautiful features of a piece of writing are seldom apparent at first reading. In youth, one should search among books as one searches the world for friends, and once these friends are found, chosen, and adopted, one must retire with them. Intimacy with Montaigne, Saint-Simon, Retz, Balzac, or Proust is sufficient to enrich an entire life.

The second rule is that the great writings of the past must figure preeminently in our readings. Of course it is both natural and necessary to be interested in the writers of our times, for it is among them that we are likely to find friends who have our own cares and needs. But let us not submerge ourselves in the tide of insignificant books. The number of masterpieces is such that we would never be able to know them all. Let us trust the selection made in past centuries. A man may be wrong; a generation may be wrong; humanity is never wrong. Homer, Tacitus, Shakespeare, and Molière certainly deserve their glory. We should give them some preference over those who have not undergone the test of time.

The third rule is to choose our literary nourishment well. Each mind requires its own particular food. Let us learn to recognize which authors are our authors. They will be very different from those of our friends. In literature as in love, we are surprised at what is chosen by others. Let us be faithful to what is appropriate for us. We are the best judges of that.

The fourth rule is that whenever possible our reading should be done in the atmosphere of composure and respect which surrounds a fine concert or a noble ceremony. Reading is not to run through a page, interrupt to answer the telephone, pick up a book when one's thoughts are elsewhere, lay it down until the next day. The true reader procures long periods of solitude; for some especially admired author, he reserves a Sunday afternoon in the Winter; he is thankful for a train journey which provides him with the opportunity to read a whole novel of Balzac, Stendhal, or the Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe. He experiences an intense pleasure from rereading a favorite phrase or passage he loves (the Madeleine in Proust, or Levine's betrothal in Tolstoy), as the music lover does when he hears the magician's theme in Stravinsky's Petrouchka.

The fifth rule, finally, is to make ourselves worthy of great books because in reading, like in the Spanish inns and in love, one finds only what one brings to them. The delineation of emotions interests only those who have experienced them or young people who await their flowering with hope and anguish. There is nothing so moving as the spectacle of a young man who could endure nothing but adventure stories last year and has suddenly developed a great liking for Anna Karenina or Dominique, because now he knows what the joys and the pains of love are like. Great men of action read Kipling, great statesmen read Tacitus or Retz. It was a great spectacle to see Lyautey absorbed in Shakespeare's Coriolanus the day after an unjust government took Morocco from him. The art of reading is in great part that of finding life once again in the books, and thanks to them, in understanding life better.

可以称阅读为劳作吗？瓦雷里·拉尔博[1]称其为“不受惩罚的罪恶”，笛卡儿[2]则恰恰相反，称之为“与过去几个世纪里最诚实的人们交谈”。两人的说法都有理。

有些人视书为让自己脱离现实、深陷虚境的麻醉剂，“恶性阅读”就发生在他们身上。如果无书可读，他们一分钟也忍受不了；对他们来说，什么书都是好书；无论是百科全书中关于水彩技法的散文，还是关于火器枪械的文章，他们一样会贪婪阅读。如果是独自待在屋里，他们会直奔成堆的报刊、杂志，急匆匆地浏览任意专栏，而不自己思考问题。他们阅读不是为寻找观点或事实，而是无休止地徜徉于文字之中，以免面对现实世界或自己的内心。他们读完书后记不住内容，面对丰富的信息毫无辨别能力。他们进行的这种阅读完全是被动的；他们手捧文本，却不分析解读，也不储存信息，更不吸收知识。

“趣味阅读”则主动得多。有些人以读小说为乐，去寻找美妙的印象、情感的复苏和日常生活中缺少的冒险。也有人以读诗歌和伦理学著作为乐，探寻对自身体会、自身感受更完美的阐释。还有人以读历史为乐。他们不是研究特定时期的历史，而是查证千百年来人类相似的苦难经历。这种“趣味阅读”有益健康。

最后，“工作阅读”是指一个人去书里寻找特定的知识和材料，以便创作或完成他头脑中已有大体框架的巨著。“工作阅读”时最好手里拿着笔，除非你记忆力超群。如果每次需要回顾某个话题时都得重读一遍，那阅读又有什么用呢？以我自己为例，我读历史书或其他严肃书籍时，总会记下阐明该书主旨的几个关键词，并在每个词下面标明相关段落所在的页码。如此一来，当我需要查阅资料时，就不需要重读整本书了。

像所有工作一样，阅读也有准则。我谨列举如下几条。

准则一：对少数作家作品了如指掌，胜过对众多作家作品略知一二。作品的美妙之处极少在第一次阅读时显现。年轻人应该像遨游世界一般在书海中遨游，去寻找志同道合的友人。当你发现、选择、确定那些友人之后，便要与其携手一生。与蒙田[3]、圣西门[4]、雷斯[5]、巴尔扎克[6]、普鲁斯特[7]等人亲密无间，足以让你一生充实。

准则二：昔日经典必须是阅读的主体。当然，对当代作家感兴趣既合理也有必要，因为他们可能与我们有着相同的关注和需要。但切勿被无关紧要的书潮淹没。杰作的数量如此之多，我们永远无法了解全部。要相信千百年来的披沙沥金：一个人或许走眼，一代人或许错看，但人类不会误判。荷马、塔西佗[8]、莎士比亚[9]、莫里哀[10]显然无愧于他们的荣耀。我们应当偏爱这些名家，而非未经时间检验的作家。

准则三：慎重选择文学养料。每个人都有适合自己的精神食粮。要学会辨别哪些作家适合我们。他们可能和前面所说的友人完全不同。读文学作品就像坠入爱河，我们总是对别人的选择感到吃惊。要忠于适合自己的作家。对此，我们自己是最佳的裁判。

准则四：阅读时必须平和镇静、心怀敬意，如同身处美妙的音乐会或神圣的典礼。阅读时不可一目十行、断断续续、心不在焉，或是把书放到第二天再读。真正的读者需要长时间的独处；为了阅读某位特别喜爱的作家的著作，他会预留出冬天一个星期日的下午；他会感谢火车之旅让自己有空阅读巴尔扎克、司汤达[11]的整部小说，或是《墓畔回忆录》[12]。重读某个心爱的短语或段落时（比如普鲁斯特笔下的“玛德琳小点心”或托尔斯泰[13]笔下的“勒维纳的婚礼”），他会像音乐迷听到斯特拉文斯基[14]的剧作《彼得鲁什卡》里的魔术师主旋律一样，感觉到一种强烈的快感。

准则五，也是最后一条准则：让自己配得上伟大的作品。因为阅读就像身处西班牙旅店或沐浴爱河——你只会找到自己带进去的东西。对情感描写感兴趣的，不是已经有过切身体会的过来人，就是满怀希望、焦急等待爱情之花绽放的年轻人。一个去年还只读冒险小说的小伙子，突然对《安娜·卡列尼娜》或《多米尼克》[15]萌生了强烈兴趣，因为他现在明白了爱恋的甜蜜与痛苦。没有什么场景能比这更令人感动了。伟大的行动主义者读吉卜林[16]的著作，伟大的政治家读塔西佗或雷斯的著作。利奥泰[17]在非法政府接管摩洛哥政权的第二天，就一头扎进了莎士比亚的《科利奥兰纳斯》[18]之中，这是多么伟大的场景。在很大程度上，阅读的艺术就是在书中再一次发现生活，并更好地理解生活。

要相信千百年来的披沙沥金：一个人或许走眼，一代人或许错看，但人类不会误判。

André Maurois 安德烈·莫洛亚

[1] 瓦雷里·拉尔博（Valery Larbaud，1881—1957），法国小说家、诗人、评论家。

[2] 勒内·笛卡儿（René Descartes，1596—1650），法国思想家、科学家，解析几何的创始人，欧洲近代资产阶级哲学的奠基人之一，被誉为“近代科学的始祖”。

[3] 蒙田，全名为米歇尔·德·蒙泰涅（Michel de Montaigne，1533—1592），文艺复兴时期最有影响力的法国作家之一，欧洲近代散文的创始人，代表作为《蒙田随笔》。

[4] 克劳德·昂列·圣西门（Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon，1760—1825），法国哲学家和社会改革家，空想社会主义者。

[5] 雷斯（Cardinal de Retz，1613—1679），法国政治家、红衣主教、作家。

[6] 奥诺雷·德·巴尔扎克（Honoré de Balzac，1799—1850），法国19世纪著名作家，法国现实主义文学成就最高者之一。

[7] 马塞尔·普鲁斯特（Marcel Proust，1871—1922），法国小说家，意识流作家。

[8] 普布利乌斯·科尔奈利乌斯·塔西佗（Publius Cornelius Tacitus，约55—120），古罗马帝国执政官、雄辩家、元老院元老，也是著名的历史学家。

[9] 威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakespeare，1564—1616），英国文艺复兴时期的伟大戏剧家、诗人，著有37部诗剧，154首十四行诗，代表欧洲文艺复兴时期最高的文学成就。

[10] 莫里哀（Molière，1622—1673），法国喜剧作家和演员，古典主义喜剧的创建者，法国芭蕾舞喜剧的创始人。

[11] 司汤达（Stendhal，1783—1842），本名马利—亨利·贝尔，法国文学家，代表作有《红与黑》《巴马修道院》等。

[12]《墓畔回忆录》，法国作家弗朗索瓦—勒内·德夏多布里昂写于1809到1841年间的自传。

[13] 列夫·尼古拉耶维奇·托尔斯泰（Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy，1828—1910），俄国文学家，其代表作《战争与和平》等家喻户晓。

[14] 伊戈尔·费奥多罗维奇·斯特拉文斯基（Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky，1882—1971），美籍俄罗斯作曲家。

[15]《多米尼克》，法国作家欧仁·弗罗芒坦的心理学小说。

[16] 约瑟夫·鲁德亚德·吉卜林（Joseph Rudyard Kipling，1865—1936），生于印度孟买，英国作家和诗人，被誉为“短篇小说艺术创新之人”，1907年荣获诺贝尔文学奖。

[17] 路易·赫伯特·利奥泰（Louis Hubert Lyautey，1854—1934），一战法军名将，1912—1925年在摩洛哥建立法国保护国制度。

[18]《科利奥兰纳斯》，莎士比亚晚年撰写的罗马历史悲剧。

The Books in My Life

我一生中的书

Henry Miller

亨利·米勒

作者简介

亨利·米勒（Henry Miller，1891—1980），美国小说家，20世纪最重要的作家之一。其代表作是自传性小说三部曲《北回归线》（Tropic of Cancer）、《黑色的春天》（Black Spring）和《南回归线》（Tropic of Capricorn）。这些作品一度被出版社认为是淫秽之作而拒绝出版，问世后迅速在文坛上下引起轰动。

米勒被20世纪60年代“反正统文学运动”成员称为“自由与性解放的预言家”。当代诗歌鼻祖艾兹拉·庞德（Ezra Pound）则将其与文豪詹姆斯·奥古斯丁·阿洛伊修斯·乔伊斯（James Augustine Aloysius Joyce）和弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙（Virginia Woolf）相提并论。

本文选自米勒1952年出版的作品《我一生中的书》（The Books in My Life）。作者饶有趣味地将人们“从未读过的书”分为三类，并将自己差点“错失良书”的经历娓娓道来，让人忍俊不禁。

I think it important to stress at the outset a psychological fact about the reading of books which is rather neglected in most works on the subject. It is this: many of the books one lives with in one's mind are books one has never read. Sometimes these take on amazing importance. There are at least three categories of this order. The first comprises those books which one has every intention of reading some day but in all probability never will; the second comprises those books which one feels he ought to have read, and which, some at least, he undoubtedly will read before he dies; the third comprises the books one hears about, talks about, reads about, but which one is almost certain never to read because nothing, seemingly, can ever break down the wall of prejudice erected against them.

In the first category are those monumental works, classics mostly, which one is usually ashamed to admit he has never read: tomes one nibbles at occasionally, only to push them away, more than ever convinced that they are still unreadable. The list varies with the individual. For myself, to give a few outstanding names, they comprise the works of such celebrated authors as Homer, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Hegel, Rousseau (excepting Emile), Robert Browning, Santayana. In the second category I conclude Arabia Deserta, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom, Casanova's Memoirs, Napoleon's Memoirs, Michelet's History of the French Revolution. In the third Pepys' Diary, Tristram Shandy, Wilhelm Meister, The Anatomy of Melancholy, The Red and the Black, Marius the Epicurean, The Education of Henry Adams.

Sometimes a chance reference to an author one has neglected to read or abandoned all thought of ever reading—a passage, say, in the work of an author one admires, or the words of a friend who is also a book lover—is sufficient to make one run for a book, read it with new eyes and claim it as one's very own. In the main, however, the books one neglects, or deliberately spurns, seldom get read. Certain subjects, certain styles, or unfortunate associations connected with the very names of certain books, create a repugnance almost insuperable. Nothing on earth, for example, could induce me to tackle anew Spenser's Faery Queen, which I began in college and fortunately dropped because I left that institution in a hurry. Never again will I look at a line of Edmund Burke, or Addison, or Chaucer, though the last-named I think altogether worthy of reading. Racine and Corneille are two others I doubt if I shall ever look at again, though Corneille intrigues me because of a brilliant essay I read not long ago on Phédre in The Clown's Grail.

On the other hand there are books which lie at the very foundations of literature but which are so remote from one's thinking and experience as to render them “untouchable.”Certain authors, supposed to be the bulwark of our particular Western culture, are more foreign in spirit to me than are the Chinese, the Arabs, or primitive peoples. Some of the most exciting literary works spring from cultures which have not contributed directly to our development. No fairy tales, for example, have exercised a more potent influence over me than those of the Japanese, which I became acquainted with through the work of Lafcadio Hearn, one of the exotic figures in American literature. No stories were more seductive to me as a child than those drawn from the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. American Indian folklore leaves me cold, whereas the folklore of Africa is near and dear to me. And, as I have said repeatedly, whatever I read of Chinese literature (barring Confucius) seems as if written by my immediate ancestors.

I said that sometimes it is an esteemed author who puts one on the track of a buried book. “What! He liked that book?”you say to yourself, and immediately the barriers fall away and the mind becomes not only open and receptive but positively aflame. Often it happens that it is not a friend of similar tastes who revives one's interest in a dead book but a chance acquaintance. Sometimes this individual gives the impression of being a nitwit, and one wonders why he should retain the memory of a book which this person casually recommended, or perhaps did not recommend at all but merely mentioned in the course of conversation as being an “odd”book. In a vacant mood, at loose ends, as we say, suddenly the recollection of this conversation occurs, and we are ready to give the book a trial. Then comes a hock, the shock of discovery.

Wuthering Heights is for me an example of this sort. From having heard it praised so much and so often, I had concluded that it was impossible for an English novel—by a woman!—to be that good. Then one day a friend, whose taste I suspected to be shallow, let drop a few pregnant words about it. Though I promptly proceeded to forget his remarks, the poison sank into me. Without realizing it, I nurtured a secret resolve to have a look at this famous book one day. Finally, just a few years ago, Jean Varda put it in my hands. I read it in one gulp, astounded as is everyone, I suspect, by its amazing power and beauty. Yes, one of the very great novels in the English language. And I, through pride and prejudice, had almost missed reading it.

首先，我认为有必要强调一个关于读书的心理学现象，大多谈及这个话题的著作都忽略了这个现象——人们心中惦念的往往是未曾读过的书。有些时候，这些书极其重要。人们惦念的书至少可以分为三类：第一类书你一直想读，却很可能永远不会读；第二类书你觉得应该读过，而且在有生之年至少会读一些；第三类书你听说过、谈论过、看到过相关信息，但几乎肯定不会去读这类书，因为你对它们的偏见根深蒂固，似乎难以动摇。

第一类书是不朽之作，大多是经典名著。人们通常羞于承认没读过这种书。对于这些大部头，人们偶尔看上一点，然后便搁置一旁，同时更加确信自己还是读不进去。这种书因人而异。对我来说，如果要举几位名家的话，荷马、亚里士多德、弗兰西斯·培根、黑格尔、卢梭（《爱弥儿》除外）、罗伯特·布朗宁、桑塔亚那[1]的作品都属于此类。第二类书，我列入了《古沙国游记》《罗马帝国衰亡史》《索多玛120天》、卡萨诺瓦的《我的一生》、拿破仑的《回忆录》和米什莱的《法国革命史》。第三类书则包括佩皮斯的《日记》《项狄传》《威廉·麦斯特》《忧郁的解剖》《红与黑》《伊壁鸠鲁主义者马里厄斯》和《亨利·亚当斯的教育》。

有时，别人偶然提及某位你没有读过，或是根本没想过要读他的作品的作者——比如你崇拜的作家有一段文字写到了他，或是同为爱书人的朋友提到了他——这足以让你跑去寻找这本书，用全新的眼光审视它，并想马上据为己有。但大体而言，人们很少去读从前忽略或刻意摒弃的书。某些主题、某些文风、与某些书名相关的不幸联想，都会引起让人难以抑制的抵触情绪。比如，没有什么能诱使我再读一遍斯宾塞[2]的《仙后》。我上大学时开始读这本书，因为匆匆离校而幸运地中断了阅读。至于埃德蒙·伯克[3]、艾迪生[4]或乔叟[5]的作品，尽管最后一位作家我觉得还值得一读，但我永远不会再看上一行了。尽管我不久前在《小丑的追求》中看到一篇关于《菲德拉》的精彩文章，对高乃依[6]产生兴趣，但我怀疑自己是不会再看拉辛[7]和高乃依这两个人的作品了。

另一方面，有些书虽是文学的奠基之作，但离人们的思想经历太远，难免让人觉得“可望而不可即”。某些作家虽是西方独特文化的精神堡垒，却比中国人、阿拉伯人甚至原始人更让我感到陌生。有些最精彩的文学作品诞生于对我们的社会发展并无直接贡献的文化。例如，没有哪种神话比日本神话对我影响更大。通过小泉八云[8]，这位美国文学中颇具异国色彩的作家，我渐渐熟悉了日本神话。在我还是孩子的时候，没有哪个故事比《天方夜谭》更吸引我。我对美国印第安传说毫无兴致，却对非洲神话倍感亲近。正如我不止一次地说，我读的中国文学作品（除了孔子的著作）都像是我的祖先所写。

我说过，有时你崇拜的作家会将你引向一部湮没许久的书。“什么？他喜欢那本书？”你这么自言自语，心中障碍立刻消失，不仅变得开放宽容，兴致也高涨起来。让人们对某本老书燃起兴致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是极其偶然的邂逅。有时那个人给你留下的印象是个笨蛋，你会奇怪自己为什么记得他无意中推荐的一本书；或许他根本没推荐，不过是谈话中提到了一本“怪”书。正如人们所说，在闲散无聊、无事可做时，这次谈话会突然从记忆里蹦出来，我们会想试着读读这本书。我们会因发现奇书而惊讶，然后身陷其中。

《呼啸山庄》对我来说就是这样。我经常听见人们对此书高度赞誉，但我断定英国小说——还是出自女人之手！——不可能有那么棒。后来某一天，一个在我看来品位不高的朋友，谈到此书时用了几个意味深长的词。我很快就忘掉了他的评论，但毒液已渗入我心。我无意中已暗下决心，有朝一日要看看这本著名的书。终于，在几年之前，让·瓦尔达给了我这本书。我一口气读完了整本书，被它惊人的力量和美所震惊。我猜，所有人都是这样。是的，它是英语文学中最伟大的小说之一。而我，出于傲慢与偏见，几乎错失良书。

让人们对某本老书燃起兴致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是极其偶然的邂逅。

Henry Miller 亨利·米勒

[1] 乔治·桑塔亚那（George Santayana，1863—1952），美国自然主义哲学家、散文家、诗人、小说家。

[2] 埃德蒙·斯宾塞（Edmund Spenser，1552—1599），英国文艺复兴时期的伟大诗人，对后世的弥尔顿、雪莱和济慈等诗人有深远影响。

[3] 埃德蒙·伯克（Edmund Burke，1729—1797），爱尔兰思想家，常被视为英美保守主义思想的奠基者。

[4] 约瑟夫·艾迪生（Joseph Addison，1672—1719），英国散文家、诗人。

[5] 杰弗里·乔叟（Geoffrey Chaucer，1340—1400），英国诗人，被誉为“英国诗歌之父”。

[6] 皮埃尔·高乃依（Pierre Corneille，1606—1684），法国古典主义悲剧代表作家，17世纪法国“戏剧三杰”之一。

[7] 让·拉辛（Jean Racine，1639—1699），法国剧作家、古典悲剧大师。

[8] 小泉八云（Kozumi Yakumo，1850—1904），原名帕特里克·拉夫卡迪奥·赫恩（Patrick Lafcadio Hearn），日本作家兼学者。他写过不少向西方介绍日本和日本文化的书，是现代怪谈文学的鼻祖。

Pillow Books

枕边书

Clifton Fadiman

克里夫顿·费迪曼

作者简介

克里夫顿·费迪曼（Clifton Fadiman，1904—1999），美国知名作家、编辑。他1925年毕业于哥伦比亚大学，毕业后在西蒙与舒斯特国际出版公司（Simon & Schuster）工作了10年，最终成为主编。此后10年间，他在《纽约客》（The New Yorker）书评版任职，并成为“每月一书”图书俱乐部（Book of the Month Club）编辑。70年代，他在《蟋蟀杂志》（Cricket Magazine）上开辟了儿童书书评专栏，深受读者喜爱。

本文首刊于1955年的《假日》（Holiday）杂志，后收入1955年出版的费迪曼作品集《一个人的舞会》（Party of One）。如果你亦是床头阅读的铁杆粉丝，枕边闲书数册，睡前必品书香，那么，这篇令人忍俊不禁的幽默小品正适合伴你入梦。

Reading in bed, like other gentle customs of the pre-Tension Age, may be on the way out. Yet it is a minor art we should not willingly let die.

There are three schools. At one extreme are those who say, with Sir J. C. Squire, “The bedside book for me is the book that will longest keep me awake.”I suspect such literary night owls of being less avid of reading than fearful of sleeping, like the student Lia Hsun, who, according to Giles's Chinese Biographical Dictionary, “had a lighted twist of hemp arranged in such a way as to bum his hair if he began to nod from drowsiness.”They would do as well to stuff the pillow with a pair of spurs.

At a far remove from those who misuse books to keep themselves awake are those who misuse books to put themselves to sleep. When laudanum failed, the poet Coleridge was forced to administer something stronger—the blank-verse odes of his friend Southey. We have no Southeys today, but a dose of current historical romance might do as well, or a bitter ounce of novel by any of our young men who have reached the land of despair without bothering to pass through the intervening country of reflection.

I hold with neither the Benzedrine, nor the Second school. As for the first, to read the whole night through is to trespass upon nature. The dark hours belong to the unconscious, which has its own rights and privileges. To use the literary lockout against the unconscious is unfair to the dreamers' union. Hence the wise bed-reader, rendering unto Morpheus the things that are Morpheus', will shun any book that appears too interesting.

Nor, in my view, should a book be used merely as an opiate. Indeed, I do not understand how it can be. Dull books soothe only dull brains—a moderately healthy mind will be irritated rather than rested by a dull book. (This irritation is of a special kind; it is known as boredom, and no one need blush for it. He who boasts that he is never bored confesses himself half-dead, irritability being one of the marks of all living tissue.) But is this capacity to irritate through ennui really what we seek in a pillow book? I doubt it. Books that bore you into a kind of dull paralysis are committing mayhem on your mind. I avoid them as I do the man with total recall of his morning paper, the woman with total recall of her shopping day.

As a middle-of-the-roader I have found (nothing surprising about it) that the ideal book to read before sleep should neither bore nor excite.

Take newspapers, which tend to do both. Charles Lamb said, “Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.”I do not urge upon anyone my own reactionary notion, which is that the proper time to read a newspaper is when passing the newsstand. For me much daily journalism might as well be condensed to sky writing. But even if this extreme position be disallowed, there is something to be urged against the habit of reading newspapers before sleep—apart from the legacy of smudge they leave upon sheets, pillows and fingers. Preslumber reading should be a kind of small private devotion during which we beat a quiet retreat from the practical.

Now the newspaper is but the daily reiteration of the practical. It is the enemy of the settled mind, which is the province of those truly important concerns that are not practical at all, but speculative. The newspaper, with its unkillable obsession with the actual, is the systematic generator of worry. All newspaper readers furrow their brows. This may be a good thing during the active day, but to read the paper in bed is to open Pandora's box at the very moment when we are least able to deal with its contents. It is to fall asleep with a gadfly inside your skull.

There is a famous essay, Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown. In this essay Virginia Woolf attacked novelists like Wells, Bennett, and Galsworthy on the grounds that reading their books left one feeling incomplete, even frustrated. Such novels, she said, seemed to call for action on your part: reform the economic system, improve education, divorce your wife. I think Virginia Woolf thought up this pretty theory to camouflage the fact that she just didn't like novels so different from her own. However, applied more narrowly to bedside books, it makes fair sense.

The man of Wall Street should not take to bed the stock market quotations; the quiet counterpane is no proper field for raging bulls and bears. Problem novels (usually produced by problem children) should never companion your pillow; midnight is no hour to worry about the time being out of joint. Avoid political arguments that step upon your toes, whether the toes be Republican or Democratic. Await a more fitting hour than bedtime to scare yourself stiff with the latest volume on the atom bomb. Above all, put from you all reading matter that aims (like this essay) to persuade you of something or change you into a finer and more alert citizen. The state of a man comfortably tucked in bed is already kingly; it will not brook improvement. All books too close to our worn and fretted daily lives make dubious bedtime reading. Avoid the call to action.

In my own case I can think of two seeming exceptions to this rule. The first is travel books. The normal human being is made restless by such reading, and quite properly so. But I am of such rooted and stationary nature that I can enjoy the most seductive tales of gypsying without feeling any impulse to kick away the blanket and phone for reservations on the next plane to Rio. However, if I owned an itching foot, I would confine such unsettling reading to the non-horizontal hours. The second exception concerns my favorite bedtime pabulum, books about food and drink. For me there are few nobler experiences than to read myself almost to sleep over a classic like P. Morton Shand's A Book of Food or André Simon's Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy or M. F. K. Fisher's Here Let Us Feast. I say almost to sleep, for of course such reading can have but one outcome—a 2 A. M. invasion of refrigerator and cellar. This would appear a flat contradiction of my rule: No calls to action. Yet the contradiction is apparent, not real. Such reading, it is true, maketh a full man, but a full man is a better sleeper, and so books on food and wine lead roundabout to sweet slumber.

In sum, for me the best bed books are those that deny the existence of tomorrow. To read in bed is to draw around us invisible, noiseless curtains. Then at last we are in a room of our own and are ready to burrow back, back, back to that private life of the imagination we all led as children and to whose secret satisfactions so many of us have mislaid the key. Not that the book need be “good.”Indeed, like another bedtime favorite of mine, science fiction (some of it), it can be pleasant trash. But, “good”or “bad,”it should act as a bridge, a middle term between the sharp fact of daily existence and the cloudy fact of the dream life. It must commit me to nothing, least of all to assent or contradiction. All the better if it be removed in some degree from my current time, my current place—life is too short for us to spend more than a few hours a day being up-to-date. Finally, it should not be in any way excessive, whether in humor or depth or even originality.

Nevertheless, if for you the World Almanac satisfies these conditions, then by all means bed yourself with the World Almanac. The books that do the job for me may quite well bore you to a catalepsy or infuriate you to a raging insomnia. The following paragraphs may therefore be of no use to you. On the other hand, they may.

Most intelligent bed-readers will get a not too stimulating pleasure from any well-conceived general anthology, such as Huntington Cairns's The Limits of Art or Somerset Maugham's more conventional Traveller's Library. Maugham's own tales, published complete in two stout volumes, The World Over and East and West, are perfect for the alcove. I like detective stories, if good, but must confess that most of the current crop read as if they had been punched out on an IBM machine. Sound collections, like those by Dorothy Sayers, of short whodunits are most satisfactory. E. C. Bentley's two detective novels and his handful of short stories have recently been put into a single volume, Trent's Case Book: a superior affair; and there is also available a Josephine Tey omnibus. Otherworldly tales (but they must stop just short of the gruesome) do nicely. The contrast between their shudders and one's own snug safety supplies a childish pleasure whose roots lie too deep for us to scorn them. Of anthologies of the weird there are dozens—Alexander Laing's The Haunted Omnibus and the Modern Library's Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural are among the better ones.

I like also to roam around in the General Catalogue of the Oxford University Press, a publication that costs you nothing and is rich with peculiar treasures. There is nothing quite like these endless book titles and brief descriptions to produce in the reader a gentle, serene amazement at the quantity of extraordinary matters, from Acrocephaly and Acrocephalosyndactyly to the Zla-ba-Bsam-,grub, that have engaged the minds of our fellow human beings. Here we find Galen's On Medical Experience, with this bit of useful information: “Since the original Greek text of this work was lost, except for two small fragments, this ninth-century Arabic translation is the earliest known complete version.”

Books about people who lived lives fantastically different from my own I have found excellent for the bedside. I like to read about the Middle Ages; you may prefer Polynesia or even more alien climes, such as William Faulkner's Southland. Books of popular science please me, but there are few writers today who have the liveliness and wit of Eddington, Jeans, and H. G. Wells. (Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us and Guy Murchie's Song of the Sky are delightful exceptions.) Nonacademic books about words and language are first-rate for me, but this may be a narrow professional interest.

As for novels, give me no profound Russians, no overlucid Frenchmen, no opaque Germans. Give me solid Englishmen of the nineteenth century or early twentieth—William De Morgan, Wilkie Collins, George Borrow, Charles Reade. (I omit Dickens and Thackeray as too obvious.) Above all give me Trollope, from whom I have received so much pleasure that I would willingly call him another St. Anthony; Trollope, who breaks through the time barrier and teleports the horizontal reader instantly to a divinely settled, comfortable, income-taxless vanished world. His half a hundred novels are good for five years of bedside reading. Of those who minister to the tired, night-welcoming mind, Trollope is king. He never fails to interest, but not too much; to soothe, but not too much. Trollope is the perfect novelist for the bedside.

床头阅读，就像“压力时代”之前的其他好习惯一样，或许正在逐渐消逝。但这是一门我们不愿眼睁睁看它逝去的艺术。

对此有三派观点。第一派极端人士赞同J. C. 斯夸尔爵士[1]的说法：“对我来说，枕边书是让我保持清醒时间最长的书。”我猜，这些书呆子兼夜猫子不是读书入迷，而是害怕睡觉，就像翟理斯[2]《中国人名大辞典》里的孙敬那样“头悬梁，以驱赶睡意”。往枕头里塞一对马刺，也能有同样的效果。

与把书误用作提神剂的人相反，有些人把书误用作安眠药。当鸦片酊失去效果时，诗人柯勒律治[3]不得不服用更强效的药物——好友骚塞[4]的无韵抒情诗，来帮助自己入睡。当代没有骚塞的无韵诗，却有一堆历史浪漫小说，以及从不自省、无病呻吟的年轻人所写的苦情小说，它们都有同样的催眠效果。

我既不赞成把书当作苯丙胺（一种提神剂），也不提倡第二派人的做法。至于第一派人，整夜读书违背了自然法则。黑夜属于睡眠，睡眠有其权利。用文学作品来抵抗睡眠，对于爱做梦的人来说不公平。因此，明智的床头阅读者会听从梦神摩耳甫斯[5]的安排，避免阅读太有趣的书。

在我看来，也不应该把书用作鸦片。事实上，我不理解书还能这么用。乏味的书只能抚慰迟钝的大脑——对心智健康的人来说，乏味的书只会让他们反感，而起不到安抚作用。（这是一种特殊的反感，即通常所说的厌倦。你无需为厌倦而脸红。吹嘘自己从不厌倦，就是承认自己“半死不活”，因为会反感是“活人”的标志之一。）但我们想从枕边书中获得的，难道是这种厌倦吗？我表示怀疑。让你思维麻痹的乏味书籍会对你的头脑造成损害。我对待这类书，就像对待爱复述晨报内容的男人、爱回忆购物经历的女人那样，唯恐避之不及。

作为中间派，我发现最理想的睡前读物应该既不乏味也不刺激。这个发现没什么奇怪。

就拿兼具这两点的报纸来说吧。查尔斯·兰姆说过：“报纸总能激起人们的好奇，但放下后没有人不觉得失望。”我从不劝人接受我的反动观点——阅读报纸的最佳时机是途经报摊时。在我看来，许多每日新闻最好精简成空中文字[6]。但即使不接受这种极端思想，除了报纸留在被单、枕头和手指上的污迹外，还有其他理由让你放弃睡前读报的习惯。睡前阅读应该是一种小小的私人爱好。在此过程中，我们能享受远离现实的宁静。

如今，报纸只是每日现实的重复。有些人觉得真正值得关注的是毫不实际、纯属理论的事，报纸则会破坏他们安宁的心境。报纸永远只迷恋现实，只会让人陷入烦恼。所有读报人都眉头紧锁。这在忙碌的白天或许是件好事，但在床头读报，就像在最没有抵抗力的时刻打开潘多拉的盒子，就像是入睡时有只牛虻在脑袋里乱转。

弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙[7]在名篇《贝内特先生与布朗夫人》中，攻击了威尔斯、贝内特和高尔斯华绥等小说家，说读他们的书让人觉得生活残缺，甚至感到沮丧。她说，那些小说似乎在号召读者们自己行动起来——改革财政制度、提高教育水平、和妻子离婚。我认为，伍尔芙提出这套冠冕堂皇的理论只为掩盖一个事实，即她不喜欢和自己作品风格迥异的小说。但用这个理论评判睡前读物，却不失为一条好标准。

华尔街的金融家不该把股市报价单带到床上；安静的睡床不适合谈论火爆的牛市和低迷的熊市。问题小说（通常由问题儿童写成）绝不该陪在你的枕边；午夜不是担心时局动荡的好时光。无论你是属于民主党还是共和党，都别在睡前进行政治讨论。等到比睡前更合适的时候，再拿关于原子弹的最新著作把自己吓呆吧。总而言之，只要是带有目的性的读物（比如这篇文章），要说服你去做什么，或要把你变成更优秀、更警醒的公民，就要把它抛开。舒舒服服躺在床上的人，已经拥有王者的尊贵，不需要任何的改善。过于贴近我们疲惫、焦躁的日常生活的书，或许都不适合睡前阅读。要避免引起冲动。

就我自己来说，有两种书似乎是例外。第一种是游记。普通人会被这类书弄得心神不定，而且很可能是这样。但我天性沉稳，就算读最具诱惑力的吉卜赛式流浪故事，也不会冲动到一脚踢开毯子，打电话预订下一个飞往里约热内卢的航班机票。然而，如果我脚痒痒了，就绝不会在太阳下山后读这种令人心神不宁的书。第二种例外涉及我最喜欢的睡前精神食粮——关于美酒佳肴的书。对我来说，阅读P. 莫顿·尚德的《美食之书》，或是安德烈·西蒙的《简明烹饪百科全书》，或是M. F. K. 费希尔的《在此共享盛宴》等经典作品，直到几乎睡着，很少有比这更美妙的经历了。我说“几乎睡着”，是因为读这种书只会有一个后果——凌晨2点钟起床搜刮冰箱和酒窖。这看似和我的准则——避免引起冲动——有些矛盾。但矛盾是表象，实则不然。这种阅读确实使人充实（肚子和脑袋都如此），充实者睡得更香。所以说，关于美酒佳肴的书兜了个圈子，最终会把你带进甜美梦乡。

总而言之，最好的枕边书让我忘记还有明天。在床上阅读，就像在周遭拉起隐形无声的窗帘。最后，我们待在自己的房间里，一路回溯到孩提时想象中的私人生活，找回孩提时那种秘密的满足感——我们很多人早已遗失了通往彼方的钥匙。那种书不必是“佳作”。的确，就像我喜欢的另一种睡前读物，即某些科幻小说，它可以是令人愉快的垃圾文学。但无论是“佳作”还是“糟粕”，它都该起到桥梁的作用，一头连着白天的鲜活现实，一头连着梦中的朦胧世界。它必须什么也不向我要求，尤其不要我赞成或反对。如果它能让我暂离所处时代、所处境地，那就更好了——生命短暂，我们没时间一天花几个小时追赶潮流。最后，它还不能太过幽默、太有深度或太具创意。

不过，如果对你来说《世界年鉴》符合这些要求，那就拿《世界年鉴》作床头伴侣吧。适合我的书可能让你厌烦透顶，或是惹得你恼怒失眠。因此，下面几段话可能对你毫无用处，也可能对你有所助益。

最明智的床头读者，会在精心编著的通俗选集——如亨廷顿·凯恩斯的《艺术的极限》或萨默塞特·毛姆更大众化的《旅行者的图书馆》之中享受温和的乐趣。毛姆自己的故事，汇集成厚厚的两卷本《世界的终结》和《东方与西方》，正是睡前阅读的佳品。我喜欢侦探小说，但得是优秀侦探小说才行。然而必须承认，如今的侦探小说，读起来大多像是用IBM电脑批量生产的一样。说到短篇侦探小说，多萝西·塞耶斯等人的作品集最适合睡前读。最近，E. C. 本特利的两篇侦探小说和一些短篇故事汇成了一册《特伦特探案集：高级案件》，约瑟芬·铁伊也出了作品选集。睡前读读怪诞小说也不错，但其中的恐怖片段最好点到即止。书中令人战栗的内容和读者暖和舒适的床铺形成对比，带给人一种孩子气的欢乐。这种欢乐根深蒂固，没有人能对此表示不屑。有很多怪诞小说选集，比如亚历山大·莱恩的《闹鬼的公共汽车》和现代文库版的《恐怖与灵异故事集锦》都是较好的选择。

我还喜欢浏览牛津大学出版社的总书目。这种出版物不用花钱买，而且富含奇珍异宝。没有什么能像这些无穷无尽的书名和简介一样，让你为有这么多奇事感到温柔平和的惊喜。从Acrocephaly到Acrocephalosyndactyly再到Zla-ba-Bsam-，grub[8]，无不令人心醉神迷。从盖伦[9]《医学经验》的简介中，我们能找到一点有用信息：“由于希腊文原版已经散失，唯余两份零散残片，故9世纪的阿拉伯文译本是本书现存最早的完整版。”

我发现，如果书中人物和我的生活大相径庭，那么此书将是绝佳睡前读物。我喜欢关于中世纪的书；你或许青睐波利尼西亚或异国风物，比如威廉·福克纳[10]笔下的南部。流行的科学读物同样合我心意，但如今很少有作家的文字能像爱丁顿、金斯、H. G. 韦尔斯那样生动风趣。（雷切尔·卡森的《我们周遭的大海》和盖伊·默基的《天空之歌》算是两个令人欣喜的例外。）关于语言文字的非学术书对我来说是一流的睡前读物，但这或许是我狭窄的专业兴趣使然。

至于小说，别让我读深奥的俄国小说、浅显的法国小说、晦涩的德国小说，让我读19世纪或20世纪初可靠的英国小说吧，比如威廉·德摩根、威尔基·柯林斯、乔治·博罗、查尔斯·里德的作品。（我省略了狄更斯和萨克雷，因为很明显他们会上榜。）我最喜欢的作家当属特洛勒普[11]，他的作品带给了我无尽欢乐，我真想称他为另一位圣安东尼[12]。特洛勒普打破了时间的界限，将平躺的读者瞬间传送到一个神灵庇佑、舒适安宁、免所得税的失落的世界。他写下的50本小说，足足能让人享受5年的睡前阅读时光。在那些安抚疲惫心灵、伴你进入梦乡的作者当中，特洛勒普可称君王。他的书从来不乏趣味，却不会让人过于兴奋；能让你得到安慰，却又是适可而止。说到睡前阅读，特洛勒普是最完美的小说家。

[1] 约翰·科林斯·斯夸尔爵士（Sir John Collings Squire，1884—1958），英国诗人，第一次世界大战后极具影响力的文学编辑。

[2] 赫伯特·艾伦·翟理斯（Herbert Allen Giles，1845—1935），英国语言学家，剑桥大学第二任汉学教授。他编撰的《华英字典》影响了几代外国学生。

[3] 塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治（Samuel Taylor Coleridge，1772—1834），英国桂冠诗人和评论家，“湖畔派”浪漫诗人。

[4] 罗伯特·骚塞（Robert Southey，1774—1843），英国桂冠诗人，与华兹华斯和柯勒律治并称三大“湖畔派诗人”。

[5] 摩耳甫斯（Morpheus），希腊神话中的梦神，拥有改变梦境的能力。当他拂动幽雅而美丽的羽翼时，人们便会安睡，在他的怀抱中休憩。

[6] 空中文字，指飞机拖曳的烟雾在空中写成的文字，此处指新闻最好精简到几个字就能概括。

[7] 弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙（Virginia Woolf，1882—1941），英国女作家，意识流小说的代表人物，也是女性意识流小说家中成就最高的一位。

[8] 前两词为肢体畸形的两种症状，后一词为西藏瑜伽书的作者姓名，说明从A到Z都有怪词出现。

[9] 盖伦（Galen，129—200），被誉为仅次于希波克拉底的医学权威。

[10] 威廉·卡斯伯特·福克纳（William Cuthbert Faulkner，1897—1962），美国文学家，1949年诺贝尔文学奖获得者。

[11] 安东尼·特洛勒普（Anthony Trollope，1815—1882），英国小说家，代表作是六部系列小说组成的《巴塞特郡见闻录》。

[12] 圣安东尼（St. Anthony），基督教圣徒，旷野隐修的始祖，许多教派都有纪念他的宗教节日。

Why Read the Classics?

为何阅读经典？

Italo Calvino

伊塔洛·卡尔维诺

作者简介

伊塔洛·卡尔维诺（Italo Calvino，1924—1985），新闻工作者、短篇小说家、意大利当代最具世界影响力的作家，力求表达自己对人生的感悟和信念。其代表作有《我们的祖先》三部曲（Our Ancestors）、《命运交织的城堡》（The Castle of Crossed Destinies）、《通向蜘蛛巢的小径》（The Path to the Nest of Spiders）、《看不见的城市》（Invisible Cities）等。他于1985年猝然逝世，与当年的诺贝尔文学奖失之交臂，但他在国际文坛上留下了深远的影响。

本文节选自散文集《文学的作用》（The Uses of Literature: Essays）。该书由卡尔维诺编辑，帕特里克·克雷（Patrick Creagh）译为英文。全书收录36篇文章，谈论了许多经典名著在卡尔维诺人生的不同阶段给他带来的启迪。书中评述的作家从古代的荷马（Homer）、奥维德（Ovid），到近现代的丹尼尔·笛福（Daniel Defoe）、欧内斯特·米勒·海明威（Ernest Miller Hemingway）均有涉及。在本文中，作者列出了“经典”的14个定义，全面阐释了自己心目中的不朽之作。

Let us begin with a few suggested definitions.

1．The classics are the books of which we usually hear people say: “I am rereading…”and never “I am reading…”.

This at least happens among those who consider themselves “very well read.”It does not hold good for young people at the age when they first encounter the world, and the classics as a part of that world.

The reiterative prefix before the verb “read”may be a small hypocrisy on the part of people ashamed to admit they have not read a famous book. To reassure them, we need only observe that, however vast any person's basic reading may be, there still remain an enormous number of fundamental works that he has not read.

Hands up, anyone who has read the whole of Herodotus and the whole of Thucydides! And Saint-Simon? And Cardinal de Retz? But even the great nineteenth-century cycles of novels are more often talked about than read. In France they begin to read Balzac in school, and judging by the number of copies in circulation, one may suppose that they go on reading him even after that, but if a Gallup poll were taken in Italy, I'm afraid that Balzac would come in practically last. Dickens fans in Italy form a tiny elite; as soon as its members meet, they begin to chatter about characters and episodes as if they were discussing people and things of their own acquaintance. Years ago, while teaching in America, Michel Butor got fed up with being asked about Emile Zola, whom he had never read, so he made up his mind to read the entire Les Rougon-Macquart cycle. He found it was completely different from what he had thought: a fabulous mythological and cosmogonical family tree, which he went on to describe in a wonderful essay.

In other words, to read a great book for the first time in one's maturity is an extraordinary pleasure, different from (though one cannot say greater or lesser than) the pleasure of having read it in one's youth. Youth brings to reading, as to any other experience, a particular flavor and a particular sense of importance, whereas in maturity one appreciates (or ought to appreciate) many more details and levels and meanings. We may therefore attempt the next definition:

2．We use the word “classics”for those books that are treasured by those who have read and loved them; but they are treasured no less by those who have the luck to read them for the first time in the best conditions to enjoy them.

In fact, reading in youth can be rather unfruitful, owing to impatience, distraction, inexperience with the product's “instructions for use,”and inexperience in life itself. Books read then can be (possibly at one and the same time) formative, in the sense that they give a form to future experiences, providing models, terms of comparison, schemes for classification, scales of value, exemplars of beauty—all things that continue to operate even if the book read in one's youth is almost or totally forgotten. If we reread the book at a mature age we are likely to rediscover these constants, which by this time are part of our inner mechanisms, but whose origins we have long forgotten. A literary work can succeed in making us forget it as such, but it leaves its seed in us. The definition we can give is therefore this:

3．The classics are books that exert a peculiar influence, both when they refuse to be eradicated from the mind and when they conceal themselves in the folds of memory, camouflaging themselves as the collective or individual unconscious.

There should therefore be a time in adult life devoted to revisiting the most important books of our youth. Even if the books have remained the same (though they do change, in the light of an altered historical perspective), we have most certainly changed, and our encounter will be an entirely new thing.

Hence, whether we use the verb “read”or the verb “reread”is of little importance. Indeed, we may say:

4．Every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery as the first reading.

5．Every reading of a classic is in fact a rereading.

Definition 4 may be considered a corollary of this next one:

6．A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

Whereas definition 5 depends on a more specific formula, such as this:

7．The classics are the books that come down to us bearing upon them the traces of readings previous to ours, and bringing in their wake the traces they themselves have left on the culture or cultures they have passed through (or, more simply, on language and customs).

All this is true both of the ancient and of the modern classics. If I read the Odyssey I read Homer's text, but I cannot forget all that the adventures of Ulysses have come to mean in the course of the centuries, and I cannot help wondering if these meanings were implicit in the text, or whether they are incrustations or distortions or expansions. When reading Kafka, I cannot avoid approving or rejecting the legitimacy of the adjective “Kafkaesque,”which one is likely to hear every quarter of an hour, applied indiscriminately. If I read Turgenev's Fathers and Sons or Dostoevsky's The Possessed, I cannot help thinking how these characters have continued to be reincarnated right down to our own day.

The reading of a classic ought to give us a surprise or two vis-à-vis the notion that we had of it. For this reason I can never sufficiently highly recommend the direct reading of the text itself, leaving aside the critical biography, commentaries, and interpretations as much as possible. Schools and universities ought to help us to understand that no book that talks about a book says more than the book in question, but instead they do their level best to make us think the opposite. There is a very widespread topsyturviness of values whereby the introduction, critical apparatus, and bibliography are used as a smoke screen to hide what the text has to say, and, indeed, can say only if left to speak for itself without intermediaries who claim to know more than the text does. We may conclude that:

8．A classic does not necessarily teach us anything we did not know before. In a classic we sometimes discover something we have always known (or thought we knew), but without knowing that this author said it first, or at least is associated with it in a special way. And this, too, is a surprise that gives a lot of pleasure, such as we always gain from the discovery of an origin, a relationship, an affinity. From all this we may derive a definition of this type:

9．The classics are books that we find all the more new, fresh, and unexpected upon reading, the more we thought we knew them from hearing them talked about.

Naturally, this only happens when a classic really works as such—that is, when it establishes a personal rapport with the reader. If the spark doesn't come, that's a pity; but we do not read the classics out of duty or respect, but only out of love. Except at school. And school should enable you to know, either well or badly, a certain number of classics among which—or in reference to which—you can then choose your classics. School is obliged to give you the instruments needed to make a choice, but the choices that count are those that occur outside and after school.

It is only by reading without bias that you might possibly come across the book that becomes your book. I know an excellent art historian, an extraordinarily well-read man, who out of all the books there are has focused his special love on the Pickwick Papers; at every opportunity he comes up with some quip from Dickens's book, and connects each and every event in life with some Pickwickian episode. Little by little he himself, and true philosophy, and the universe, have taken on the shape and form of the Pickwick Papers by a process of complete identification. In this way we arrive at a very lofty and demanding notion of what a classic is:

10．We use the word “classic”of a book that takes the form of an equivalent to the universe, on a level with the ancient talismans. With this definition we are approaching the idea of the “total book,”as Mallarmé conceived of it.

But a classic can establish an equally strong rapport in terms of opposition and antithesis. Everything that Jean-Jacques Rousseau thinks and does is very dear to my heart, yet everything fills me with an irrepressible desire to contradict him, to criticize him, to quarrel with him. It is a question of personal antipathy on a temperamental level, on account of which I ought to have no choice but not to read him; and yet I cannot help numbering him among my authors. I will therefore say:

11．Your classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you to define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him.

I think I have no need to justify myself for using the word “classic”without making distinctions about age, style, or authority. What distinguishes the classic, in the argument I am making, may be only an echo effect that holds good both for an ancient work and for a modern one that has already achieved its place in a cultural continuum. We might say:

12．A classic is a book that comes before other classics; but anyone who has read the others first, and then reads this one, instantly recognizes its place in the family tree.

At this point I can no longer put off the vital problem of how to relate the reading of the classics to the reading of all the other books that are anything but classics. It is a problem connected with such questions as, why read the classics rather than concentrate on books that enable us to understand our own times more deeply? Or, where shall we find the time and peace of mind to read the classics, overwhelmed as we are by the avalanche of current events?

We can, of course, imagine some blessed soul who devotes his reading time exclusively to Lucretius, Lucian, Montaigne, Erasmus, Quevedo, Marlowe, the Discourse on Method, Wilhelm Meister, Coleridge, Ruskin, Proust, and Valéry, with a few forays in the direction of Murasaki or the Icelandic sagas. And all this without having to write reviews of the latest publications, or papers to compete for a university chair, or articles for magazines on tight deadlines. To keep up such a diet without any contamination, this blessed soul would have to abstain from reading the newspapers, and never be tempted by the latest novel or sociological investigation. But we have to see how far such rigor would be either justified or profitable. The latest news may well be banal or mortifying, but it nonetheless remains a point at which to stand and look both backward and forward. To be able to read the classics you have to know “from where”you are reading them; otherwise both the book and the reader will be lost in a timeless cloud. This, then, is the reason why the greatest “yield”from reading the classics will be obtained by someone who knows how to alternate them with the proper dose of current affairs. And this does not necessarily imply a state of imperturbable inner calm. It can also be the fruit of nervous impatience, of a huffing-and-puffing discontent of mind.

Maybe the ideal thing would be to hearken to current events as we do to the din outside the window that informs us about traffic jams and sudden changes in the weather, while we listen to the voice of the classics sounding clear and articulate inside the room. But it is already a lot for most people if the presence of the classics is perceived as a distant rumble far outside a room that is swamped by the trivia of the moment, as by a television at full blast. Let us therefore add:

13．A classic is something that tends to relegate the concerns of the moment to the status of background noise, but at the same time this background noise is something we cannot do without.

14．A classic is something that persists as a background noise even when the most incompatible momentary concerns are in control of the situation.

首先，我们要提出一些可探讨的定义。

一、所谓经典，就是我们通常说的“我在重读”而非“我正在读”的书。

至少自诩“博学”的人会这么做。年轻人处于初识世界的阶段，经典作为那个世界的一部分，重读经典不适用于他们。

有反复之意的“重”字，放在动词“读”之前，对于耻于承认自己没读过某部名著的人来说，多少显得有些虚伪。为了让这些人安心，我们必须指出，无论一个人的基础阅读量多大，都会存在大量他没有读过的经典作品。

有谁读完了希罗多德和修昔底德的全部作品？请举手。圣西门呢？红衣主教雷斯呢？但即使是关于19世纪的伟大小说，通常也是谈论者多于阅读者。法国人上学时就开始读巴尔扎克的作品，而且从各种版本的销量判断，人们毕业后还会继续读他的书。但如果在意大利做一次受欢迎程度调查，巴尔扎克恐怕会排在最后一名。意大利的狄更斯爱好者组成了一个小型精英俱乐部；俱乐部成员一见面，就开始讨论书里的人物和趣事，就像谈论熟人和身边事一样。多年前，米歇尔·布托尔[1]在美国教书时，人们总和他谈论埃米尔·左拉[2]。他从没读过左拉的书，所以对此不胜其烦。于是，他下决心读完了全套《卢贡—马卡尔家族》[3]，并发现这部作品和自己想象中的完全不同——书里有一套近乎神话的宏大家族谱系。他后来用一篇精彩的文章描写了这个谱系。

换句话说，心智成熟后初次阅读一部伟大作品可谓其乐无穷。这有别于年轻时的读书之乐（尽管你无法说出乐趣孰多孰少）。年轻时的阅读体验像其他体验一样，别有一番滋味，也有特殊的重要意义。但心智成熟之后，一个人会更懂得（或更应该懂得）欣赏细节、层次和深意。由此，我们引入下一定义：

二、我们用“经典”这个词指代一类书，读过且喜爱这些书的人珍视它们。有幸在绝佳条件下第一次读这些书的人，同样会将它们视若珍宝。

事实上，年轻时阅读大多难有成果，因为年轻人没有耐性、不够专注，不懂如何将书用于“指导实际”，而且生活阅历也不足。年轻时读的书可能（也许是同时）塑造一个人，影响他的未来，并提供效仿的对象、比较的条件、分类的方式、评价的标准以及美的范例。即使你几乎已忘却年轻时读过的书，却仍受到这些东西的影响。如果在心智成熟后重读此书，我们可能会重新发现这些不变的因素。这时，这些东西已成为我们内心的组成部分，尽管你已记不清它们源自何处。一部文学作品可能会被人遗忘，但会在我们心中播下种子。因此，我们可以得出如下定义：

三、经典是能发挥特殊影响力的书。它们扎根于记忆深处，拒绝被赶出头脑，将自己伪装成集体或个人的潜意识。

因此，成年后也该拿出一段时间来，重读对自己年轻时影响最大的书。即使书还是原样（尽管从历史的角度看，书本身也发生了变化），但人几乎肯定发生了变化。与旧书重逢将是一种全新的体验。

所以说，我们用的动词是“阅读”还是“重读”其实并不重要。实际上，我们可能说：

四、每次重读经典都是一次发现之旅，宛如初次阅读。

五、每次阅读经典实际上都是重读。

定义四或许是下文定义六的必然结果：

六、经典是有无限阐释余地的书。

不过，定义五需要更详尽的解释，例如：

七、经典是这样一类书，它们来到我们面前时，本身带有前人的阅读痕迹，并一路洒下它们所传承的文化（或者简单来说，这里的文化指语言和习俗）。

古代经典和现代经典都是如此。如果我读《奥德赛》，我读的是荷马写下的文本，但也不会忘记几个世纪中尤利西斯冒险的意义。我不禁会想，这些意义究竟是暗含于文本之中，还是经过覆盖、歪曲、延伸的结果。读卡夫卡[4]作品的时候，我无法避免对“卡夫卡式”这个形容词表示肯定或否定。这个词几乎每一刻钟就会出现一次，而且出现得很随意。如果我读屠格涅夫的《父与子》或陀思妥耶夫斯基的《群魔》，我不禁会设想，书中人物如何能轮回转世直到今日。

阅读经典应当带给我们惊喜，或引发与原有观念相反的思考。因此，我强烈建议直接阅读文本本身，尽可能把评传、注释、演绎抛在一边。学校和大学本应帮助我们理解这一点——没有哪本关于某书的书，能比原书说得更多。然而，它们尽力灌输给我们的理念恰恰相反。介绍、书评和参考书目就像烟幕一样，隐藏了文本的真实含义；事实上，只有摈弃自诩“理解比原文更深入”的中介，文本才能发出自己的声音。对这个问题，有许多颠三倒四、流传甚广的讨论。我们可以总结为：

八、经典不一定能教给我们从前不知道的东西。在经典作品中，我们有时会发现自己一直知道，或是自以为知道的东西，但不知是这位作者，或至少是他以特殊的方式，最先提出了这个说法。这也是一种惊喜，就像我们发现一个起源、一类关系、一种本质时获得的惊喜。由此，我们可以引申出这样的定义：

九、经典是这样一类书，越是我们自认为通过别人谈论已经知晓的东西，越会在阅读它们时发现更新鲜、更新奇、更意想不到的一面。

自然，只有读者与书产生共鸣，经典才会起到这种效果。如果双方没能擦出火花，那真是遗憾；但我们读经典不是出于责任或尊重，而是出于喜爱。除非是在学校。无论方式是好是坏，学校都应该让你知道一定数量的经典。接下来，你可以在这些书里选择适合自己的经典，或是参考这些书找到适合你的经典。学校应该给你提供做选择的工具，但真正算数的选择是人们置身校外或毕业之后作出的。

只有不带偏见地阅读，你才可能遇见属于你的书。我认识一位杰出的艺术史学家，一个博览群书的人。他在读过的所有书里，尤其钟情《匹克威克外传》[5]。他只要有机会就引用狄更斯书里的名言，并把身边的每件事都和书中的趣事联系起来。渐渐地，他的整个人、人生观乃至整个思想体系都与《匹克威克外传》趋同。基于此，我们得出了一个非常高级的、极其严格的“经典”定义：

十、我们用“经典”这个词指代一类书，它们如宇宙万物般形态各异，又如古代符咒般神秘莫测。根据这个定义，我们正不断趋近马拉美[6]构想的“全书”境界。

但经典能引起共鸣，同样能引起反对。让—雅克·卢梭[7]的言行都很亲切，但我总是有一种冲动，想去反驳他、批评他、与他争辩。气质不合引起了我对他的反感，我无计可施，只好不读他的书；但我又忍不住将他列为经典作家。所以我要说：

十一、适合你的经典作家，就是你无法置之不理的作家。即使你们存在分歧，他仍能帮助你界定自己在双方关系中所处的地位。

我认为，使用“经典”这个词无需区分作者的年龄、文风和权威性。我主张，“经典”的判断标准在于，无论是古代作品还是现代作品，都需要在文化谱系中占有一席之地。我们可以说：

十二、“经典”是位居其他经典之上的书。先读过其他经典的人，接下来读这部经典，会立刻识别其在经典谱系中的地位。

说到这里，我不能再忽视一个关键问题——如何将“阅读经典”和“阅读除了经典之外的其他作品”联系起来。这个问题牵扯到了其他问题，例如：为什么要阅读经典，而不读那些能让我们更深刻地了解当下的书？或者，当我们脑中充斥着当下事件时，去哪里寻找空闲的时间和平和的心态来阅读经典？

当然，我们可以想象有些幸运儿专门读《方法论》、卢克莱修、琉善、蒙田、伊拉斯谟、克维多、马洛、威廉·麦斯特、柯勒律治、拉斯金、普鲁斯特和瓦勒里的作品，还可以一探《源氏物语》或冰岛传奇。他们可以这么做，而无需撰写新书评论、教职论文或是即将截稿的杂志文章。为了这顿阅读大餐不受污染，这些幸运儿不能看报纸，也不能受到最新小说或社会调查的诱惑。但这么严苛的阅读条件是否合理？是否有益？最新的新闻或许充斥着陈词滥调，或许令人痛心，但它仍提供了一种回顾过去、前瞻未来的视角。要想能阅读经典，你必须知道自己所处的时代背景；否则，读者就会和书一起，迷失在永恒的云雾之中。这就是为什么，只有懂得交替阅读经典作品和了解当下事件的人，才能从阅读经典中获得最大的“益处”。这不是说你一定能获得内心的平静。阅读经典也可以让你性急难耐、气喘吁吁、意犹未尽。

或许理想的状态是，既关注窗外当下事件的嘈杂噪音，如交通堵塞和天气骤变，也聆听室内清晰的经典之声。不过对多数人而言，当生活被当下的琐事——比如聒噪的电视所淹没时，能将经典视为室外远方的噪音已经不错了。所以让我们再加上：

十三、经典是这样一类书，它们能将时下人们关注的问题降格为背景噪音[8]；但与此同时，人们无法离开这些背景噪音。

十四、经典像背景噪音一样顽固，即使与时下大多数人的关注点大相径庭。

[1] 米歇尔·布托尔（Michel Butor，1926—），法国“新小说派”作家和诗人，曾在多个大学教授哲学和法国文学。

[2] 埃米尔·左拉（Emile Zola，1840—1902），法国现实主义作家，自然主义的创始人。

[3]《卢贡—马卡尔家族》，左拉的代表作，被誉为“第二帝国时代一个家族的自然史和社会史”。

[4] 弗朗茨·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka，1883—1924），奥地利小说家，其作品大多用变形荒诞的形象和象征直觉的手法，表现孤立而绝望的个人。

[5]《匹克威克外传》，讲述天真善良的有产者匹克威克和朋友漫游英国的奇趣经历，是一部既有浪漫奇想又紧贴现实的幽默讽刺小说。

[6] 斯特凡·马拉美（Stéphane Mallarmé，1842—1898），法国诗坛现代主义和象征主义的领袖人物。

[7] 让—雅克·卢梭（Jean-Jacques Rousseau，1712—1778），法国思想家、文学家，启蒙运动的代表人物之一。

[8] 背景噪音，指在工业测量中，与测量对象无关的一切干扰。

A Picture Book Is Worth a Thousand Words

一册绘本抵千字

Erin Ganju

埃琳·甘朱

作者简介

埃琳·甘朱（Erin Ganju），“阅读之家”（Room to Read）组织的创始成员兼首席执行官。“阅读之家”是公益教育组织，旨在让更多孩子学会读写，减小地区和经济差异带来的教育上的不平等，改变发展中国家数百万孩子的命运。“阅读之家”的目标是在2015年将1亿孩子纳入计划。目前，“阅读之家”已在世界各地建立了1000多所学校和上万个图书馆，并资助无数孩子接受教育。

本文是2010年10月13日甘朱在“阅读之家”官方博客上发表的文章，用于回应《纽约时报》（The New York Times）关于儿童书的报道。作者认为绘本对孩子的成长至关重要，绝非普通人理解的那样，只是“傻瓜读物”。她还建议父母陪孩子一起阅读，引发孩子对阅读的兴趣。培养爱书之心，必须“从娃娃抓起”。你认为呢？

We've long dreamt about the day the front page of The New York Times runs a story on children's books. Children's books are what we live and breathe at Room to Read because of what they contribute to the development of a child's literacy and learning skills. It's what we believe has the power to change the world and entire generations of communities living in poverty, particularly in the developing world.

Unfortunately, The New York Times' story wasn't exactly what we had envisioned, as it centered on the loss of retail sales of picture books. In a down economy, that's not surprising. What was surprising is that the decline in sales isn't because children are no longer drawn to colorfully illustrated tomes; rather because parents are no longer recognizing the value picture books have in catalyzing their children's literacy skills development.

Apparently, parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first-graders to leave the picture books behind and move on to more text-heavy “chapter books.”One children's book publisher noted a 35 percent drop in the number of picture books published in the last few years. The primary reason, according to those in the industry, is pressure from parents who are very mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.

We've actually seen the opposite hold true in developing nations, where picture books (or story books) remain a crucial tool in laying a solid foundation for literacy and life-long learning among children. In places like Sri Lanka, South Africa and other countries where Room to Read works, many children come from largely oral storytelling traditions and the shift to the written word is a difficult transition. Many of these children have never been read to aloud, and they find it difficult to relate the “spoken”word to the “written”word.

Picture books help bridge this gap because they give children the opportunity to explore, discover, learn, and imagine through stories and characters. Books inform and transfer knowledge, and are critical to the development of a child's reading skills—including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Picture books kick-start that journey because they combine visual and verbal narratives, often presenting imagery from children's everyday lives which helps them connect life experiences to the pictures, information, events, and text. Even more, by discussing what they see in story books, children ask questions—which also helps develop their speaking skills, a key component of literacy.

Literacy experts quoted in the news article were quick to point out that picture books are not for dummies, and they praise the genre for helping develop a child's critical thinking skills. As a mother of a four-and-a-half-year-old, I couldn't agree more.

My daughter Julia loves to use picture books as the basis of inspiration for story time with her captivated audience of stuffed animals. We'll make a day of going to the library next to the park, and she will spend as much time selecting her next 10-15 books for the week as she does running around the playground. She loves books with lots of pictures because it gives her a sense of independence to “read”the story through the pictures. Now, at bedtime, Julia often wants to read me a story, and it's my greatest joy to see her develop an enjoyment of reading—reading is not a task or something she has to do, but something she does for play. And that's key because the path to creating lifelong, independent readers starts when children see reading as fun and pleasurable on their own.

At Room to Read we're committed to education, and so obviously, it's a wonderful thing that children are able to read chapter books at an early age. But if you focus on just the skills part and prematurely force children to get to a certain level, it may be at the cost of developing good habits of reading. So we caution well-intentioned parents against hurrying to clear their kids' bookshelf of story books, because in doing so, you're clearing away the potential for a connection to books that children will cherish their entire lives. Instead, let's work to develop a generation of independent readers who love to read, and read to learn.

我们一直梦想有那么一天，《纽约时报》头版能刊登关于儿童书的报道。儿童书是我们“阅读之家”存在的理由，因为它们有助于提升孩子的读写和学习能力。我们深信，这些能力将改变世界和整整一代贫困人口，在发展中国家和地区尤其如此。

不幸的是，《纽约时报》的报道和我们预想的相去甚远，它关注的是绘本销量下滑。在经济萧条的情况下，这并不奇怪。奇怪的是，销量下滑并不是因为孩子们不再喜欢色彩缤纷的绘本，而是因为家长不再认可绘本对于提高孩子读写能力的价值。

显然，家长开始强迫自己上幼儿园或一年级的孩子丢开绘本，去读文字更多的“章节书”。一位儿童书出版商注意到，过去几年中绘本的销量下滑了35％。根据业内观点，造成这种现象的首要原因是家长带来的压力，家长非常关注学校里日益严苛的标准化考试。

事实上，我们在许多发展中国家见过相反的实例。在那些地方，绘本（或故事书）仍对培养孩子扎实的读写功底和终生学习能力起着关键作用。在“阅读之家”开展工作的斯里兰卡、南非和其他国家，许多孩子在口述故事的传统中长大，从口语转化到书面语的过程十分艰难。许多孩子从来没有听过别人给他们大声念书，他们觉得把字音和字形联系起来很困难。

绘本有助于弥补这个缺陷，因为它们让孩子在故事和角色中去探索、发现、学习和想象。书籍提供并传递知识，对提高孩子的阅读能力十分关键。阅读能力包括认识音素、看字读音、流畅阅读、词汇量和理解能力。绘本能带孩子开启这段旅程，因为它们将眼睛看和嘴巴说结合起来，通常生动地展现了孩子们的日常生活，有助于他们将自己的生活和图画、信息、事件、文字联系起来。除此之外，通过讨论他们在书里看到的故事，孩子还可以发问——这同样有助于提高他们的表达能力，而表达能力也是读写能力的关键要素。

这篇文章引用了读写专家的话，他们敏锐地指出“绘本不是傻瓜读物”，并称赞绘本有助于提高孩子的批判思维能力。作为一个4岁半孩子的母亲，我对此完全赞同。

我女儿朱莉娅在给毛绒玩具（她的超级听故事粉丝）讲故事时，喜欢把绘本当作故事的灵感来源。我们会在公园边的图书馆待上一天，她会挑选下一周要看的10～15本书。她花在挑书上的时间和在游乐场里玩耍的时间差不多。她喜欢带有许多插图的书，因为看图“读”故事让她觉得自己挺独立。现在，朱莉娅在睡前常常想给我读个故事。看见她越来越喜欢阅读，我真是快乐无比。对她来说，阅读不是任务或必须做的事，而是和玩耍一样的事。这是关键，因为孩子将阅读视为乐事，是培养终生读者、独立读者的起始。

“阅读之家”致力于教育事业，而孩子很早就能读“章节书”显然是件很棒的事。但如果只为了培养技能，过早强迫孩子达到某一水平，就可能无法培养他们良好的阅读习惯。所以我们提醒好心的父母，别急着清空孩子的故事书架。因为在这么做的时候，你也在清除孩子可能终身获益的阅读习惯。来吧，让我们一起努力，培养喜爱读书、边读边学的一代独立读者。

孩子将阅读视为乐事，是培养终生读者、独立读者的起始。

Erin Ganju 埃琳·甘朱

如果您喜欢这些文章，请戳上面的图片，直接购买完整版电子书 。

第二章　书香 · 杂趣

——摘自《书海逸趣——有书陪伴的人生不寂寞》

Epitaph

墓志铭

Benjamin Franklin

本杰明.富兰克林

作者简介

本杰明.富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin，1706—1790），美国著名的政治家、外交家、哲学家、文学家，美国独立战争时期的伟大领袖。

富兰克林自幼成绩优异，但因家境贫寒而辍学，曾在印刷厂做学徒。学徒期间，他阅读了大量书籍，为日后踏上文学之路打下了基础。他以英国占星学家理查德.桑德斯（Richard Saunders）的名义出版的《穷查理历书》（Poor Richard’s Almanack）是当时美洲殖民地最畅销的小册子。他还是《独立宣言》（United States Declaration of Independence）和《美国宪法》（The Constitution of the United States）的起草者之一，是倡导自由精神的先驱。

1729年，富兰克林在参考类似作品的基础上，为自己撰写了这篇墓志铭。需要一提的是，此墓志铭并未使用，目前富兰克林的墓碑上只刻着他与爱妻的名字。本篇文字简短却意味深长，字里行间皆是爱书之情。正如作者所期望的，其作品一版再版，长存世间。能与这样的伟人一同泛游书海，实乃幸事。

The body of

Benjamin Franklin, printer,

Like the cover of an old book,

Its contents torn out,

And stript of its lettering and gilding,

Lies here, food for worms;

Yet the work itself shall not be lost,

For it will as he believed,

Appear once more

In a new and more beautiful edition,

Corrected and amended

By the author

本杰明·富兰克林，

印刷工一名，

他的身躯，

犹如旧书封面，内容损毁，

字迹斑驳，镀金脱落，

长眠于此，为虫所食。

但作品本身不会消失，

因为如他所愿，

经作者修订删改，

更新更美的版本，

有朝一日将重现人世。

Why Does Nobody Collect Me?

为何没人收藏我的作品？

Robert Benchley

罗伯特.本奇利

作者简介

罗伯特.本奇利（Robert Benchley，1889—1945），散文作家、幽默作家、著名演员，《生活》（Life）和《纽约客》（The New Yorker）杂志戏剧评论家。

本奇利1912年毕业于哈佛大学。他经常把自己生活中的挫折拿出来大书特书。其作品包括《所有的事》（Of All Things）、《我不知所措的十年》（My Ten Years in a Quandary）等，大多嘲讽了中产阶级生活的可恶之事。他还制作并主演过多部喜剧短片，其中短片《如何入睡》（How to Sleep）曾获奥斯卡奖。

本文最初发表于1934年9月的《版本记录》（The Colophon），后收入1947年威廉.塔哥（William Targ）编撰的《爱书人的欢宴》（Carrousel for Bibliophiles）。作者不乏自嘲地发问“我比海明威年纪大，作品也比他多得多。......为啥就没人关注呢？”文中充满了反话和双关语，滑稽逗趣的文字令人捧腹。

Some months ago, while going through an old box of books looking for a pressed nasturtium, I came across a thin volume which, even to my dreamer’s instinct, seemed worth holding out, if only for purposes of prestige.

It was a first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, the edition brought out in Paris by the Three Mountains Press in 1924, while Hemingway was just “Old Ernie” who lived over the sawmill in the rue Notre Dames des Champs. I knew that it must be worth saving, because it said in the front that the edition consisted of one hundred and seventy copies, of which mine was number thirty-nine. That usually means something.

几个月前，为了寻找一朵夹在书里的旱金莲，我翻了一整箱旧书。在箱子里，我发现了一本薄薄的小册子。梦想家的直觉告诉我，如果为了使自己显得有面子，这本书值得珍藏。

那是欧内斯特•海明威《在我们的时代里》的初版本，1924年由巴黎三山出版社出版。当时，海明威还只是住在圣母院大街锯木厂楼上的“老欧尼”。我知道这本书值得收藏，因为书前写着，该书首印170本，我这本编号39。通常来说，这意义非凡。

It so happened that, a few weeks later, “Old Ernie” himself was using my room in New York as a hide-out from literary columnists and reporters during one of his stop-over visits between Africa and Key West. On such all-too-rare occasions he lends an air of virility to my dainty apartment which I miss sorely after he has gone and the furniture has been repaired.

More to interrupt his lion-hunting story than anything else, I brought out my copy of In Our Time and suggested that, in memory of happy days around the Anis Del Oso bowl at the Closerie des Lilas, it might be the handsome thing for him to inscribe a few pally sentiments on the fly-leaf. Not, as I took pains to explain to him, that I was a particular admirer of his work, so much as that I wanted to see if he really knew how to spell.

巧的是几周后，“老欧尼”在从非洲到基维斯特[1]的途中到我家短暂停留，躲避那些文学专栏作家和记者。这段不同寻常的日子里，他为我雅致的公寓增添了不少男子气概。他离开后，家具整修了一番。我心酸地怀念起公寓过去的样子。

为了不让他安心写那篇猎狮故事[2]，我拿出《在我们的时代里》，建议他在扉页上写几句友情赠言，纪念我们在丁香园咖啡馆喝着茴香酒度过的欢乐时光。我告诉他，这事挺显风度。我煞费苦心地向他说明，自己是他的狂热粉丝。而事实上，我更想看他会不会拼写。

Encouraged by my obviously friendly tone, he took a pen in his chubby fist, dipped it in a bottle of bull’s blood, and wrote the following:

To Robert (“Garbage Bird”) Benchley,

hoping that he won’t wait for prices

to reach the peak—

from his friend,

Ernest (“—”) Hemingway

The “Garbage Bird” reference in connection with me was a familiarity he had taken in the past to describe my appearance in the early morning light of Montparnasse on certain occasions. The epithet applied to himself, which was unprintable except in Ulysses, was written deliberately to make it impossible for me to cash in on the book.

Then, crazed with success at defacing In Our Time, he took my first edition of A Farewell to Arms and filled in each blank in the text where Scribner’s had blushed and put a dash instead of the original word. I think that he supplied the original word in every case. In fact, I am sure of it.

On the fly-leaf of this he wrote:

To R. (G). B. from E. (—). H.

Corrected edition. Filled-in blanks.

Very valuable. Sell quick.

我的语气中充满了友好。在这显而易见的怂恿下，他用胖乎乎的手攥住一支笔，往牛血红酒[3]里蘸了蘸，一挥而就：

致罗伯特•（“废鸟”）•本奇利：

希望他没盼着

书价一飞冲天

好友：欧内斯特•（“——”）•海明威

“废鸟”是他以前给我起的绰号，用来形容我某次在蒙帕纳斯晨光映照下的模样。他自己的外号更是不登大雅之堂，只有在《尤利西斯》里才可能出现。他故意把那个绰号写上扉页，是存心不让我拿书卖钱。

成功“糟蹋”完《在我们的时代里》的面目之后，海明威意犹未尽，又把我的《永别了，武器》[4]初版本拿出来，把书里被删的词逐一还原。这些词曾让斯克里布纳出版社脸红心跳，全被该社换成了破折号。我猜想，他大概把每个词都改了回来。事实上，我很确信。

他在扉页上写道：

E. (——). H. 致 R. (G). B.[5]

修订版。补全空白。

非常值钱。祝速卖。

Now, oddly enough, I had never considered selling either book. I had known, in a general way, that a first edition of The Gutenberg Bible would be worth money, and that, if one could lay hands on an autographed copy of Canterbury Tales, it would be a good idea to tuck it away, but that a first edition of one of Ernie’s books could be the object of even Rabelaisian jesting as to its commercial value surprised and, in a vague sort of way, depressed me. Why are not my works matters for competitive bidding in the open market?

I am older than Hemingway, and have written more books than he has. And yet it is as much as my publishers and I can do to get people to pay even the list price for my books, to say nothing of a supplementary sum for rare copies. One of my works, Love Conquers All, is even out of print, and yet nobody shows any interest in my extra copy. I have even found autographed copies of my books in secondhand book shops, along with My Life and Times by Buffalo Bill. Doesn’t anybody care?

奇怪的是，我从未想过卖掉其中任何一本。我知道，《古登堡圣经》的初版一般都很值钱，而且如果谁能搞到签名版的《坎特伯雷故事集》，最好还是把它藏起来。不过，欧尼的初版书竟能卖到如此天价，足以成为拉伯雷式的笑话。我在吃惊之余，还感到莫名的郁闷。为什么我的作品公开拍卖就叫不上价呢？

我比海明威年长，作品也比他多。我和出版商竭尽全力，期待读者哪怕按标价付款也好。指望他们为稀缺版本多付点钱，就更是奢望了。我的大作《爱征服一切》几乎绝版，但我手头的存货却没人感兴趣。我甚至发现自己签过名的书躺在二手书店里，就在布法罗•比尔的《我的生活与时代》旁边。难道就没人在乎吗？

What is there about me and my work that repels collectors? I am handsome, in an unusual sort of way, and speak French fluently, even interspersing some of my writings with French phrases. True, some of my copy, as it goes to the printer, is not strictly orthodox in spelling and punctuation, but the proof-readers have always been very nice about it, and, by the time my books are out, there is nothing offensive to the eye about them. And yet I have been told by hospital authorities that more copies of my works are left behind by departing patients than those of any other author. It does seem as if people might at least take my books home with them.

...

But, until the collecting public comes to its senses, I seem to be saddled, not only with a set of mutilated galleys, but about twenty-five rare copies of my earlier works, each unique in its way. Possibly Hemingway would like them in return for the two books of his own that he has gone to so much trouble to render unsalable for me.

我和我的作品究竟哪里不好，吓跑了收藏者？从某个特殊角度看，我长得挺帅，我能说一口流利的法语，甚至能用法语为作品稍加点缀。的确，我的一些作品付梓之时，拼写和标点有点小毛病，但校对员都没抱怨什么。而且书出版以后，那些小错也不怎么碍眼。不过，医院负责人告诉我，出院病人留下的书里，我的作品总比别人的多。我还以为，人们至少会把我的书带回家呢。

……

不过看来直到收藏者普遍意识到我作品的价值，我将一直身负重担。我的重担包括一套残缺不全的校样，以及25本我的早期作品，每本都是“与众不同”的稀有版本。或许海明威愿意收藏我的上述大作，来报答我收藏他那两本被题词糟蹋、无法脱手的小书。

医院负责人告诉我，出院病人留下的书里，我的作品总比别人的多。我还以为，人们至少会把我的书带回家呢。

Robert Benchley 罗伯特•本奇利

[1] 基维斯特（Key West），美国佛罗里达群岛最南边的一个岛屿和城市，是著名的旅游胜地。海明威的许多作品都在这里写成。

[2] “猎狮故事”指《非洲的青山》。1933年，海明威偕妻子和朋友去非洲狩猎，回来后便写了这部纪实作品。

[3] 牛血红酒，匈牙利埃格尔出产的著名红酒。

[4] 《永别了，武器》，海明威的代表作。

[5] R. (G). B.为罗伯特.“废鸟”.本奇利 [Robert (“Garbage Bird”) Benchley]的缩写，E. (——). H.为欧内斯特.“——”.海明威 [Ernest (“—”) Hemingway]的缩写。

The Library of Babel

巴别图书馆

Jorge Luis Borges

豪尔赫.路易斯.博尔赫斯

作者简介

豪尔赫.路易斯.博尔赫斯（Jorge Luis Borges，1899—1986），享誉世界的阿根廷诗人、翻译家、小说家，尤以短篇小说著称。他的短篇小说构思奇特、结构精巧、情节荒诞且充满幻想。此外，他的散文和艺术随笔同样成就不小。其代表作包括《小径分岔的花园》（The Garden of Forking Paths）、《巴别图书馆》（The Library of Babel）、《博尔赫斯口述》（Borges Oral）等。

《巴别图书馆》是博尔赫斯用西班牙语写成的短篇小说，最初收入1941年的小说集《小径分岔的花园》，后收入1944年的《虚构集》（Fictions）。本文节选自1962年的英译本。图书馆对博尔赫斯来说有不同寻常的意义：他先是在米格尔.卡内图书馆工作多年，后来担任阿根廷国立图书馆馆长直至退休。他最为人熟知的名言“我心中一直暗暗设想，天堂该是图书馆的模样”就与图书馆相关。

本文中，他以奇特的想象描绘了理想中的图书馆。在他的笔下，宇宙就是个图书馆，无穷无尽，极富变化。对爱书人来说，这或许是最令人神往之事。

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors. The distribution of the galleries is invariable. Twenty shelves, five long shelves per side, cover all the sides except two; their height, which is the distance from floor to ceiling, scarcely exceeds that of a normal bookcase. One of the free sides leads to a narrow hallway which opens onto another gallery, identical to the first and to all the rest. To the left and right of the hallway there are two very small closets. In the first, one may sleep standing up; in the other, satisfy one’s fecal necessities. Also through here passes a spiral stairway, which sinks abysmally and soars upwards to remote distances. In the hallway there is a mirror which faithfully duplicates all appearances. Men usually infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite (If it were, why this illusory duplication?); I prefer to dream that its polished surfaces represent and promise the infinite...Light is provided by some spherical fruit which bear the name of lamps. There are two, transversally placed, in each hexagon. The light they emit is insufficient, incessant.

宇宙（也有人称之为图书馆）由无穷无尽的六角书廊组成。书廊之间有巨大的通风井，周围是低矮的栏杆。从任何一个六角书廊放眼望去，皆可看见无限延伸的上下楼层。书廊的布置整齐划一，每间都有20个书架。除了两面墙之外，其余四面墙边各有5个长书架。每个书架都从地面一直顶到天花板，比普通书架略高一些。在没有摆书架的其中一面墙上，有一条通往另一间六角书廊的狭窄走道。所有的六角书廊都一模一样。走道左右有两个很小的房间，一间可供人站着睡觉，另一间则做厕所使用。这里还有一座螺旋形的楼梯，上通碧落，下抵黄泉。走道中还有一面镜子，能真实地复制一切。人们通常依此推断，图书馆并非无限。（如果图书馆是无限的，为何还有复制的幻象？）我更乐于想象，镜子光滑的表面反映了无尽，预示着无限……光线来自一些名叫“灯”的球状物体。每个六角书廊都横置着两盏这样的灯。它们发出的光线微弱而持久。

Like all men of the Library, I have traveled in my youth; I have wandered in search of a book, perhaps the catalogue of catalogues; now that my eyes can hardly decipher what I write, I am preparing to die just a few leagues from the hexagon in which I was born. Once I am dead, there will be no lack of pious hands to throw me over the railing; my grave will be the fathomless air; my body will sink endlessly and decay and dissolve in the wind generated by the fall, which is infinite. I say that the Library is unending. The idealists argue that the hexagonal rooms are a necessary form of absolute space or, at least, of our intuition of space. They reason that a triangular or pentagonal room is inconceivable. (The mystics claim that their ecstasy reveals to them a circular chamber containing a great circular book, whose spine is continuous and which follows the complete circle of the walls; but their testimony is suspect; their words, obscure. This cyclical book is God.) Let it suffice now for me to repeat the classic dictum: The Library is a sphere whose exact center is any one of its hexagons and whose circumference is inaccessible.

...

与图书馆里的所有人一样，我年轻时也曾旅行。我曾为寻找一本书——或许是目录的总目录——而漫游；而如今，我已很难看清自己写下的文字，准备在自己出生的六角书廊附近死去。我死后，将有虔诚之手将我扔过栏杆；我的墓穴将是深不可测的天空；我的身体将不断坠落，并在无限的坠落中随风而散，化为无形。我说图书馆是无穷无尽的。理想主义者则声称，六角形房间是绝对空间[1]的必要形式，或者至少是人类空间直觉的必要形式。他们分析，三角形或五角形的房间是不可思议的。（神秘主义者则宣称，他们在迷幻状态下看见一个环形的房间，里面有一本环形的大书，它的书脊沿着环形墙壁连续不断。但他们的证词十分可疑；他们的话语含糊不清。这本循环的书是上帝。）现在让我重申那句经典格言：图书馆是个球体，以任意六角书廊为圆心，圆周长不可测。

……

Five hundred years ago, the chief of an upper hexagon came upon a book as confusing as the others, but which had nearly two pages of homogeneous lines. He showed his find to a wandering decoder who told him the lines were written in Portuguese; others said they were Yiddish. Within a century, the language was established: a Samoyedic Lithuanian dialect of Guarani, with classical Arabian inflections. The content was also deciphered: some notions of combinative analysis, illustrated with examples of variations with unlimited repetition. These examples made it possible for a librarian of genius to discover the fundamental law of the Library. This thinker observed that all the books, no matter how diverse they might be, are made up of the same elements: the space, the period, the comma, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. He also alleged a fact which travelers have confirmed: In the vast Library there are no two identical books. From these two incontrovertible premises he deduced that the Library is total and that its shelves register all the possible combinations of the twenty-odd orthographical symbols (a number which, though extremely vast, is not infinite): Everything: the minutely detailed history of the future, the archangels’ autobiographies, the faithful catalogues of the Library, thousands and thousands of false catalogues, the demonstration of the fallacy of those catalogues, the demonstration of the fallacy of the true catalogue, the Gnostic gospel of Basilides, the commentary on that gospel, the commentary on the commentary on that gospel, the true story of your death, the translation of every book in all languages, the interpolations of every book in all books.

500年前，上层六角书廊的主管偶然看见一本像其他书一样令人费解的书，但其中近两页中的句子是类似的。他向一位云游四海的破译员请教自己的发现。那个人告诉他，这些句子是葡萄牙语写成的；也有人认为那是意第绪语。一个世纪之内，那种语言得到了确认——萨摩耶——立陶宛语的瓜拉尼方言，带有传统阿拉伯语的屈折变化。句子内容也得到了破译：一些综合分析的概念，用无限重复又有变化的事例加以阐释。这些事例使得一位天才图书馆员发现了图书馆的基本法则。这位思考者发现，所有的书无论有多大差别，都由相同的要素组成：空格、句号、逗号和字母表里的22个字母。他还指出了一个已得到旅行者确认的事实：浩瀚无边的图书馆里，没有两本完全相同的书。从这两个无可争议的前提出发，他得出了结论：图书馆无所不包，架上的书穷尽了20多个书写符号的一切组合。（这个数字尽管庞大，却并非无穷。）这些字母组合能表达一切，包括未来的详尽历史、天使长的自传、图书馆的真实书目、成千上万的伪书目、对伪书目中问题的论证、对真书目中问题的论证、巴西里德斯的诺斯底福音[2]、对这个福音的评论、对这些评论的评论、关于你死亡的真相、每本书的所有语言的译本以及所有书里的增补部分。

When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books, the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure. There was no personal or world problem whose eloquent solution did not exist in some hexagon. The universe was justified; the universe suddenly usurped the unlimited dimensions of hope. At that time a great deal was said about the Vindications: books of apology and prophecy which vindicated for all time the acts of every man in the universe and retained prodigious arcana for his future. Thousands of the greedy abandoned their sweet native hexagons and rushed up the stairways, urged on by the vain intention of finding their Vindication. These pilgrims disputed in the narrow corridors, proffered dark curses, strangled each other on the divine stairways, flung the deceptive books into the air shafts, met their death cast down in a similar fashion by the inhabitants of remote regions. Others went mad…The Vindications exist (I have seen two which refer to persons of the future, to persons who are perhaps not imaginary) but the searchers did not remember that the possibility of a man’s finding his Vindication, or some treacherous variation thereof, can be computed as zero.

人们得知图书馆收藏了所有的书时，第一反应便是感到幸福满溢。所有人都觉得自己是一座保存完好的神秘宝库的主人。所有的私人问题或关于世界的疑问都能在某些六角书廊里找到可靠的解答。宇宙合理化了，人类希望的无限维度却突然受到了宇宙的限制。那时有很多用于辩护的书：忏悔书和预言书。那些书总是为宇宙中每个人的行为辩解，并记录着有关每个人未来的奥秘。成千上万贪婪的人试图为自己寻找辩护。受到这种徒劳企图的驱使，他们放弃了自己温馨的六角书廊，冲上楼梯。这些朝圣者在狭窄的走道里争论不休，恶语相向，在神圣的楼梯上相互厮杀，把骗人的书本扔进通风管。他们自己则被远方居民以同样的方式扔进通风管，死于非命。还有些人疯了……辩护确实存在。（我看见过两本关于未来人类的辩护书，那些人不像是虚构出来的。）但搜索者忘记了一点：找到为自己辩护的书，或是一些不可靠的替代品的可能性可能为零。

At that time it was also hoped that a clarification of humanity’s basic mysteries—the origin of the Library and of time—might be found. It is verisimilar that these grave mysteries could be explained in words: if the language of philosophers is not sufficient, the multiform Library will have produced the unprecedented language required, with its vocabularies and grammars. For four centuries now men have exhausted the hexagons...There are official searchers, inquisitors. I have seen them in the performance of their function: they always arrive extremely tired from their journeys; they speak of a broken stairway which almost killed them; they talk with the librarian of galleries and stairs; sometimes they pick up the nearest volume and leaf through it, looking for infamous words. Obviously, no one expects to discover anything.

As was natural, this inordinate hope was followed by an excessive depression. The certitude that some shelf in some hexagon held precious books and that these precious books were inaccessible, seemed almost intolerable. A blasphemous sect suggested that the searches should cease and that all men should juggle letters and symbols until they constructed, by an improbable gift of chance, these canonical books. The authorities were obliged to issue severe orders. The sect disappeared, but in my childhood I have seen old men who, for long periods of time, would hide in the latrines with some metal disks in a forbidden dice cup and feebly mimic the divine disorder.

那时，人们还希望找到对人类基本奥秘——图书馆和时间起源——的解释。这些严肃的奥秘似乎真的可以用文字解释：如果哲学家的语言不足以表达，那么，各种各样的图书馆会提供所需的语言，一种前所未见的语言，包含词汇和语法。400年来，人们已踏遍所有六角书廊……官方搜索者被称为“稽查员”。我见过他们工作的情形：他们到达目的地时总是筋疲力尽；他们谈起断裂的楼梯差点害自己丧命；他们与图书馆员谈论书廊和楼梯；他们有时会拿起身边的书随意翻阅，寻找伤风败俗的字眼。显然，他们不指望能发现什么。

自然而然，过分的希望带来的是极度的失望。一种笃定的观点认为，某个六角书廊的某个书架上藏有珍本，但这些珍本人手难及。这个观点似乎让人难以接受。一个亵渎神明的教派建议人们停止搜索，提议所有人随意摆弄字母和符号，直到它们在不太可能的机缘巧合中组合成符合教义的书。官方被迫颁布严格的法令。这个教派消失了。但在我小时候的很长一段时间里，我曾见过老人躲在厕所里，用被禁的骰盅摇着金属片，有气无力地模拟神界的混乱。

Others, inversely, believed that it was fundamental to eliminate useless works. They invaded the hexagons, showed credentials which were not always false, leafed through a volume with displeasure and condemned whole shelves: their hygienic, ascetic furor caused the senseless perdition of millions of books. Their name is execrated, but those who deplore the “treasures” destroyed by this frenzy neglect two notable facts. One: the Library is so enormous that any reduction of human origin is infinitesimal. The other: every copy is unique, irreplaceable, but (since the Library is total) there are always several hundred thousand imperfect facsimiles: works which differ only in a letter or a comma. Counter to general opinion, I venture to suppose that the consequences of the Purifiers’ depredations have been exaggerated by the horror these fanatics produced. They were urged on by the delirium of trying to reach the books in the Crimson Hexagon: books whose format is smaller than usual, all-powerful, illustrated and magical.

相反，另一些人相信根除没用的书是关键。他们闯进六角书廊，出示或真或假的身份证件，满怀怒气地翻翻一本书，然后给所有的书架定罪。他们卫道士、苦行僧般的狂热，导致上百万本书莫名其妙地毁于一旦。他们的名字遭人咒骂，但那些谴责“珍宝”毁于狂热的人，忽视了两个明显的事实。其一，图书馆如此庞大，任何人为的削减都微不足道。其二，每本书都独一无二、无可替代，但由于图书馆无所不包，总能找到几十万本略有瑕疵的复制品。它们与原书的差别，不过是一个字母或一个逗号。我斗胆设想——这个设想与人们普遍的观点相反——这些清道夫蹂躏书籍带来的影响，被狂热分子营造的恐怖气氛夸大了。他们受到狂热的驱使，试图得到深红色六角书廊中的书。那些书的开本略小于普通书籍，书中蕴含无穷力量，配有插图，带有魔力。

We also know of another superstition of that time: that of the Man of the Book. On some shelf in some hexagon (men reasoned) there must exist a book which is the formula and perfect compendium of all the rest: some librarian has gone through it and he is analogous to a god. In the language of this zone vestiges of this remote functionary’s cult still persist. Many wandered in search of Him. For a century they have exhausted in vain the most varied areas. How could one locate the venerated and secret hexagon which housed Him? Someone proposed a regressive method: To locate book A, consult first book B which indicates A’s position; to locate book B, consult first a book C, and so on to infinity...In adventures such as these, I have squandered and wasted my years. It does not seem unlikely to me that there is a total book on some shelf of the universe; I pray to the unknown gods that a man—just one, even though it were thousands of years ago! —may have examined and read it. If honor and wisdom and happiness are not for me, let them be for others. Let heaven exist, though my place be in hell. Let me be outraged and annihilated, but for one instant, in one being, let Your enormous Library be justified.

...

我们还知道那时的另一种迷信，即相信存在“书人”。（人们推断）在某个六角书廊的某个书架上，存在这样一本书——这本书是其余所有书的模板和完美纲要。某位图书馆员曾读过此书，而后变得近似于神。对这个人的古老的狂热崇拜，在此区域遗留的语言中仍然存在。许多人四处寻找这个人。一个世纪以来，他们筋疲力尽地走遍各地，却一无所获。如何找到他住过的那间受人崇敬的神秘六角书廊？有人提议用倒推法：为了找到甲书，先查看标出甲书位置的乙书；为找乙书，先看丙书；以此类推，直至无穷……在这样的探索中，我挥霍了多少光阴。在我看来，在宇宙的某个书架上，确实有一本无所不包之书。我向未知的神明祷告，祈盼已有人调查并读过此书——哪怕只有一个人，哪怕是在数千年之前。让荣誉、智慧、幸福属于别人吧——如果它们不属于我。让天堂存在吧，即使我身处地狱。让我遭受侮辱、陷入毁灭吧，只要有那么一瞬，通过一人之身，能证明伟大的图书馆确实存在。

……

The methodical task of writing distracts me from the present state of men. The certitude that everything has been written negates us or turns us into phantoms. I know of districts in which the young men prostrate themselves before books and kiss their pages in a barbarous manner, but they do not know how to decipher a single letter. Epidemics, heretical conflicts, peregrinations which inevitably degenerate into banditry, have decimated the population. I believe I have mentioned suicides, more and more frequent with the years. Perhaps my old age and fearfulness deceive me, but I suspect that the human species—the unique species—is about to be extinguished, but the Library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, equipped with precious volumes, useless, incorruptible, secret.

I have just written the word “infinite.” I have not interpolated this adjective out of rhetorical habit; I say that it is not illogical to think that the world is infinite. Those who judge it to be limited postulate that in remote places the corridors and stairways and hexagons can conceivably come to an end—which is absurd. Those who imagine it to be without limit forget that the possible number of books does have such a limit. I venture to suggest this solution to the ancient problem: The Library is unlimited and cyclical. If an eternal traveler were to cross it in any direction, after centuries he would see that the same volumes were repeated in the same disorder (which, thus repeated, would be an order: the Order).

有条不紊的写作任务让我不再关注人类的现状。一种笃定的观点认为，万物都已被写尽。这种观点抹杀了人类的存在，或将我们化为幻影。我知道在有些地方，年轻人拜倒在书前，粗野地亲吻书页，但他们一个字母都不认识。传染病、异教冲突以及游历不可避免地导致盗寇横行，使人口数量骤减。我相信，我提到了近年来愈发频繁的自杀行为。或许高龄和恐惧欺骗了我，但我怀疑，人类这个独一无二的物种将走向灭亡，图书馆却将永存——它发出光芒、遗世独立、无穷无尽、安然静止，深藏无用、不朽、秘密的珍贵书籍。

我刚写下“无穷无尽”这个词。我插入这个形容词，并非出于修辞的习惯；我认为，“世界无边无际”这个想法合乎逻辑。那些认为“世界有限”的人假设在某个遥远的地方，走道、楼梯、六角书廊都有尽头——这真是荒谬。那些想象“世界无限”的人，忘记了书籍的数量或许有限。我斗胆为这个古老的问题给出解答：图书馆没有止境且周而复始。如果一位永生的旅行者朝任意方向穿越图书馆，许多个世纪之后，他会看见同样的书以同样的无序再次出现。（这种无序一旦重复，便形成了秩序，即“规律”。）

我怀疑，人类这个独一无二的物种将走向灭亡，图书馆却将永存——它发出光芒、遗世独立、无穷无尽、安然静止，深藏无用、不朽、秘密的珍贵书籍。

Jorge Luis Borges 豪尔赫•路易斯•博尔赫斯

[1] 物理学概念，牛顿认为宇宙中存在一个与任何物体均无相互作用，而且永远静止的空间，即“绝对空间”。

[2] 诺斯底福音，受诺斯底派影响写成的福音书，被正统教派视为异端和“伪福音”。

How to Organize a Public Library

如何管理公共图书馆

Umberto Eco

翁贝托.埃科

作者简介

翁贝托.埃科（Umberto Eco，1932—），意大利小说家、文学批评家、符号学家、历史学家，被《剑桥意大利文学史》（Cambridge History of Italian Literature）誉为“20世纪后半期最耀眼的意大利作家”。

埃科凭借描写中世纪修道院阴谋的长篇小说《玫瑰的名字》（The Name of the Rose）蜚声世界文坛。该书被译为35种文字、全球销量数千万册，使埃科跻身一流后现代主义小说家之列。他接下来的小说《傅科摆》（Foucault’s Pendulum）、《昨日之岛》（The Island of the Day Before）也很畅销。他还著有大量学术著作和散文，如《翻译与过度翻译》（Interpretation and Overinterpretation）、《悠游小说林》（Six Walks in the Fictional Woods）等。他在欧洲已成为知识和教养的象征，在中国的人气也节节攀升。

本篇选自埃科1994年出版的作品集《带着鲑鱼去旅行》（How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays）。文中以戏谑的口吻调侃了图书馆各项不近人情的制度，极富黑色幽默感。

1. The various catalogues must be housed as far apart as possible from one another. All care must be taken to separate the catalogue of books from that of periodicals, and these two from the catalogue by subject; similarly, the recent acquisitions must be kept well away from older collections. If possible, the spelling in the two catalogues (recent acquisitions and older collections) must be different. In the recent acquisitions, for example, pajama should be spelled with an a, in the older, pyjama with a y. Chaikovski in recent acquisitions will follow the Library of Congress system; in the older catalogue the name will be spelled in the old-fashioned way, with Tch.

2. The subjects must be determined by the librarian. On their copyright pages the books must bear no indication of the subjects under which they are to be listed.

3. Call numbers should be impossible to decipher and, if possible, very complex, so that anyone filling out a call slip will never have room to include the last line of numbers and will assume they are irrelevant. Then the desk attendant will hand the slip back to him with the admonition to fill it out properly.

4. The time between request and delivery must be as long as possible.

5. Only one book should be released at a time.

1. 不同种类的书目，放得越远越好。书籍目录和期刊目录必须分开放，且不能与主题目录[1]放在一起。同样，新旧书籍也必须分开放。如果可能的话，新旧书籍编目的拼写方式也得有所区别。例如，“睡衣”这个词在新编目要用a，拼成pajama；在旧编目则要用y，拼成pyjama。“柴可夫斯基”在新编目里要按国会图书馆分类体系[2]的拼法，拼成Chaikovski；在旧编目里则要按老式拼法，以Tch开头。

2. 书籍类别应由图书馆员确定，须与版权页标注的类别毫无关联。

3. 图书编号应该难以破译，尽可能复杂。如此一来，读者填借书单时就会写不下最后一行数字，便觉得它们无关紧要。这样，图书馆员就能把借书单退回，警告读者正确填写。

4. 从递单到取书的间隔必须尽可能地长。

5. 一次只许借一本书。

6. The books distributed by the attendant after the request form has been properly submitted cannot be taken into the reference room, so the scholars must divide their working life into two fundamental aspects: reading on the one hand and reference consultation on the other. The library must discourage, as conducive to strabismus, any crossover tendencies or attempts at the simultaneous reading of several books.

7. Insofar as possible, no photocopier should be available; if such a machine does exist, access to it must be made very time-consuming and toilsome, fees should be higher than those in any neighborhood copy shop, and the maximum number of copied pages permitted should not exceed two or three.

8. The librarian must consider the reader an enemy, a waster of time (otherwise he or she would be at work), and a potential thief.

9. The reference librarian’s office must be impregnable.

10. Loans must be discouraged.

6. 读者把借书单填写完整并成功提交后，才能借到书，但此书不能带进参考书阅览室。因此，研究者不得不把工作分成两块：看其他书时不能查参考书，查参考书时不能看其他书。图书馆绝不鼓励读者同时阅读多本书，因为这可能导致斜视。

7. 馆内尽可能不提供复印机。如果已有复印机，就让人用起来费时费力。复印价格务必高于附近所有复印店，且最多只许印2到3页。

8. 图书馆员必须把读者视为敌人、浪费时间的家伙（要不然，他为什么不去工作，而跑来借书？）和潜在的小偷。

9. 参考馆员[3]的办公室必须固若金汤。

10. 绝不鼓励外借书籍。

11. Interlibrary loans must be impossible or, at best, must require months. The ideal course, in any event, is to ensure the impossibility of discovering the contents of other libraries.

12. Given this policy, theft must be very easy.

13. Opening hours must coincide precisely with local office hours, determined by foresighted discussions with trade union officials and the Chamber of Commerce; total closing on Saturday, Sunday, evenings, and mealtimes goes without saying. The library’s worst enemy is the employed student; its best friend is Thomas Jefferson, someone who has a large personal library and therefore no need to visit the public library (to which he may nevertheless bequeath his books at his death).

14. It must be impossible to find any refreshment inside the library, under any circumstances; and it must also be impossible to leave the library to seek sustenance elsewhere without first returning all books in use, so that, after having a cup of coffee, the student must fill out requests for them again.

15. It must be impossible on a given day to find the book one had been using the day before.

11. 必须杜绝跨馆借阅，或借阅一次要花几个月。最理想的状态是，不让读者知道别的图书馆有哪些藏书。

12. 此规章制度须便于小偷行窃。

13. 图书馆开放时间须与当地工作时间一致，这是工会与商会共同作出的前瞻性决定，周六日、晚间、用餐时间理所应当闭馆。图书馆最坏的敌人莫过于兼职学生；最好的朋友莫过于托马斯•杰斐逊——这类人拥有大量私人藏书，无须造访公共图书馆，甚至可能将书遗赠至此。

14. 无论如何都不能让人在图书馆里找到便餐。读者只有先归还手中的书，才能出门填饱肚子。因此，出门喝杯咖啡回来，必须要重填借书单。

15. 务必让人找不到前一天看过的书。

16. It must be impossible to learn who has a book that is currently out on loan.

17. If possible, no rest rooms.

18. Ideally, the reader should be unable to enter the library. If he does actually enter, exploiting with tedious insistence a right, granted on the basis of the principles of 1789, that has nevertheless not been assimilated by the collective sensibility, he must never, ever—with the exception of rapid visits to the reference shelves—be allowed access to the sanctum of the stacks.

CONFIDENTIAL NOTE:

All staff must be affected by physical defects, as it is the duty of a public institution to offer job opportunities to handicapped citizens (the fire department is considering an extension of this rule to its ranks). In particular, the ideal librarian should limp, in order to lengthen the time devoted to receiving the call slip, descending into the basement, and returning. For personnel expected to use ladders to reach the shelves more than eight meters above the ground, it is required that missing arms be replaced by prosthetic hooks, for security reasons. Personnel lacking both upper limbs will deliver the requested volume by gripping it in their teeth (library regulations tend to prevent the delivery of volumes in a format larger than octavo).

16. 务必查不到某本书目前被谁借走。

17. 尽可能不设洗手间。

18. 最理想的状况是，读者根本无法进入图书馆。万一读者执意强调1789年宪法赋予的个人权利（这种权利与集体认知格格不入），硬是闯进了门，也绝不许他踏入书库这片神圣禁地，顶多让他匆匆扫一眼参考书架。

保密须知：

图书馆工作人员须为残障人士，因为公共机构有义务为其提供就业机会（消防部门也理应如此）。特别是，最好由跛子担任图书馆员，以便延长收借书单和进出地下书库的时间。工作人员如需架梯登上8米多高的书架，为了安全起见，其残臂须换成铁钩手。无臂馆员可用牙叼书，递给读者（馆规禁止递送大于8开的书籍）。

图书馆员必须把读者视为敌人、浪费时间的家伙和潜在的小偷。

Umberto Eco 翁贝托•埃科

[1] 主题目录，一种档案目录，按特定专题以一定次序编排而成。

[2] 国会图书馆分类体系，美国图书馆的两大分类体系之一，广泛应用于美国和一些国家的图书馆。

[3] 参考馆员，图书馆读者服务方面的专有名词，其职责是为用户提供信息咨询服务。

Fifteen Books We Would Memorize if

We Were the "Living Books" Characters

in Ray Bradbury's Novel Fahrenheit 451

《华氏451度》的选择

Rob Kaplan

罗布.卡普兰

作者简介

罗布.卡普兰（Rob Kaplan），美国资深编辑，从事图书出版行业达25年之久，1998年以自己的名字命名设立了一家出版社。他和美国另一位著名编辑哈罗德•拉宾诺维茨（Harold Rabinowitz）合编过《一派书心》（A Passion for Books），收集了爱书人关于读书、寻书、借书、藏书的种种故事，有小说，有散文，也有幽默小品，足见其爱书之深。

本文选自1999年出版的《一派书心》。文中提及，美国科幻小说家雷.道格拉斯.布雷德伯里（Ray Douglas Bradbury）为小说《华氏451度》（Fahrenheit 451）设置了如下背景：千禧年前后，世上书籍面临灭顶之灾，爱书人决定通过背诵保存典籍，但每个人的记忆有限，故必须有所取舍。卡普兰受此启发，选出了15本他认为最值得传诵的书籍。同为爱书人，你又将如何选择？

In 1953 Ray Bradbury’s futuristic novel, Fahrenheit 451, was published. It was about a world in which books have been outlawed and the government employs “firemen” to burn libraries and destroy all books (which catch fire at a temperature of 451 degrees Fahrenheit).

The solution of those few insurgents devoted to books was to memorize and actually become the classics they wished to preserve, retelling them verbatim to others. The vision was profoundly disturbing to all book lovers (Bradbury delights in doing that), but it set the editors to thinking: which books would they want to become? These books are not presented as the most important, or the most influential, or the greatest—or any such noble description. They are the books that we feel have become so much a part of us that if we ever found ourselves forced to, we could memorize them in order to preserve them.

1. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

3. Night by Elie Wiesel

4. 1984 by George Orwell

5. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

7. April Morning by Howard Fast

8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

9. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

10. A Separate Peace by John Knowles

1.《太阳照常升起》 作者：欧内斯特•海明威

【你们都是迷惘的一代。】

2.《第22条军规》 作者：约瑟夫•海勒

【如果你能证明自己发疯，那说明你没疯。】

3.《夜》 作者：埃利•维瑟尔

【这是一个15岁孩子的记忆，它讲述的是死亡，却给予我们生的力量。】

4.《1984》 作者：乔治•奥威尔

【多一个人看奥威尔，就多了一份自由的保障。】

5.《喧哗与骚动》 作者：威廉•福克纳

【人生如痴人说梦，充满着喧哗与骚动，却没有任何意义。】

6.《阿特拉斯耸耸肩》 作者：艾恩•兰德

【自私是种美德。】

7.《四月的早晨》 作者：霍华德•法斯特

【战争的畸变，让一个男孩瞬间成长。】

8.《了不起的盖茨比》 作者：弗兰西斯•司各特•菲茨杰拉德

【人生如烟花般，璀璨只是一瞬，幻灭才是永恒。】

9.《麦田里的守望者》 作者：杰罗姆•大卫•塞林格

【我只想当个麦田里的守望者。】

10.《独自和解》 作者：约翰•诺尔斯

【我无法摆脱一种感觉：这是我自己的葬礼，人在自己的葬礼上是无法哭泣的。】

11. Demian by Hermann Hesse

12. Cat’ s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

14. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

15. Time and Again by Jack Finney

11.《彷徨少年时》 作者：赫尔•黑塞

【人人都背负诞生时的残余，背负来自原初世界的黏液和蛋壳，直到生命的终点。】

12.《猫的摇篮》 作者：库尔特•冯内古特

【当人类的愚蠢和冷漠与他们的技术能力相结合时，会造成何等可怕的危险。】

13.《杀死一只知更鸟》 作者：哈珀•李

【善良与正义是一种教养。】

14.《青年艺术家的肖像》 作者：詹姆斯•乔伊斯

【乔伊斯接下来的巨著如《尤利西斯》与《芬尼根守灵夜》都是本书的续篇。】

15.《时又重来》 作者：杰克•芬尼

【科幻推理小说。主角谋杀敌人的方法是，回到过去，阻止敌人的父母相遇。】

Yes, But Is It Art?

好吧，但这真是文学吗？

C. Alan Joyce & Sarah Janssen

C. 艾伦.乔伊斯 萨拉.詹森

作者简介

C. 艾伦.乔伊斯（C. Alan Joyce），自由撰稿人、图书编辑，热爱与书籍相关的一切，拥有多年图书出版经验，曾任《世界年鉴》（The World Almanac and Book of Facts）主编，《纽约时报年鉴》（The New York Times Almanac）和《纽约时报基本知识指南》（The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge）的执行主编。

萨拉.詹森（Sarah Janssen），《世界年鉴》编辑，主要负责艺术与传媒、消费者信息、历史、体育等方面内容。

本文选自2009年出版的《书页之间》（Under the Covers and Between the Sheets）。书海之大，无奇不有：有些书没有动词，有些书没有标点，有些书甚至通篇不出现某个字母。这些另类作品仿佛罕见生物，让浩瀚书海更加多姿多彩。观赏奇书的体验或许不亚于一次冒险旅行。

You thought Moby Dick was tough reading? Try these on for size: These are works of serious literature, where some are written without verbs, without punctuation...Or even without the letter “e”.

James Joyce, Finnegan’s Wake (1939):

Joyce said that this opaque and multilayered text was meant “to keep the critics busy for three hundred years” (so check back with us in 2239, when all its secrets will presumably have been uncovered). The text draws inspiration from the historical theories of Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico; forms a closed narrative loop, with the first sentence of the book completing the final sentence; and makes liberal use of invented words, derived from dozens of languages. Among these are a collection of hundred-letter words representing “thunderclaps,” which announce the start of each age of history. (Eg: Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk.) What could be simpler?

你觉得《白鲸记》晦涩难读？试试这些作品是否合适：它们都是严肃文学作品，有的不用动词，有的没有标点……有的甚至不出现字母e[1]。

詹姆斯 • 乔伊斯，《芬尼根守灵夜》（1939）

乔伊斯表示，这部晦涩难懂、有多重含义的作品旨在“让评论家忙上300年”（因此到2239年，也就是书中一切秘密都被揭晓时，记得回来找我们）。这部作品的灵感来自意大利哲学家詹巴蒂斯塔 • 维柯的历史理论。全书的叙事构成一个封闭循环[2]，第一句话与最后一句话相接。书中还随意使用源于多种语言的自创词。其中有一个用100个字母拼成的词，意为“雷声”，用于宣告历史上每个时代的开端（如：Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt-uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk）[3]。还能更简单点吗？

Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby: Champion of Youth (1939):

Though many writers had written shorter works under similar conditions, Wright challenged himself to write a complete novel without using the letter “e”: The 50,110-word Gadsby is the staggering result. The preface notes that as he wrote, “a whole army of litter E’s gathered around my desk, all eagerly expecting to be called upon.” Years later, Georges Perec accepted the same challenge, producing La Disparition (A Void) in 1969. The French original and English translation also omitted the letter “e”—but the Spanish translation omitted “a”, the most common letter in that language, instead.

Jerzy Andrzejewski, Bramy Raju (Gates of Paradise) (1961):

Andrzejewski’s serious novella about the Children’s Crusade of 1212 clocks in at 40,000 words...but only one sentence, with no punctuation except commas.

欧内斯特 • 文森特 • 赖特，《加兹比：青年冠军》（1939）

尽管不少作家都写过类似的短篇作品，但赖特对自己发起挑战，写了一部通篇不带字母e的小说。《加兹比》长达50110个词，这一结果令人瞠目结舌。作者在前言中写道：“一支字母e组成的军队集结在我的桌旁，眼巴巴地期待我的征召。”[4]多年后，乔治 • 佩雷克接受了同样的挑战，在1969年写出了小说《消失》。该书的法文原版和英文译本都没用字母e，西班牙译本则没用这种语言最常见的字母a。

耶日 • 安杰耶夫斯基，《天堂之门》（1961）

安杰耶夫斯基的这部中篇严肃小说用40000字记录了1212年儿童十字军东征……但只用了一句话。除了逗号，没有用其他标点。

Viadimir Nabokov, Pale Fire (1962):

The ostensible “text” of Nabokov’s peculiar book is a 1,000-line narrative poem (entitled “Pale Fire”) by the fictional poet John Shade—but the real story is told through accompanying commentary and footnotes that overwhelm the poem and comprise the bulk of the book.

William Gaddis, JR (1975):

Twenty years after publication of his über-challenging The Recognitions, Gaddis returned with this story about an 11-year-old who creates a business empire from a pay phone in his school—told in more than 700 pages of nearly pure dialogue, creating a symphony (or cacophony, depending on your attention span) of interweaving voices and conversations.

弗拉基米尔 • 纳博科夫，《微暗的火》（1962）

纳博科夫的这本奇书，表面上看是虚构诗人约翰 • 谢德所写的题为“微暗的火”的千行叙事诗——但真正的故事靠附带的评论和脚注讲述。这些评论和脚注比诗本身长得多，构成了全书的绝大部分。

威廉 • 加迪斯，《小大亨》（1975）

在他极富挑战性的著作《承认》出版20年后，加迪斯携本书回归文坛。故事讲述了一个11岁的孩子从学校的付费电话起家，建立了自己的商业帝国。全书有700多页，几乎全部以对话形式呈现，创造了一首声音与对话交织的交响曲（也有可能是杂音，取决于你的投入程度如何）。

Michel Thaler, Le Train de Nulle Part (The Train From Nowhere) (2004):

Thaler’s 233-page novel offers plot, character, action...but not a single verb. According to Thaler, “The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish. Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself.” In June 2004, the author (whose real name is Michel Dansel) even held a ceremony to “bury” the verb at Paris’s Sorbonne University.

Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves (2000):

This bizarre book—which seems to be equal parts of horror novel, film analysis, memoir, and collage—is about a house with more space inside than outside, hiding an unseen and presumably evil force. One of the book’s multiple narratives analyzes a film about the house, another analyzes that analysis...and in the meantime, text flows in all directions on the page, interspersed with meandering footnotes and eye-straining layout tricks.

米歇尔 • 塔莱，《从无处来的列车》（2004）

塔莱这本233页的小说有情节、角色、活动……但是没有一个动词。根据塔莱的说法，“动词就像花圃里的杂草。你必须除掉杂草，让鲜花茁壮成长。去掉动词，语言会不言自明”。2004年6月，作者（其真名为米歇尔 • 当塞尔）甚至举办了一场葬礼，在巴黎索邦大学“埋葬”了动词。

马克 • Z. 丹尼尔维斯基，《书页之屋》（2004）

这本怪书看上去像是恐怖小说、影片分析、回忆录、拼贴画的集合体，它描述了一座内部空间大于外部空间的屋子，屋中藏着一种看不见的、或许存在的邪恶力量。书中有多重叙事，其中一重叙事分析了一部关于这间屋子的电影，另一重叙事分析了这篇影片分析……与此同时，书页上的文本向各个方向蔓延，其间点缀着蜿蜒而行的脚注，页面布局令人眼花缭乱。

Hannu Luntiala, Viimeiset Viestit (The Last Message) (2007):

If a novel like this was going to be written, it was inevitably going to come from Finland, the home of Nokia: Luntiala’s book is written entirely in text messages—about 1,000 of them, covering more than 300 pages. We just hope that the main characters had bargain-basement rates on their cell-phone service.

DOGGONE IT

The original manuscript for On the Road was written on a 119-foot-long scroll of paper. Literature lovers have long been able to visit the scroll at exhibitions in museums and libraries across the country. However, no one knows exactly how long the manuscript was when Kerouac completed it or what the treatise’s original ending lines were. Kerouac’s handwriting appears at the end of the scroll, noting that a cocker spaniel belonging to Lucien Carr, a friend (and the father of writer Caleb Carr), had eaten the last lines.

汉努 • 伦蒂亚拉，《最后的信息》（2007）

如果说哪里会出现这样一部小说，那必然是诺基亚的故乡芬兰。伦蒂亚拉的书完全由1000条左右的短信构成，长达300多页。我们只希望主人公的手机有短信优惠套餐。

狗娘咬的

《在路上》的原始手稿写在一个119英尺长的纸卷上。一直以来，文学爱好者都能在全国各地博物馆和图书馆的展览上见到它。但没有人知道，凯鲁亚克刚写完这部作品时手稿有多长，还有原稿最后几行写的是什么。纸卷末尾有一段凯鲁亚克的亲笔手书，上面记录着：作者的朋友卢西恩 • 卡尔（作家凯莱布 • 卡尔之父）的小可卡犬吃掉了最后几行字。

试试这些作品是否合适：它们都是严肃文学作品，有的不用动词，有的没有标点......有的甚至不出现字母e。

C . Alan Joyce & Sarah Janssen

C .艾伦•乔伊斯 萨拉•詹森

[1] 根据亨利.贝克和弗雷德.派珀所著的《密码系统：通讯保护》一书，从报刊随机选取的含100362个字母的文章中，出现频率最高的三个字母是E（12.7%）、T（9.1%）和A（8.2%）。

[2] 《芬尼根守灵夜》结尾“A way a lone a last a loved along the”与开头的“river run , past Eve and Adam’s”连成一句，构成了小说的循环，表示“生生不息”的轮回。

[3] 该词模拟雷声不断，由10多种不同语言（含日语和印度斯坦语）中的“雷”字组成。

[4] 赖特为规避字母e，可谓煞费苦心，甚至-ed词尾和火鸡（turkey）等词都要另寻表达。他最终成功了！但遗憾的是，赖特并没有看到这本书面市。该书在他66岁生日当天出版，他则于同一日去世。

Learning Something from Books, Before Their Texts Even Begin

从扉页题词说起

Susan Dominus

苏珊.多米努什

作者简介

苏珊.多米努什（Susan Dominus），美国《纽约时报》（The New York Times）的都市专栏作家。她曾效力于《时代杂志》（Times Magazine）和《魅力》（Glamour）杂志。她在《时代杂志》上发表的《与两个妈妈生活的日子》（Growing up with Mom & Mom）获得了2005年第16届“同性恋反诽谤联盟”媒体奖（Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards）的“最佳杂志文章”（Outstanding Magazine Article）奖。

本文发表于2010年6月7日的《纽约时报》。有时，你在二手书店翻开一本书，发现自己竟然认识扉页题词者。这神奇的重逢，带给人难以言说的奇妙感受。苏珊从扉页题词说起，讲述的正是这样的情怀。

If the Kindle and its competitors ultimately do vanquish the printed book, stories will keep going, but inscriptions, as we know them, will not. Inky, intimate, idiosyncratic—a good inscription is the bonus in a used book, the plot before the plot, a hint of relationships beyond the ones imagined by the volume’s author. One can see some creative entrepreneur pitching Kindle right now with this concept: one-of-a-kind inscriptions, sold along with the book for a small premium, to lend it that history-imbued, sentimental feeling.

Inscriptions themselves have sparked great story lines—the writer Paul Theroux’s friendship with his mentor, V. S. Naipaul, went downhill not long after Mr. Theroux spied several of his first editions, inscribed “with love” to Mr. Naipaul, for sale in a rare book catalog. And many collectors have quiet versions of their own such legends: the inexplicable connection they feel to people they have never met, but whose names and handwriting grace the opening pages of a beloved edition.

倘若电子阅读器Kindle及其竞争者们最终彻底战胜了纸质书籍，故事的流传还将继续，不过，人们熟知的题词却将不复存在。旧书扉页上一段沾着墨痕、亲切私密、与众不同的美妙题词，是给买书人的惊喜，是正文开始前的情节，带着原书作者想象不到的一丝亲密感。已有些善于创新的商家在利用这一概念开展Kindle的促销：读者买书时额外加一点钱，就可获得一段独一无二的题词，拥有一丝怀旧感伤的情怀。

题词本身也会引出有趣的故事。作家保罗•泰鲁发现，不少自己题赠给导师V. S. 奈保尔的初版书竟出现在珍本书目录上。此后，他与奈保尔先生的关系每况愈下。许多收藏家都有类似的秘密传奇经历。他们虽不曾与在爱书扉页上留下雅致赠言和签名的人会面，却对这些人有着难以言说的感情。

Then there are those even more rare occasions, at least in big cities like New York, when someone opens a book at a store to find inside the name and handwriting of someone he has met—maybe even someone he once knew well. Daniel Millstone, a lawyer and a left-leaning blogger behind The Daily Gotham, was browsing the $1 books at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe last week when he stumbled upon a stash of what he described as “leftish classics of race relations.” He noticed, as he leafed through dozens in the genre—An American Dilemma, A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States—that inside they all bore an ex libris sticker with a familiar name: Paul Migliore.

The name took Mr. Millstone, now 64, back to the early 1960s, to the many evenings he spent as a teenager, along with Mr. Migliore, at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. “On Friday night, disaffected young people who didn’t belong to some specific left-wing group—a Democratic Party group—and who wanted to talk things out, would sit and meet and discuss ethical issues and dance and go to parties,” Mr. Millstone recalled. Members of the group picketed New York affiliates of stores that practiced segregation in the South; they also hung out and goofed off.

还有些更罕见的情况，至少在纽约这样的大都市里会出现。例如，有人在书店里翻开一本书，发现自己竟然认识扉页题词者——或萍水相逢，或一度熟识。丹尼尔•米尔斯顿是一名律师，也是《哥谭日报》的左派博客写手。上周，他在家务咖啡书吧里浏览1美元廉价书时，偶然发现一摞他所谓的“种族关系左翼经典”著作。他翻开《进退维谷的美国》《美国黑人历史文献》等书时，发现藏书票上的名字颇为眼熟——保罗•米廖雷。

这个名字让64岁的米尔斯顿先生仿佛回到了20世纪60年代。那时他十几岁，和米廖雷先生在纽约伦理文化社团消磨了许多个晚上。据米尔斯顿先生回忆：“对社会不满的年轻人，如果不属于民主党等特定左翼团体，但又想一吐为快，每到周五晚上就会相约碰面。大家坐下来探讨伦理问题，有时也去跳跳舞或参加派对。”那时，有些商店在南方推行种族隔离制度，社团成员便在其纽约分店聚众抗议。他们也会结伴外出，懒散度日。

Mr. Millstone and Mr. Migliore were not best friends, but they were friends who spent a lot of time in each other’s physical company—friends in the old-fashioned, not the Facebook, sense.

But Facebook has a place in this story, because Mr. Millstone—who bought the two books mentioned above—knew it could help him answer the questions the books had provoked: Was Mr. Migliore all right? Were his old books showing up at Housing Works for some troubling reason? “Has he moved?” Mr. Millstone asked his extended circle of Facebook friends, some dating back to that same era. “Died?”

那时，米尔斯顿与米廖雷并非密友，却共度了不少时光。他们是传统意义上的朋友，而不是Facebook上的好友。

不过，Facebook在这个故事里起了一定的作用。买了上述两本书的米尔斯顿先生，知道Facebook能帮他回答由书引发的疑问：米廖雷现在过得怎么样？他的旧书出现在二手书店里，难道他有麻烦了吗？米尔斯顿在Facebook的好友圈里（其中不少人同样是他那时结交的朋友）发问：“他搬家了吗？还是去世了？”

No one knew, but someone did make the effort to find Mr. Migliore on LinkedIn, a networking site for professionals, and passed on the information to Mr. Millstone, who promptly reached out to his old friend.

Mr. Migliore, it turns out, now lives in New Jersey and works as a management consultant to nonprofit organizations. When he got the message that a Daniel Millstone was looking for him, he came up blank—although he did once know a Danny Millstone who wore wire-rimmed sunglasses back in the ’60s. The two eventually spoke by phone; they’ve made plans to speak again. Mr. Migliore is fit as a fiddle, he assured his old friend; his ex-wife simply wanted to clear out some space, and Mr. Migliore helped her unload some books to Housing Works.

没人知道答案。不过，有人在职业人士社交网站LinkedIn上尽力搜寻，找到了米廖雷，并把这个消息告诉了米尔斯顿。米尔斯顿立即联系上了老朋友。

原来，米廖雷目前住在新泽西，担任非营利组织的管理顾问。他听说有个名叫丹尼•米尔斯顿的人在寻找他时，脑中一片空白，尽管他在60年代确实结交过一个戴着金属丝边太阳镜的丹尼•米尔斯顿[1]。两个人终于通上了电话，并表示会保持联系。米廖雷向老朋友保证，自己非常健康。只是因为前妻想腾出些地方，他才帮她把一些书送到了家务书吧。

Mr. Migliore was touched to have the friendship rekindled, and in this way—through his old books. “It sort of reinforces the continuity of life,” he said. “He wanted to find out not, ‘Whatever happened to you?’ but, ‘Are you O.K.?’ As if we parted just the other day.”

It wasn’t the first time Mr. Migliore had come across a stash of used books from an old friend; the last time it happened, he followed up and learned that their owner had lost his vision and was living in an elder care home.

Through the books, Mr. Millstone got a sense of something mysterious intervening, prodding him to connect; through new media, through Facebook, he found the wherewithal to do it.

“Now I get that feeling sometimes that the books are speaking to me,” he said.

But what exactly are they saying?

“You stupid idiot, why did you let these friends drift away?” he said. “So when it happens, I try to fix it.”

因旧书而重拾友谊，米廖雷先生十分感动。他说：“这仿佛把我过去和如今的生活联系起来了！丹尼不是想知道‘这些年你过得怎么样’，而是想知道‘你现在还好吗’，就像我们刚分开没几天。”

这并非米廖雷先生[2]第一次从旧书中寻得老友踪迹。上一次他追踪书过去的主人，发现他双目失明，住在养老院。

这些旧书让米尔斯顿觉得冥冥之中自有天意，促使他与老友重新取得联系，借助新媒体和Facebook，他找到了重建联系的必要途径。

他说：“我现在觉得，有时这些书在对我倾诉。”

但它们究竟说了些什么？

“它们说：‘你这蠢货，为什么让老友们离你而去？’”他说，“因此，出现这种情况时，我会尽力补救。”

旧书扉页上一段沾着墨痕、亲切私密、与众不同的美妙题词，是给买书人的惊喜，是正文开始前的情节，带着原书作者想象不到的一丝亲密感。

Susan Dominus 苏珊•多米努什

[1] 丹尼（Danny）为丹尼尔（Daniel）的昵称。

[2] 原文如此，根据上下文分析，疑为米尔斯顿先生。

A Book Lover's San Francisco

爱书人畅游旧金山

Gregory Dicum

格雷戈里.迪库姆

作者简介

格雷戈里.迪库姆（Gregory Dicum），美国旧金山作家，常年为《纽约时报》（The New York Times）、《哈泼斯杂志》（Harper’s）等著名报刊杂志撰写文章。他还著有《乘飞机鸟瞰美景》（Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air）一书，颇受读者欢迎。

原文发表于2010年12月1日的《纽约时报》，本文节选了其中一部分文字。在迪库姆的笔下，旧金山书虫遍地，文学场所随处可见。旧金山的大街小巷，无论是书店、咖啡馆，还是剧院、酒吧，都适合携书畅游。作为爱书之人，怎能不悠然神往？

On a balmy fall evening in the Mission District of San Francisco, hundreds of people spilled onto Valencia Street, where they chatted happily for a few minutes before pouring back into bookstores, cafes and theaters. It was a giddy, animated crowd, but most of all bookish—a collection of fans and believers, here to listen to the written word.

The occasion was an event called Litquake, which, over the course of nine days, would draw some 13,000 residents and visitors to readings by scores of authors, many of them—like Maxine Hong Kingston and Daniel Handler (a. k. a. Lemony Snicket)—local celebrities. The“Lit Crawl” finale alone featured more than 400 readings at bars, laundromats and even the police station in a single evening.

Litquake is an annual event, but on almost any day or night in San Francisco, there is likely to be something for the literary-inclined—a poetry reading at a bar, a book swap in a cafe or a reading in the book-lined lobby of the Rex Hotel. This is a place, after all, where dozens of fiercely independent bookstores not only survive but thrive, thanks to a city of readers who seem to view books not only as a pleasure, but as a cause. For the out-of-towner, these one-and-only shops can be destinations in and of themselves.

一个温暖的秋夜，在旧金山的米慎区[1]，成百上千人涌向瓦伦西亚街。在那里，他们愉快地交谈几分钟，然后又涌回书店、咖啡馆和剧院。这群人充满活力、让人眼晕，其中大多数是书虫——这群书迷和信徒来这儿听人读书。

这场名为“文学风暴”的活动为期九天，能吸引大约13000名居民和游客来听众多作家读书。这些作家很多是当地名人，如汤亭亭和丹尼尔•汉德勒（又名雷蒙•斯尼奇）。仅“文学匍匐”闭幕式一晚就有400多场朗诵会。朗诵地点有酒吧、自助洗衣店，甚至还有警察局。

“文学风暴”活动每年举办一次，不过旧金山几乎日夜都有类似的文学活动——酒吧里的诗歌朗诵、咖啡馆里的书籍交换、雷克斯酒店书廊里的阅读活动。这个读者之城不仅视读书为消遣，还把阅读当作目标，因此，先锋独立书店在这里不仅能生存下来，还能繁荣兴盛。对于外乡人而言，这些独一无二的书店和里面的书，都是他们来旧金山的目标。

Books, we are told, are a half-millennium-old technology on the cusp of being swept away forever. So a journey to San Francisco to immerse oneself in them might seem the cultural equivalent of going to visit the glaciers before they melt. But in San Francisco, the home of many of the very technologies that have drawn a bead on the book, visitors will find a living, historically rooted literary scene that, though it has surely heard the news of its own demise, isn’t buying it.

The same quality that gave rise to the city’s proliferation of small bookstores—compact, walkable neighborhoods with a militant objection to chain stores—makes it easy for visitors to explore the city’s literary terrain. Though the center of gravity has moved around over the years—from the old Barbary Coast in the days of Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce to North Beach during the Beat era to the Haight a decade later—today the scene is most visible in the Mission.

据说，书这项有着500年历史的技术正濒临绝境。所以，奔赴旧金山投身书海的文化意义，相当于在冰川融化之前赶去参观。虽然在旧金山诞生过许多威胁书籍的技术，但游客在这里能发现一种生机勃勃、植根于历史的文学景观——尽管旧金山早已听说“文学将亡”，但它并不买账。

这种品质让旧金山的小书店蓬勃发展，也使游客便于探索城里的文学地貌。这些小书店规模不大，彼此相距不远。它们向连锁书店发起了激烈的抗争。尽管多年来旧金山的文学重心多次变更——从马克•吐温和安布罗斯•比尔斯时代的老巴巴里海岸区，到“垮掉的一代”[2]时期的北滩[3]，再到20世纪60年代的海特街[4]——如今在米慎区最容易见到这种文学景观。

Valencia Street around 20th Street is an excellent place for a visitor to begin. A cluster of shops—826 Valencia; Borderlands, a science fiction and fantasy bookstore and connected cafe; Modern Times, a bookstore collective; and the used-book store Dog Eared Books—is surrounded by cafes and bars that host regular literary events. It is a neighborhood in which one can see an author read one evening and spot him at the next table at a restaurant or cafe the following day.

One of those restaurants might be Osha Thai at 819 Valencia Street, a sleek neighborhood favorite, where, on a recent afternoon, I found myself perusing 826’s San Francisco Literary Map over moroheiya noodles with yellow curry. More than a map, it includes historical timelines and a slightly out-of-date list of bookstores and readings. In it, I could see that the Valencia cluster is only the most obvious part of the Mission literary scene.

对游客来说，从20街附近的瓦伦西亚街逛起是个不错的选择。这里书店林立——有“瓦伦西亚街826号”，有主营科幻、奇幻书籍的连锁咖啡店“边境书屋”，还有综合性书店“摩登时代”和经营二手书的“卷边书店”。书店周围是定期举办文学活动的咖啡店和酒吧。在这个街区，你会在餐馆或咖啡店看见，头天晚上开过朗诵会的作家第二天坐在你的邻桌。

瓦伦西亚街819号的“欧莎泰餐馆”就是这么一家店。它在这个井然有序的街区颇受欢迎。前不久的一个下午，我在这里一边享用黄咖喱帝王菜面条，一边仔细研究在826号买的《旧金山文学地图》。它不单单是地图，还附有旧金山历史大事记，以及一份稍显过时的书店名录和书目。我从中发现，瓦伦西亚书店街只是米慎区文学现象中最显眼的部分。

Not far away, above a dubious shop selling remaindered paint, in an all but unmarked building at 2141 Mission Street, is a bell jar for an eclectic collection of booksellers. To enter, visitors must be buzzed in and follow a series of unpromising signs taped to the walls in the drab stairwells. My first stop was Libros Latinos, a crypt-quiet space filled with books imported from Latin America. Like the other bookstores in the building (which also includes Meyer Boswell, a shop that specializes in antiquarian law books, and Valhalla, which features novels in their first printing), Libros Latinos mostly sells to collectors and institutions, but is also open to anyone who can find it.

I proceeded to Bolerium, the anchor of the group. It is a cavern jammed with books and disordered papers concerning 20th-century radical politics. Groaning shelves of books produce the wonderful side effects of deadening all sound and scenting the air with the drowsy, musty perfume of old wood pulp—intangible features of the world we are losing.

...

离此不远的米慎街2141号是一幢毫无标志的建筑。底层是售卖滞销画作的可疑店铺，上层则是形形色色的书店。要进书店，访客须先按铃通报，再按照死气沉沉的楼梯间墙上不可靠的指示牌前进。我的第一站是“拉丁书店”。那是一个地窖般静谧的地方，店里堆满了从拉美进口的书。和楼里的其他书店（如专营法律类古籍的“梅耶尔•博斯韦尔”书店、专营初版小说的“瓦尔哈拉”书店）一样，“拉丁书店”主要面向收藏家和机构售书，但也对其他能找上门来的人开放。

接下来，我又去了这些书店中的领军者——“博瑞姆书店”。那是个“书窟”，塞满了关于20世纪激进政治的书籍和杂乱文献。在书籍重压下吱呀作响的书架带来了一些奇妙的“副作用”，它不但隔绝了周遭的所有声响，还让空气里充满了古老木浆的霉味，闻来令人昏昏欲睡——我们正逐渐失去世间这种无迹可寻的特征。

……

The Mission may be San Francisco’s current book hub, but it isn’t the only neighborhood where you’ll find one-of-a-kind bookstores. If, for instance, you’re exploring Noe Valley, seek out Omnivore, a tiny, carefully curated shop that fulfills the food-mad city’s appetite for gastronomic literature. On Haight Street, Bound Together is a roughly 30-year-old anarchist collective, a closet of a shop crammed floor to ceiling with the heavy, serious literature of a parallel universe (among the shelves, near “Magic and Spirituality,” is one marked “Against Religion”)...

Even the biggest used bookstore in the city, Green Apple, on Clement Street in the Richmond, maintains a distinctive feel thanks to staff members who know their way around the sprawling shop and around the world of books itself. “It’s not the kind of thing people could create from scratch these days,” said Pete Mulvilhill, one of the owners.

米慎区或许是旧金山如今的文学重镇，但并不是只能在此处找到特色书店。比方说，如果你在逛诺伊谷，不妨找找“欧尼沃尔书店”。那是一家布置精美的小店，满足了这个饕餮之城对美食文学的需求。海特街的“相依书店”是一家有近30年历史的老店，收集了大量无政府主义书籍。店里有个小房间，从地面到天花板堆满了书，全是属于另一个世界的严肃文学作品。（在“魔法与灵性”的书架旁边，是名为“反宗教”的书架。）……

就连城里最大的二手书店——里士满区克里蒙街的“绿苹果书店”——也有一种与众不同的感觉。这得益于经营者对不断蔓延的书店和图书界的深刻认知。“如今，开书店可不是件能从零开始的事。”一位店主皮特•莫维希尔如是说。

But if you don’t have weeks to investigate nooks and crannies, your next stop should probably be City Lights, in the heart of North Beach, the neighborhood associated with the Beat writers of the 1950s. City Lights is the grande dame of the city’s independent bookstores. Founded in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet and artist, as the first all-paperback bookstore in the country, it made its name when it published Allen Ginsberg’s incendiary Howl and Other Poems in 1956. The matchless publicity of an enduringly influential obscenity trial made Howl a best seller and—improbably—part of the American literary canon. In the process, it turned City Lights into a top destination for literary-minded visitors to the city.

I went down to City Lights one gloriously sunny Saturday, strolling past strip joints and seedy bars; the neighborhood that popularized topless dancing in America thankfully retains some of its midcentury flavor. The bookstore was comfortably bustling as I walked between the tall shelves of political philosophy and gender studies and made my way up a narrow staircase leading to the Poetry Room. There, next to a window open to the Pacific breeze, I found a chair with a hand-lettered sign tacked to the wall behind it: “Have a Seat + Read a Book.”

但如果你没有几周的时间，无法去探索每一个角落，那你下一站就该去“城市之光”。这家书店坐落于北滩的中心区，那个街区是20世纪50年代“垮掉的一代”作家的聚居地。“城市之光”是旧金山独立书店中的贵妇。它由诗人兼艺术家劳伦斯•费林盖蒂于1953年创办，是美国第一家全平装本书店，因1956年出版艾伦•金斯堡极具煽动性的诗集《嚎叫及其他》而声名远扬。旷日持久的淫秽审判案[5]有着强大宣传效果，《嚎叫》成了畅销书，乃至美国文学的经典——这看似不太可能。与此同时，“城市之光”也成了文学爱好者来旧金山的首选目的地。

在一个阳光明媚的周六，我散着步走过脱衣舞夜总会和乌七八糟的酒吧，来到“城市之光”书店。这个街区随处可见美国流行的无上装热舞，有幸保留了上世纪中叶的一些气息。这家书店在熙攘中井然有序。我穿过政治哲学和性别研究这两排高大的书架，爬上一段狭窄的楼梯，走进“诗歌空间”。一扇窗户敞开着，迎接来自太平洋的微风，窗边有一把扶手椅，椅子背后的墙上贴着一个手写的标志：“坐下来+读本书”。

I made for the Ginsberg shelf and, bypassing the new 50th-anniversary annotated edition of Howl, selected the slim original, still published in the same disarmingly bland cover.

Rather than sit there, I bought the book and went across the lane ( Jack Kerouac Lane, to be precise) to the Vesuvio Cafe, a bar that was once a Beat hangout. Vesuvio is a cozy space of dark wood, tiled floors and stained glass, with framed photos of the neighborhood greats—Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti—covering the walls. I ordered a shot and a beer, which seemed an apt Beat lunch, and went upstairs to the narrow mezzanine to read.

...

我来到金斯堡作品的架前，绕过新出的《嚎叫》50周年注释纪念版，选了一本薄薄的原版书。这本书有着同样朴素而亲切的封面。

我买完书没坐在那儿，而是去了小巷（准确地说，是杰克•凯鲁亚克巷）另一边的“维苏威咖啡吧”。那家酒吧曾是“垮掉的一代”作家的聚集地。那是个安逸的地方，有黑木装饰、瓷砖地板和彩色玻璃窗，墙上挂满了凯鲁亚克、金斯堡、费林盖蒂等街坊名人的带框照片。我点了一杯烈酒和一杯啤酒——这看上去像是“垮掉的一代”典型的午餐。然后，我登上狭窄的二楼夹层，去读会儿书。

……

This is literature as sustenance. And it is commonplace in San Francisco, where the average annual per capita expenditure on books is perennially among the highest in the nation. Same goes for booze—according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, San Francisco is the only city that ranks in the top three for both (New York is ninth by both measures). Hence all the readings in bars.

Of course, many cities have vibrant literary atmospheres. New York, home to the likes of Gary Shteyngart and Richard Price, has a reputation as a professional’s town, where the presence of a huge publishing industry can sometimes make the act of writing seem like a blood sport. San Francisco, with its unapologetic nostalgia for—and its ongoing celebration of—the written word, is more laid-back. With its highly educated, young population, it is a city loaded with dreamers who can easily lose themselves in a novel or a poem, a place where people can talk for hours about writing without anyone ever asking who their agent is.

文学即为食粮。这种说法在旧金山很普遍。这里每年的人均书籍开支位居全美前列，饮酒开支同样如此。根据美国劳工部统计局统计的数据，旧金山是唯一一个两项排名都位居前三的城市（纽约两项排名都是第九）。因为阅读都在酒吧进行。

当然，许多城市都有活跃的文学氛围。加里•施特恩加特和理查德•普莱斯这类人的家——纽约，就被誉为“职业作家之城”。有些时候，纽约庞大的出版业让写作看上去像是一种残酷的体育运动。旧金山则更为悠闲，对书写的文字有不妥协的怀旧情结，且从来不吝为其颂扬。旧金山有许多受过高等教育的年轻人。这是一个满是梦想家的城市，这些人很容易为一本小说或一首诗而迷失自我。在这里，人们可以就作品谈上几个小时，却没有人问他们的经纪人是谁。

“There isn’t an enormous publishing and entertainment industry in San Francisco,” said Jack Boulware, a journalist and author who is one of Litquake’s founders. “If you’re a writer here, you aren’t bound by restrictions you might find in other cities; you can express yourself and innovate and experiment.”

“And,” he deadpanned, “everyone is stoned and sitting in cafes in the middle of the day.”

Yet the recent flourishing of the literary scene in San Francisco is not accidental. Much of it stems from a decade of work by local authors who wanted to carry on a legacy that includes Jack London’s smoking ruins, Dashiell Hammett’s dark alleys, Jack Kerouac’s dawn railroad yards, Amy Tan’s Chinatown, and Michelle Tea’s wild Valencia Street nights.

“Litquake came from a group of writers sitting in a bar realizing that we needed to do something,” said Mr. Boulware, the organizer of the festival, which had its 10th run this year.

“旧金山没有庞大的出版业和娱乐业，”记者兼作家，同时也是“文学风暴”创始人之一的杰克•波尔维尔说，“如果你是这里的作家，你就不会受到其他城市有的种种限制；你可以表达自己，可以创新，可以实验。”

“而且”，他面无表情地说，“中午，每个人都坐在咖啡馆里，酩酊大醉。”

但最近旧金山文学景观的繁荣并非偶然，其中很大一部分源于本土作家10年来的努力。他们希望继承传统，包括杰克•伦敦笔下冒烟的废墟、达希尔•哈米特笔下黑暗的小巷、杰克•凯鲁亚克笔下黎明中的调车场、谭恩美笔下的中国城，还有米歇尔•提笔下狂野的瓦伦西亚街之夜。

“‘文学风暴’来自一群经常待在酒吧的作家。他们意识到自己应该做些什么。”活动的组织者波尔维尔先生说。这个活动办到今年已经是第10届了。

据说，书这项有着500年历史的技术正濒临绝境。所以，奔赴旧金山投身书海的文化意义，相当于在冰川融化之前赶去参观。

Gregory Dicum 格雷戈里•迪库姆

[1] 米慎区，旧金山拉丁裔区，遍布拉美艺术家和文学机构。

[2] “垮掉的一代”指美国二战后出生，服饰奇特、行为乖僻的一代。1955年夏，“垮掉文人”和反学院派诗人在旧金山联合举办诗歌朗诵会，从此“垮掉派”文学开始流行。

[3] 北滩，旧金山东北部街区，曾为“垮掉文人”的活动中心。

[4] 海特街，20世纪60年代风靡全美的嬉皮士运动的发祥地。

[5] 1956年《嚎叫》由城市之光书店出版后，一度被斥为“淫秽之作”，受到旧金山警方和海关扣留，出版商费林盖蒂也因此受到传讯。一年后，法院撤案并宣布费林盖蒂无罪。这场审判案在美国轰动一时。

如果您喜欢这些文章，请戳上面的图片，直接购买完整版电子书 。

第三章　书人琐记

——摘自《一派书心——缘何此生只爱书》

The Mill on the Floss

弗洛斯河上的磨坊

George Eliot

乔治・艾略特

作者简介

乔治・艾略特（George Eliot，1819—1880），原名玛丽. 安. 埃文斯（Mary Ann Evans），英国著名女作家，与英国作家查尔斯. 狄更斯（Charles Dickens）和威廉. 梅克皮斯. 萨克雷（William MakepeaceThackeray）齐名。30 多岁时，她因做翻译工作而开始了文学生涯。她平日最爱研究语言，通晓拉丁文、法文、德文、意大利文、希伯来文和希腊文。艾略特著作颇丰，凭借两部最成功的作品《织工马南》（SilasMarner）和《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》（The Mill on the Floss）在英国文坛赢得了一席之地。

《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》出版于1860年，故事围绕两代人的恩怨情仇展开。本文是该书的部分节选。作者借主人公玛吉的体验向读者展示了阅读的动人魅力，她毫不吝啬优美的词句，赞美却不溢美。“她第一次激动地发现，放弃自我似乎能让她获得自己一直渴求却毫无所获的满足”，面对如此诱惑，你可有几分动心？不如试着投身书海，感受忘我的快乐和伤悲吧。

At last Maggie's eyes glanced down on the books that lay on thewindow-shelf, and she half forsook her reverie to turn over listlessly theleaves of the Portrait Gallery, but she soon pushed this aside to examine thelittle row of books tied together with string. The Beauties of the Spectator,Rasselas, Economy of Human Life, Gregory's Letters,-she knew the sort ofmatter that was inside all these; the Christian Year-that seemed to be ahymnbook, and she laid it down again; but Thomas à Kempis?-the namehad come across her in her reading, and she felt the satisfaction, which everyone knows, of getting some ideas to attach to a name that strays solitarily inthe memory. She took up the little, old, clumsy book with some curiosity; ithad the corners turned down in many places, and some hand, now foreverquiet, had made at certain passages strong pen-and-ink marks, long sincebrowned by time. Maggie turned from leaf to leaf, and read where the quiethand pointed.

…

She read on and on in the old book, devouring eagerly the dialogueswith the invisible Teacher, the pattern of sorrow, the source of all strength;returning to it after she had been called away, and reading till the sun wentdown behind the willows. With all the hurry of an imagination that couldnever rest in the present, she sat in the deepening twilight forming plans ofself-humiliation and entire devotedness; and in the ardor of first discovery,renunciation seemed to her the entrance into that satisfaction which she had

最后，玛吉的目光掠过窗台上的书，她从白日梦中稍缓过神来，无精打采地翻了翻《肖像画廊》，但很快又把书推到一边，转而打量用绳子捆着的一小排书。《〈旁观者〉精选》《拉塞拉斯》《人生经济学》《格里高利书信》——她都知道这些书写了些什么；《基督年》——看着像本赞美诗集，于是她又放下这本；托马斯• 肯皮斯[1]？——她以前看书时见到过这个名字。她有了一种满足感，这种感觉任何人都能理解——过去那个名字独自漂泊在记忆中，现在她想了解更多。她带着些许好奇，拿起了那本破旧的小书；书中有很多折角，一位已逝的读者在某些段落用粗重的笔画作了标记，经年累月，这些标记已褪为褐色。玛吉一页一页地翻看着，阅读前人标记过的地方。

……

她拿着这本旧书不停地读着，她如饥似渴地读书，与书中无形的导师对话，感受那种悲伤以及一切力量的源泉；就算被人叫走，回来仍接着读，一直读到太阳落至柳梢后。想象随书本急匆匆地前行，无法停歇于当下。她坐在渐深的暮色中，构想了许多自我折辱和全心皈依的计划；她第一次激动地发现，放弃自我似乎能让她获得自己一直渴求却无法获

so long been craving in vain. She had not perceived—how could she untilshe had lived longer?—the inmost truth of the old monk's outpourings, thatrenunciation remains sorrow, though a sorrow borne willingly. Maggie wasstill panting for happiness, and was in ecstasy because she had found the keyto it. She knew nothing of doctrines and systems, of mysticism or quietism;but this voice out of the far-off middle ages was the direct communicationof a human soul's belief and experience, and came to Maggie as anunquestioned message.

I suppose that is the reason why the small old-fashioned book, forwhich you need only pay six pence at a book-stall, works miracles to this day,turning bitter waters into sweetness; while expensive sermons and treatises,newly issued, leave all things as they were before. It was written down by ahand that waited for the heart's prompting; it is the chronicle of a solitary,hidden anguish, struggle, trust and triumph, not written on velvet cushionsto teach endurance to those who are treading with bleeding feet on thestones. And so it remains to all time a lasting record of human needs andhuman consolations; the voice of a brother who, ages ago, felt and sufferedand renounced,—in the cloister, perhaps, with serge gown and tonsuredhead, with much chanting and long fasts, and with a fashion of speechdifferent from ours—but under the same silent far-off heavens, and withthe same passionate desires, the same strivings, the same failures, the sameweariness.

得的满足感。她理解不了老修士吐露的内在真理（她还这么年轻，怎么能够理解？）：放弃自我将只剩悲伤，不过人们会欣然接受。玛吉仍然渴望幸福，她因发现了幸福的秘诀而欣喜若狂。她对神秘主义和寂静主义的教义和体系一无所知；但这个来自古老的中世纪的声音，直接传达了一个灵魂的信仰与经历。对玛吉而言，这是一个不容置疑的启示。

为什么这本在书摊上只要花六便士就能买到的旧式小书，直到今天仍能创造奇迹、将苦水化为甘泉，而新出版的昂贵的布道书和文集却做不到？我想这是因为这本书写出了作者的心声，这是一位隐士关于隐痛、挣扎、信任和胜利的记录。作者并非坐在天鹅绒垫子上写书，教那些满脚流血仍在石头上走的人如何忍耐。因此，这本书一直都是满足人类需求、给人以慰藉的永久记录：这是几百年前一位弟兄的声音。他在修道院里感受过、煎熬过，也放弃了自我。他或许还受了戒，穿着哔叽长袍，斋戒诵经；他虽然说着与我们不同的语言，但与我们处于同一片沉默而遥远的天空之下，与我们有着同样热切的渴望、同样的奋斗、同样的失败和同样的疲倦。

[1]  托马斯.肯皮斯（Thomas à Kempis，1380—1471），德国修道士、作家。

The Last of His Race

最后的藏书家

Alfred Edward Newton

阿尔弗雷德・爱德华・纽顿

作者简介

阿尔弗雷德・爱德华・ 纽顿（Alfred Edward Newton，1864—1940），美国作家，20 世纪欧美最重要的藏书家之一，开创了西方书话的新气象。他生前一共收藏了近10万册书，数目之大让人惊叹。他最富盛名的著作《藏书之爱》（The Amenities of Book-Collecting andKindred Affections），以谈论藏书为中心，对书店经营、拍卖风云等也多有涉猎，语言诙谐，妙趣横生。

本文节选自1925年出版的《最伟大的书与其他零篇》（TheGreatest Book and Other Papers）。文章通过几个小故事表达了对“最后一位藏书家”丘先生的怀念之情。丘先生爱书如命，与作者一唱一和，互相推荐旧书；丘先生眼光独到，但作者在他指点下进行的投资被证明是浪费金钱。不过，这点小纰漏不会对丘先生的形象有半分损害，反而让他显得更加可爱、更加有血有肉。

A pretty story is told of Mr. Chew's love for a rare book. Hearingthat Mr. Huntington had secured two copies of the first edition ofShakespeare's Sonnets with the two different imprints, he called upon himand asked for the privilege of holding the two books-they are perhapstwo of the most valuable books in the language-in his hands at the sametime, one in each hand. I would like to have had a photograph taken ofhim at this moment, but I have an excellent picture of him, looking at acopy of Herrick, one of his favorite books, the one I saw him examiningwhen I was last with him in Geneva.

Another story. During the last years of Mr. Chew's life in New York itwas his habit not to go downtown on Saturdays, but to spend the morningquietly among his books in his apartment in the Royalton; knowing this,it became my custom, when in New York on a Saturday, to call uponhim. One morning we had spent several hours together when I suddenlyremembered that Drake, the bookseller in Fortieth Street, had asked me tocall to look at some books just in from London. So cutting my visit short,more especially as Mr. Chew too pleaded an engagement, with professionsof mutual regard and regret we parted and I went at once to Drake's. Ihad not been there more than ten minutes when in walked Mr. Chew; hisengagement was the same as mine. We laughed heartily at each other andturned to the books. “Here is something you should buy, if you haven't it,”said Mr. Chew, taking up a copy of Piers Plowman in old binding, callingattention to the corrected date, 1550. “But it is out of my line,” I replied.

有一个有趣的故事，说的是丘先生对珍本的热爱。丘先生听说亨廷顿先生弄到了两本版本说明不同的《莎士比亚十四行诗》初版，便登门造访，请求拿一会儿那两本书。他一手捧着一本——那恐怕是英语文学中最珍贵的两本书了。我真想抓住那个时刻给他拍张照片，不过我还是有一张他的绝妙画像的。画中，他正在看赫里克[1]的一本诗集，那是他最喜爱的书之一。我在日内瓦最后一次见到他时，他就在研读这本书。还有一个故事。丘先生待在纽约的最后几年有个习惯——周六不上街，而是在罗亚尔顿的公寓里与书为伴，静静地度过早晨的时光。知道这一点后，我也养成了一个习惯——周六如果在纽约便去拜访他。一天早晨，我们一起聊了几个小时后，我突然想起第四十街的书商德拉克邀请了我去看刚从伦敦进的书。恰好丘先生也与人有约，我俩互相致歉后，带着遗憾道了别。我立刻去了德拉克的店里。到那儿不到十分钟后，丘先生走了进来。原来我们约的是同一个人。我们开怀大笑，然后转头看起了书。丘先生拿起一本装帧很旧的《农夫皮尔斯》[2]，对我说：“你要是没有这本书的话，可以把它买下来。”他提醒我注意书的修订年份是1550年。我回答说：“但这个

“It shouldn't be,” said he. Then my eye chanced to light upon a copy of Blake's Poetical Sketches, George Cumberland's copy with his so-calledbookplate, one of Blake's last engravings, therein. “And you should havethis,” I said, knowing that his copy had gone into the Huntington Library.Mr. Drake looked on with amusement. “Go to it, gentlemen; I cannotafford salesmen such as you”; and when a little later we left the shop tolunch together, I was the owner of Piers Plowman and Mr. Chew had acopy of Blake's Poetical Sketches in his pocket.

Looking back, one recollects that the year 1918 was a particularlypleasant one for book-buyers, and booksellers too. It saw the end ofthe war, money was plentiful, and several fine libraries were dispersedat Mitchell Kennerley's Anderson Galleries. I have in mind especiallythe Hagen collection, sold in May, and the Herschel V. Jones library inDecember. There was a feeling of good-fellowship abroad, and after thesesales a group of us were wont to forgather at the Plaza around a wellspreadtable, there to fight our battles o'er again. Mr. Chew, who wouldalways be invited to join these parties, was an old friend of Mr. Hagen,and had written an introduction to his sale catalogue, and was especiallyinterested in the sale of his library. In the introduction he had written: “IfI were asked what is the scarcest item in the sale, I should unhesitatinglysay that charming little volume containing four of the poems of JohnSkelton, Poet Laureate to King Henry VII. Two of these little bookletswere in the Hoe library, but this lot of four from the Locker library is

我不懂。”“不会的。”他说道。接着我碰巧看到一本布莱克的《诗草》。那是乔治•坎伯兰的藏书，书里有他所谓的藏书票，还有一张布莱克晚年的雕版画。“你可以买这本。”我说，心知丘先生想要的那本已经进了亨廷顿图书馆。德拉克先生在一旁乐滋滋地看着我们：“继续继续，先生们；我可雇不起你们这么好的推销员呢。”之后，我们离开书店共进午餐时，我成了《农夫皮尔斯》的主人，丘先生口袋里则装着装着布莱克的《诗草》。

回首过去，1918年对买书人和卖书人来说都是格外愉快的一年。当时大战即将结束，资金比较充裕，许多优秀的藏书都在米切尔•肯纳利[3]的安德森艺廊拍卖。我印象最深的是5月份卖出的哈根藏书，以及12月份卖出的赫歇尔• V. 琼斯藏书。那时大家与国外同行关系不错，我们一群人习惯在拍卖结束后去广场聚会，围着一张大桌子再展开鏖战。丘先生经常受邀参加这些聚会，因为他是哈根先生的老朋友，为他的拍卖书目写了序，而且他自己对哈根藏书的拍卖也很感兴趣。他在序中写道：“如果有人问我拍卖的书中最珍贵的是哪本，我会毫不犹豫地说，是那套包含亨利七世时期的桂冠诗人约翰• 斯凯尔顿四本诗作的迷人的小书。霍的藏书里有其中两本小册子，但这套来自洛克的藏书、包含四本诗集的小

probably unique.” It was not often that Mr. Chew would give a “tip” ona book, but this was a sure thing, and the item realized just a trifle shortof ten thousand dollars. The high prices pleased but did not surprise him.“They will go higher still,” he said. At both of these sales I bought—forme—largely, being guided, as far as my means would allow, by Mr. Chew’sjudgment. Once again I record that my extravagances were investments,and my economies proved to be a willful waste of money.

Our friend is gone, if any man die,

Who lived so pure a life, whose purpose was so high.

When his will was opened, it was found that Mr. Chew had followedin the steps of the great French collector Edmond de Goncourt, who leftinstructions that his drawings, his prints, his curiosities, his books—in aword, all those things which had been the joy of his life—should not beconsigned to the cold tomb of a museum, to be subjected to the stupidglance of the careless passer-by; but required that they should be dispersedunder the hammer of the auctioneer, so that the pleasure which theacquiring of them had given him should in turn be given someone of hisown taste.

Thus to his friend Mitchell Kennerley, the president of theAnderson Galleries, passed—for sale—Mr. Chew''s entire collection,with the exception of four paintings: his portraits of Ben Jonson byGerard Honthorst, Pope and Dryden by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and a

书很可能是孤本。”丘先生很少透露一本书的“机密”，但他说的是实情，最后那件藏品拍出了近一万美元的高价。拍出高价后他很高兴，但并不惊讶。他说：“它们的价格还会涨。”在这两次拍卖中，我根据丘先生的指导，在财力允许的范围内给自己买了很多书。我又一次将自己的奢侈视为投资，我的经济状况却证明这存心是浪费钱。

友人虽已仙逝，如众人之命所归，

然其生命极其纯洁，目标极其高尚。

他的遗嘱公开后，人们发现他与法国伟大的收藏家埃德蒙•德•龚古尔一样，留下遗言说他的油画、版画、古董、书籍——一切曾给他带来快乐的东西——都不能移交到博物馆那冰冷的坟墓里，任由无心的观众随意观看；他要求将它们送到拍卖师的锤下，以便与同好者分享自己获取它们时的快乐。

因此，丘先生的全部藏品都交由他的朋友——安德森艺廊的老板米切尔•肯纳利出售，除了四幅画——赫拉德• 洪特霍斯特绘制的本•琼森肖像、戈弗雷• 内勒爵士绘制的蒲柏和德莱顿画像、爱德华•卢特雷尔绘制的德莱顿蜡笔画像，还有他收藏的上乘的德语、荷兰语、佛兰芒语的镀银装帧本的套装。

pastel of Dryden by Edward Lutterel; and his fine collection of German,Dutch, and Flemish silver bindings, of which he had some fifty or morespecimens; these he bequeathed to the Grolier Club. No doubt he felt, andcorrectly, that there they would receive the same loving care that they hadin his own library and would serve to link his name with those of otherbenefactors of the Club, which is the most important, successful, andauthoritative book-club in the world. Long may it continue to flourish!

这套书他有50 几册样本。他将画作和镀银装帧本遗赠给了格罗利耶俱乐部。丘先生无疑认为，这样做将使它们像在他自己的书房里一样得到精心照料，也能让自己的名字与俱乐部的其他捐赠者同列。他的想法很正确。这家俱乐部是世界上最有地位、最成功、最具权威的读书俱乐部。愿它永远繁荣昌盛！

他的油画、版画、古董、书籍——一切曾给他带来快乐的东西——都不能移交到博物馆那冰冷的坟墓里，任由无心的观众随意观看。

Alfred Edward Newton 阿尔弗雷德•爱德华•纽顿

[1]  罗伯特.赫里克（Robert Herrick，1591—1674），英国骑士派诗人，擅写宗教诗和爱情诗。

[2] 《农夫皮尔斯》（Piers Plowman），英国诗人威廉•朗兰的寓言长诗，英国中世纪最优秀的诗作之一。

[3]  米切尔.肯纳利（Mitchell Kennerley，1878—1950），美国出版商。

Talking of Old Books

谈谈老书

A. S. W. Rosenbach

A. S. W. 罗森巴赫

作者简介

A.S.W.罗森巴赫（A. S. W. Rosenbach，1876—1952），美国著名藏书家和古董书商，一生藏书无数。他曾以15.1万美元的破纪录天价买下1640年版的《湾区祈祷书》。1954年，罗森巴赫故居建成罗森巴赫博物馆与图书馆（Rosenbach Museum & Library），用以保存他的藏品。

本文节选自1927年出版的《书与竞标者：藏书家的冒险》（Booksand Bidders: The Adventures of a Bibliophlie）。在这本追溯藏书历史的巨作中，作者用宽容的心介绍了一些重要的早期藏书家。他们获取图书的途径不一，或遍地搜罗，或高价求购，或巧取豪夺，方式或可商榷，爱书之心却日月可鉴。

藏书能让人保持年轻的心态，也是一种低风险的投资。如果你也为藏书事业的漫长历史和藏书家的疯狂而动容，那么就加入藏书的大家庭吧！只须切记：君子爱书，取之有道。

The collecting passion is as old as time. Even book collecting, whichmany believe to be a comparatively recent development, can be tracedback to the Babylonians. They, with their passion for preserving recordson clay tablets, could hardly go in for all the little niceties, such as originalpaper boards or beautifully tooled bindings, but they were collectorsnevertheless.

Among the early individual book collectors such colorful namesas Jean Grolier, De Thou, Colbert, and the Cardinals Richelieu andMazarin shine forth. Jean Grolier, a collector of the late fifteenth andthe early sixteenth century, now considered the patron saint of modernbook collectors, showed unusual vision in selecting his books. Thoughmany libraries of that time are both remarkable and valuable, their worthvaries. But every collector is keen to possess a Grolier volume, and at eachsale the prices increase. He evidently read what he selected, and his tasteshowed that he had education and discernment. Aldus Manutius, the mostfamous printer of that day, dedicated books to him and printed certainworks for him on special paper. Aldus was the first to popularize the smallsizedbook, and that is why many from the Grolier collection are easier tohandle than the more gross volumes from other early libraries.

Grolier's generous disposition is indicated by the fact that he haseither written in, or had stamped on the outside of the truly exquisitebindings, “Io Grolierii et Amicorum”–his books were for himself andhis friends too. Many people have since copied this inscription on their

人类收藏的热情古已有之。即便是人们认为相对较晚出现的“藏书”也能上溯至古巴比伦时期。古巴比伦人热衷于保存泥板文书。尽管他们很少关注所有的细节，比如新颖的纸板或精美的装帧，不过也算得上是收藏家了。

早期的私人藏书家中，有些人的名字格外引人注目，比如让•格罗利耶[1]、德•图[2]、科尔伯特、红衣主教黎塞留和红衣主教马萨林。让•格罗利耶是15 世纪末至16 世纪初的著名藏书家，选书眼光极为独到，被当代收藏家奉为守护神。虽然当时许多人的藏书优秀而珍贵，但价值不尽相同。每位藏书家都渴望拥有一本格罗利耶的藏书，因此每拍卖一次，书价就上涨一次。他显然读过自己挑选的藏书，从选书品位就能看出他的受教育水平和洞察力。当时最著名的印刷商奥尔德斯•马努蒂厄斯曾向他题赠书籍，并用特殊纸张为他印制某些作品。奥尔德斯是最早普及小开本书的印刷商，因此格罗利耶的很多藏书比其他早期藏书家的厚重典籍更易把玩。

格罗利耶相当慷慨，他会把“格罗利耶与好友”这句话写在书里，或印在精致的封面上。这表示，他的书既属于自己，也属于他的朋友们。自此，很多人都把这个题词印于藏

bookplates. The Grolier family were booklovers, and his library was keptintact for three generations. Not until one hundred and sixteen years afterhis death was it sold, and although many were bought by other famouscollectors, old records show that some disappeared entirely. It is just suchknowledge that keeps the true bibliophile living in hopes—a long-missingGrolier might turn up anytime, anywhere.

About the time of the discovery of America a book came out calledThe Ship of Fools, by one Sebastian Brant. In it was an attack on the bookfool: a satire on the passion of collecting, in which the author said that thepossession of books was but a poor substitute for learning. That phrasewhich the layman reader asks the book collector so often with a smirk ofcondescension, “So you really read them?” undoubtedly originated then. Thereal book collector, with suppressed murder in his heart, smiles acquiescence,assuming an apologetic air for his peculiar little hobby. His invisible armor ishis knowledge, and he has been called a fool so often he glories in it. He canafford to have his little joke. So much for this threadbare gibe.

Cardinal Richelieu, according to history, sought relaxation fromthe cares of state in his love of books. His huge library was got togetherin many ways. Sometimes he bought books; he sent two learned men onthe road, one to Germany and the other to Italy, to collect both printedand manuscript works. Often he would exchange volumes with othercollectors, and one can imagine the covert smile of satisfaction on thisecclesiastical politician's lips whenever he got the better of a bargain.

书票上。格罗利耶家族都是爱书之人，他的藏书完好无损地传承了三代，直到他去世116年后才被售出。虽然许多书被其他著名藏书家买走，但旧记录显示，有些书彻底遗失了。这让真正的藏书家心存希望，期待遗失已久的格罗利耶藏书有朝一日再次现身。

大约在发现美洲新大陆的时候，诞生了一本名为《愚人船》的书，作者是塞巴斯蒂安•布兰特。这本书是对书呆子的抨击和对藏书热情的讽刺。在书中，作者说拥有书籍不过是学习的一种可怜的替代品。外行读者常常带着傲慢的假笑问藏书家的一句话“这些书你真的都读过吗？”无疑源自《愚人船》。真正的藏书家强抑心中怒火，默许地微笑着，仿佛为自己的小癖好道歉。学识是藏书家无形的盔甲，人们总称他为呆子，他却以此为荣。他觉得小玩笑无伤大雅，更何况只是俗套的嘲讽。

据历史记载，红衣主教黎塞留也是一位靠呵护书籍来放松身心的爱书人。他数量庞大的藏书来历各异。有时候他会买书。他把两位博学人士分别派往德国和意大利，让他们去收集印刷的书和手稿。他还经常与其他藏书家交换书。可以想象，在谈成一笔划算的买卖后，这位教会政治家的嘴边会浮起一丝不易察觉的满足的微笑。

Of course there was always a way to get a rare work, whetherthe owner cared to part with it or not, by an off-with-his-head policy ofintimidation. After the taking of La Rochelle the red-robed Richelieutopped off the victory by helping himself to the entire library of that city.Even though he was something of a robber, his ultimate motive was good–he planned to establish a reference library for all qualified students. Yet itwas his nephew, the inheritor of his library, who carried out these plansposthumously. He willed it to the Sorbonne, with a fund to keep up thecollection and to add to it according to the needs and progress of the times.

Cardinal Mazarin had the appreciation of books instilled in himfrom his boyhood, when he attended a Jesuit school in Rome. Followingin the footsteps of the famous Richelieu, it was necessary to carry outmany of his predecessor's policies. One of these was to weaken the Frenchnobles, who ruled enormous country estates, by destroying their feudalcastles. Thus Mazarin, a great but wily character, took his books wherehe found them. Eventually his library grew to be a famous one, which hegenerously threw open to the literary men of the day. Fortunately the menwho followed Mazarin kept his collection intact, and today, in Paris, onemay see the great Mazarin Library on the left bank of the Seine.

当然，在“要命还是要书”政策的威胁下，无论书的主人是否愿意割爱，他总能弄到一本稀有的书。在攻占拉罗谢尔之后，红衣主教黎塞留占有了城中的全部藏书，为这场胜利锦上添花。尽管从某种程度上来说，他是个强盗，但他最终的目标是好的——他计划为有资质的学者建立一座参考书图书馆。不过后来是黎塞留的侄子继承了他的藏书，并在他死后执行了这一计划。他将藏书遗赠给索邦神学院，并成立基金用于书籍维护和根据需要和时代的发展增补新书。

红衣主教马萨林对书的热爱在孩提时便初见端倪。当时，他还在罗马一所教会学校上学。马萨林跟随了著名红衣主教黎塞留的脚步，则必须贯彻前辈的许多政策。其中一项就是通过摧毁封建城堡来削弱掌握大量庄园的法国贵族。这样一来，这位老谋深算的人物一找到书便占为己有。最终，他的图书馆名声大振，而且他慷慨地将其藏书向知识分子开放。所幸他的继任者将他的藏书原封不动地保存了下来。如今在巴黎，人们仍能在塞纳河左岸看见伟大的马萨林图书馆。

Colbert, first as Mazarin's secretary, and later a great politicalleader on his own account, also collected a fine library in perhaps amore legitimate manner than his patron. He arranged for the consulsrepresenting France in every part of Europe to secure any remarkableworks they might hear of. Colbert not only offered the use of his collectionto such of his contemporaries as Molière, Corneille, Boileau, and Racine,but pensioned these men as well.

De Thou, also a Frenchman, of the latter half of the sixteenth and theearly seventeenth century, had the finest library of his time. His thousandsupon thousands of volumes included many bought from the Groliercollection, and collectors' interest in them has never lessened. De Thou wasthe truest type of book lover. He had not one but several copies of eachbook he felt a particular affection for; he ordered them printed on the bestpaper obtainable, expressly for himself. His bindings are richly beautiful,of the finest leathers, exquisitely designed. They are easily recognizable,as his armorial stamp, with golden bees, is on the sides, and the back ismarked with a curious cipher made from his initials. Most of the contentstreat of profound but interesting subjects. He was a real student and wrotean extensive history of his time in Latin. Here is an example of inheritedpassion for books. His mother's brother and his father were both book lovers.

It is a general belief that books are valuable merely because theyare old. Age, as a rule, has very little to do with actual value. I havenever announced the purchase of a noted old book without having my

科尔伯特最初是马萨林的秘书，后来凭借自己的努力成为了伟大的政治领袖。他也收集了一些好书，但收集方式或许比他昔日的上司合理一些。他让在欧洲各国的法国领事寻找他们听说过的所有著名作品。科尔伯特不仅让莫里哀、高乃依、布瓦洛、拉辛[3]这些同时代的文人使用他的藏书，还给他们提供津贴。

另一位法国人德•图生活在16世纪下半叶至17世纪早期，他拥有那个时代首屈一指的藏书。在他成千上万的藏书中，有不少购买自格罗利耶藏书，藏书家们对这些书的兴趣始终不减。德•图是位真正的爱书人，对于特别喜欢的书他通常会收藏好几本，并且要求用最好的纸张专门为他印制，用上等皮革作封面，装帧美观，设计精妙。这些书极易辨认，因为书的侧面印有他的金蜜蜂家徽，封底标有他姓名的首字母组成的奇特密码。他的藏书，内容大多深刻而有趣。他是位真正的学者，曾用拉丁文写过一部内容丰富的当代史。有一个例子证明爱书的热情是会遗传的——他的舅舅和父亲都是爱书人。

人们一般认为，书籍之所以值钱只是因为它们古老。通常说来，年份与书的实际价值没什么关系。每当我宣布要买

mail flooded for weeks afterward with letters from all over the world.Each correspondent tells me of opportunities I am losing by not goingimmediately to his or her home to see, and incidentally buy, “a book whichhas been in my family over one hundred years.”

I receive more than thirty thousand letters about books every year.Each letter is read carefully and answered. There are many from cranks.But it is not hard to spot these even before opening the envelope, whenaddressed, as one was recently from Germany, “Herr Doktor Rosenbach,multi-millionaire, Amerika.” Indeed, the greater number of letters aboutbooks are from Germany. One man in Hamburg wrote me of a book hehad for sale, then ended by saying he also had a very fine house he wouldlike me to buy, because he felt sure, if I saw it, his elegant garden wouldappeal to me for the use of my patients! Many people write me, after Ihave purchased a book at a high price, and say they have something tooffer “half a sold at half the price”!

Yet one out of every two thousand letters holds a possibility ofinterest. I followed up a letter from Hagenau not long ago, to discover–the copy was sent me on approval—a first edition of Adonais, Shelley's lament on the death of Keats, in the blue paper wrappers in which itwas issued. There are only a few copies known in this original condition.I bought it by correspondence for a reasonable price. It is worth at least$5,000. On the other hand, I have often made a long journey to findnothing but an inferior copy of a late edition of some famous work.

某本著名古籍时，连着几周信箱都会塞满来自世界各地的信。每位写信者都说我应该马上去他或她家看看，顺便买下“有100多年历史的家传古书”，不然就是错失良机。

我每年会收到三万多封关于书的信件。每封信我都会仔细阅读并回复。不少信件出自怪人之手。但这种信不难辨别，甚至连信封都不用打开。例如，最近有一封来自德国的信，信封上写着“美国亿万富翁罗森巴赫博士先生敬启。”事实上，很多关于书的信件都来自德国。汉堡的一个男人写信给我，向我介绍他要卖的一本书。在信件末尾，他说还有一栋很好的房子也想卖给我，因为他相信，如果我看到它，那优雅的花园一定会吸引我，以便安置我的“病人们”[4]！ 在我高价买下一本书后，许多人写信给我说自己有东西“半卖半送”。

不过每两千封信中，会有一封引起我的兴趣。我回复了一封来自哈格瑙的信后不久，就收到了寄来的书——雪莱为哀悼济慈之死而写的《阿多尼斯》的第一版，外面包着发行时带的蓝色包装纸。这种初版的《阿多尼斯》仅有几本存世，但我通过信件以合理的价格购得此书。它至少值5000 美元。除了通过通信找书，我常常长途跋涉去找书，但最后只找到某本名著新版的次品。我有一次听说马萨诸塞州的塞勒姆市

I once heard of a first edition of Hubbard's Indian Wars, in Salem,Massachusetts. When I arrived there the family who owned it brought outtheir copy, unwrapping it with much ceremony from swathings of old silk.Immediately I saw it was a poor reprint made in the nineteenth century,although the original was printed in 1677.

But luck had not deserted me entirely that day. As my train was notdue for an hour, I wandered about the city. In passing one of the manyantique shops which all New England cities seem to possess by the gross,I noticed a barrow on the sidewalk before it. In this barrow were thrownall sorts and conditions of books. Yet the first one I picked up was a firstedition of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, worth about $150, which Ibought for $20.

Speaking of this copy of Moby Dick reminds me of another; a morevaluable one, which I prize in my private library. One day about fiveyears ago John Drinkwater, the English poet and dramatist, and I werelunching at his home in London. Talking of books and the ever-interestingvicissitudes of collecting them, he told me of his Moby Dick, found oneday, by chance, in a New York bookstore for but a few dollars. It was apresentation copy from the author to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, towhom the book was dedicated, and had Hawthorne's signature on thededication leaf. When Mr. Drinkwater told me of this I became restless; Iwanted this copy as much as I had ever wanted any other book, and there

有一册哈伯德《印度之战》的第一版。我到那里后，书主人郑重地揭开蒙在书上的古老丝绸，我一眼看出那是19 世纪的劣质重印本，它的初版印于1677年。

但那天幸运女神并未完全抛弃我。火车还有一小时才开，于是我便在城中闲逛。新英格兰的城市有许多古董店，路过其中一家时，我注意到门前人行道上有辆手推车，里面堆着五花八门、品相不一的书。我拣出的第一本就是赫尔曼• 梅尔维尔《白鲸记》的第一版，价值约150 美元，但我仅花了20 美元便买到了。

说到这本《白鲸记》，我想起了另外一本。那本更珍贵，我一直视其为私家珍藏。大约五年前的一天，我与英国诗人、戏剧家约翰• 德林克沃特在他伦敦的寓所共进午餐。论及书与藏书的跌宕起伏的趣事时，他告诉我，有天他在纽约一家书店偶遇一本《白鲸记》，只花几美元就买到了。那是作者送给朋友纳撒尼尔• 霍桑的题赠本，题赠页上还有霍桑的签名。德林克沃特告诉我这件事后，我便心潮澎湃。我想要这本书

was nothing for me to do but tell him so. I offered him twenty times whathe had paid for it, and to my surprise and delight he generously let mehave it.

Why age alone should be thought to give value to most collectibleobjects, including furniture, pictures, and musical instruments, I don'tknow. However, it is a great and popular fallacy. The daily prayer of alltrue collectors should begin with the words “beauty, rarity, condition,” andlast of all, ‘%7fantiquity.” But books differ from other antiques in that theirultimate value depends upon the intrinsic merit of the writer%7ds work. Afirst edition of Shakespeare, for instance, will always command an everincreasingprice. The same is true of first editions of Dante, Cervantes, orGoethe. These writers gave something to the world and to life, somethingof which one always can be sure.

…

As collectors grow older, they find it is better to buy occasionally andat a high price than to run about collecting tuppenny treasures. Thereis seldom any dispute about the worth of a rare book. Many collectors,however, feel collecting has a value other than monetary; it keeps menyoung, and as the years pass it proves to be a new type of life insurance.

的热情不逊于对其他任何书的渴望。我没别的办法，只好告诉他实情。我可以出他买书时价钱的20 倍。让我又吃惊又开心的是，他竟慷慨地把书让给了我。

我不知道为什么“年份”会被视为衡量家具、绘画、乐器等大多数收藏品价值的唯一标准。但这是一种很常见的谬论。真正的收藏家每日的祷告词首先应该是“美丽、珍稀、品相”，最后才是“古老”。不过书和其他古董不同，因为书的最终价值还取决于作品内容的价值。例如，莎士比亚的初版书价格会不断提高，但丁、塞万提斯和歌德的初版书亦是如此。这些作家给整个世界和人类生活带来了一些东西，一些人们可以永远笃信的东西。

…

随着年龄的增长，藏书家会发现，与其胡乱搜集廉价藏书，不如偶尔高价购进珍本。珍本书的价值很少遭人质疑。然而，许多藏书家认为，收藏的意义不仅仅在于金钱，而在于它还让人青春常驻。随着岁月流逝，它会成为新型的人生保障。

The late Mr. W. A. White of New York, until his death a few monthsago, was as vigorous at eighty-three as he had been thirty years before.He combined a quality of youth with his extraordinary knowledge ofbooks and literature. His wonderful library would take away the load ofyears from a Methuseleh. Even to read over the partial list of his treasures,which was recently published, would have a distinctly rejuvenating effect.Mr. Henry E. Huntington was another successful man who practicallygave up his business interests to devote himself to the invigorating pastimeof book collecting. He collected so rapidly that no young man could followin his steps! Even my uncle Moses grew younger and younger as he satyear after year surrounded by books.

Rare books are a safe investment; the stock can never go down. Amarket exists in every city of the world. New buyers constantly crop up.The most ordinary, sane, and prosaic type of businessman will suddenlyappear at your door, a searching look in his eye, a suppressed tone ofexcitement in his voice. Like the Ancient Mariner, he takes hold of youto tell his story—for he has suddenly discovered book collecting. And ifit happens to be at the end of a very long day, you feel like the WeddingGuest, figuratively beating your breast while you listen. He returns againand again, enthralled by this new interest which takes him away from hisbusiness. If he is wealthy, he already may be surfeited with luxuries of onesort or another; but here is something akin to the friendship of a charmingand secretive woman. He takes no risk of becoming satiated; there is nopossibility of being bored; always some new experience or unexpecteddiscovery may be lurking just around the corner of a bookshelf.

来自纽约的W. A. 怀特先生享年83岁，他直到去世前的几个月还和30年前一样精力充沛。他将青春的活力与书籍和文学方面的渊博知识相结合。他精彩绝伦的藏书能让玛士撒拉[5]都年轻好几岁。哪怕只看看最近出版的怀特先生的部分书单，都能明显让人重返年轻。亨利•E. 亨廷顿先生是另一位成功的藏书家。为了投身激动人心的藏书事业，他几乎放弃了经济利益。他收集的速度如此之快，没有哪个年轻人能跟上他的步伐！甚至我叔叔摩西因年复一年被书包围，也变得越来越年轻了。

珍本书是一个安全的投资对象，一支永不贬值的股票。世界上每个城市都有它的市场，新的买家不断涌现。一位再普通、理智、平凡不过的商人都可能突然出现在你门口，带着锐利的目光，压抑的声音里透着激动。他就像《古舟子咏》里的老水手一样，拉着你讲自己的故事——因为他突然发现了“藏书”。如果你恰巧在工作一天后疲惫不堪，就会觉得自己像是赴婚宴的宾客，捶胸顿足又不得不听他把故事讲[6]。他一次又一次地登门拜访，受这种新的兴趣驱使，放弃了本职工作。如果他很富有，那他或许厌腻了奢侈品；但藏书者与书之间的关系有点像一个男人与一位神秘迷人的女人之间的友谊。他不会感到腻，也不可能觉得烦，总会有全新的体验或意想不到的发现，它或许就隐藏在书架的某个角落。

[1]  让. 格罗利耶. 德. 赛尔维埃（Jean Grolier de Servières，1479-1565），法国著名藏书家。

[2]  雅克. 奥古斯特. 德. 图（Jacques Auguste de Thou，1553—1617），法国历史学家、藏书家，曾任巴黎最高法院院长。

[3]  让. 拉辛（Jean Racine，1639—1699），法国古典主义悲剧作家，“法国古典戏剧三杰”之一。

[4]  Doktor有“博士”和“医生”两重含义，这位写信者误认为罗森巴赫是医生，故有“安置病人”一说。

[5]  玛士撒拉（Methuseleh），《圣经. 创世记》中的人物，活了900 多岁。

[6]  该典故出自《古舟子咏》的一句诗：“赴宴的客人捶打着胸膛，但不由自主地听他把故事讲。”

Bibliomaniacs

藏书狂

John Michell

约翰・米歇尔

作者简介

约翰・米歇尔（John Michell，1933—2009），英国作家，曾就读于伊顿公学（Eton College）和剑桥大学三一学院（Trinity College,Cambridge）。他的代表作《亚特兰蒂斯上的风景》（The View OverAtlantis）是一部影响深远的著作。他爱好广泛，从亚特兰蒂斯到飞碟无所不包。他还写过几本关于古代智慧的畅销书。

本文节选自1984年出版的《古怪的生活和奇特的理念》（Eccentric Lives and PeculiarNotions）。藏书家走极端的故事随处可见，但米歇尔的魅力在于，他能从这些司空见惯的事物中挖掘出你闻所未闻的内容。这会让你眼前一亮，还是瞠目结舌？读罢此文，自见分晓。

Bibliomania, the passionate desire to handle, possess, and accumulatebooks, has been the subject of warnings by many writers, mostly thosewho have been touched by it themselves. Others, however, have defendedit on the grounds that, since as one grows older one's level of insanityinevitably increases, it is best to adopt one of the more liberal forms ofmadness such as obsession with books.

Some truly horrid examples are recorded of fanatical bookcollecting, and of those who have been ruined by it, alienated wives andfamilies, and even been driven from their own homes by their libraries.Thomas Rawlinson, a collector of the early eighteenth century, stuffed hisrooms at Gray's Inn so full of books that he had to sleep in the passage.He then moved into a large mansion which he shared with his brother anddid the same thing there. By the time Thomas died, aged forty-four, therewas scarcely a place where the brothers could sit among the books, papers,and dust of their collection.

A bibliomaniac of Paris, M. Boulard, bought books indiscriminatelyuntil he owned more than 600,000 of them. Shelf space in his house hadlong given out, so he filled trunks and cupboards with books, and then theattics, cellars, storerooms, and the floors of every other room. The weightwas so onerous that the house began to collapse, so Boulard bought morehouses, six in all, which he filled entirely with books, gradually driving outthe tenants before the rising flood of his collection.

藏书癖是一种把玩、占有和积攒书籍的强烈欲望。许多作家都写过这个题材，提醒人们注意此事。他们中的大多数自己就沾染了这种癖好。然而，还有一些人辩解说，人越老越疯是不可避免的，因此最好以一种更自由的形式发疯，比如说痴迷书籍。

巴黎的藏书狂M. 布拉尔不加选择地买书，直到后来他拥有了60 多万本书。他家的书架早就不够用了，所以他在手提箱和橱柜里塞满了书，接下来是阁楼、地下室、储藏室和其他房间的地板上。屋子因不堪重负而开始倒塌，于是布拉尔又买了几套房子（总共六套），把屋子里都塞满了书。在他的藏书尚未淹没屋子之前，房客们被渐渐赶走了。

Bibliomania is the title of a book published in 1809 by the Rev.Thomas Frognall Dibdin, whose principal subject was the outstandingbibliomaniac of his time, Richard Heber. Dibdin came from a showbusinessfamily; his uncle was the writer of such long-popular songs asTom Bowling and 'Twas in the good ship Rover, later to be parodied byrugger players. With Heber and other bibliomaniacs of the time Dibdinfounded the Roxburghe Club, where the first toast was to “the cause ofBibliomania all over the world,” followed by more toasts to famous printersand book collectors of ages past. It was a time when book prices were low,and Dibdin and his fellows could pick up for a few shillings manuscriptsnow worth many thousands of pounds. He had a sharp nose for a bargainand, though a clergyman, did not spare even his reverend colleagues whenit came to book business. On a visit to Lincoln Cathedral he noticed in thelibrary some rare old volumes, the worth of which was quite unrecognizedby the unworldly clerics. Dibdin offered to help improve the library byproviding it with up-to-date books by the best authors in exchange for theold ones. The Lincoln clergy accepted and were delighted with the £300worth of modern books which the Rev. Dibdin chose for them. Theirmood changed, however, when they heard that their benefactor had soldjust one of the old books from their library for £1,800. When Dibdincalled again, eager to make a further exchange, they shut the door of thelibrary in his face.

1809年出版的《藏书狂》是牧师托马斯•弗罗格纳尔•迪布丁作品的名字。该书主要讲的是那个时代著名的藏书狂——理查德•希伯。迪布丁来自一个演艺家庭，他叔叔曾写过《汤姆•鲍林》和《海盗船上》等脍炙人口的流行歌曲，后来被橄榄球员搞怪模仿。迪布丁与希伯和同时代的其他藏书狂一起创立了罗克斯伯勒协会。能建成此协会首先要感谢“全世界藏书癖的源头”[1]，接着是昔日著名的印刷者和藏书家。当时的书很便宜，迪布丁和同伴们用几先令就能买到如今价值几千英镑的手稿。他对廉价书的嗅觉极其敏锐，虽然他自己也是个牧师，但涉及书的交易时，他对牧师同行却毫不相让。有一次拜访林肯大教堂时，他看见藏书室里有一些古老的珍本，但不谙世事的教士们并未意识到它们的价值。迪布丁主动提出帮忙改善藏书室，用最优秀作家的最新作品来交换那些旧书。林肯大教堂的教士高兴地接受了迪布丁牧师为他们挑选的价值300英镑的现代书籍。然而，当他们听说藏书室里旧书中的一本就被他们的捐助者卖出了1800英镑的价钱时，就高兴不起来了。当迪布丁再次拜访，渴望做进一步交换时，被他们拒之门外。

Richard Heber was a prodigy of bibliomania. Born in 1774, theson of a rich clergyman at Hodnet in Cheshire, he compiled at the ageof eight a catalogue of the library he had already built up, with detailedinstructions on how the books were to be bound. Throughout his schooldays he bought far beyond the limit of his means, becoming a familiarfigure at book auctions. His father saw his rectory being overrun by books,followed by accounts from dealers and book-binders, and did his best tocurb Richard's frenzy. It was in vain. Richard's magpie career went onunchecked and he became a discriminating buyer of old rarities. He wasalso that rare type among bibliomaniacs, a scholar, actually reading someportion of the writings he accumulated. When he went up to Oxford hefurther annoyed his father by editing for publication a classical work whichthe good clergyman found improper.

When old Mr. Heber died, leaving a fine estate and fortune, Richardwas freed of his only previous restraint, lack of money. His book-buyingexploits became fantastic. It seemed as if he wanted to own every bookthat ever was, and not just one copy of each. He used to say that everygentleman needed at least three copies of a book, one for his countryhouse library, one for reading, and one to lend to friends. But three copieswas by no means his limit. Several of his collections of different copies oreditions of the same work would have formed a considerable library ontheir own. He would buy the entire contents of a bookseller's catalogueor collections of many thousands of books in one lot, and he would alsomake difficult journeys of hundreds of miles in pursuit of a single coveted

理查德• 希伯是个藏书奇才。他1774年出生，父亲是柴郡霍德尼特的一位富有的牧师。他8岁时就为自己的藏书编写了书目，并详细标明了藏书的装帧方式。读书期间，他花在买书上的钱就远远超出了他的经济实力，而且他还成了书籍拍卖会上的常客。他父亲发现自己的教区书籍泛滥，书商和装订工的账单也接踵而至，便竭尽全力抑制理查德的狂热。但此举无济于事。理查德不仅收藏癖好丝毫未减，而且还成了一位购买古书珍本的行家。同时，他还是藏书狂圈子里少见的学者，确实读了自己收藏的部分书籍。他进入牛津大学后进一步惹恼了父亲。因为在那位称职的牧师看来，儿子编辑出版的一部经典作品不成体统。

老希伯去世时留下了一座豪宅和他的财产，于是理查德先前的唯一障碍——缺钱也消失了。他的购书行为变得让人匪夷所思。他似乎想买下世界上所有的书，而且每本书不止要一本。他过去常说，一位绅士至少需要三本一样的书，一本放在乡间别墅的书房，一本用来阅读，一本借给朋友。但三本绝不是他的上限。在他的藏书里，光是同一本书的不同副本和版本就能组成一套可观的藏品了。他会一口气买下书商目录上的所有书，会一次性买下成千上万本书，也会不远万里去找一本梦寐以求的珍本。只有在考虑结婚的那会儿，

volume. Only once was he diverted from his career, and only for a shorttime, when he contemplated marriage. Not that it really was a deviation,for the wife he almost chose was Miss Richardson Currer of Yorkshire, themost renowned of English women book collectors. The proposal, in fact,was for a marriage of libraries, but either the couple or their books did notsuit each other, for nothing came of the match.

Heber's appetite for books, said Dibdin, displayed “a rapaciousnessof hunger and thirst, such as the world never saw before, and is unlikely tosee again.” Holbrook Jackson summed him up as “a bibliomaniac if everthere was one…a bibliomaniac in the most unpleasant sense of the word;no confirmed drunkard, no incurable opium-eater, had less self-control; tosee a book was to desire it, to desire it was to possess it, the great and strongpassion of his life was to amass such a library as no individual before himhad ever amassed…His collection was omnigenous, and he never ceasedto accumulate books of all kinds, buying them by all methods, in all places,at all times.”

Toward the end of his life Heber became a recluse, gloating over histreasures behind the shutters of his London house in Pimlico. In one of itsrooms he had been born, and in 1833 he died in it, despairing and alone,shortly after he had sent a substantial order to a bookseller. It was his innercitadel, fabulous among bibliophiles because no one else had ever beenallowed to enter it. The inquisitive Dibdin hurried at once to Pimlico to

他才分过一回心，而且只分了一小段时间。其实这并不是真的分心，因为他几乎选定的妻子是约克郡的理查森•柯勒小姐，也就是英国最著名的女藏书家。事实上，这场求婚是为藏书缔结姻缘。但无论是这两个人还是他们的书都互不相称，结果这场相亲再无下文。

根据迪布丁的说法，希伯对书的欲望“如饥似渴，可谓前无古人后无来者”。霍尔布鲁克•杰克逊[2]总结希伯时称“如果说曾经有过一位藏书狂，那便是他……他是最令人不快的藏书狂，比任何固执的酒鬼和无可救药的大烟鬼更不知自制。看见书便渴望书，渴望书便占有书。他一辈子炙热的激情便是收集前人所不能及的藏书……他的藏书包罗万象，而且他从未停止过收集各类书籍。无论何时、何地、用何种方法，他都要把书买到手。”

希伯晚年在位于伦敦皮姆利科区的房子里隐居，他常常在百叶窗后心满意足地欣赏自己的珍宝。他在这座房子里的一个房间出生，1833年又在这里绝望而孤独地死去。死前不久，他刚给一位书商下了个大订单。这里是他内心的城堡，因为无人获准进入而成了藏书家之间的传说。他刚去世，好

be the first to break in. “I looked around me in amazement,” he wrote.“I had never seen rooms, cupboards, passages, and corridors, so choked,so suffocated, with books. Treble rows were here, double rows were there.Hundreds of slim quartos—several upon each other—were longitudinallyplaced over thin and stunted duodecimos, reaching from one extremity ofa shelf to another. Up to the very ceiling the piles of volumes extended;while the floor was strewn with them, in loose and numerous heaps. WhenI looked on all this, and thought what might be at Hodnet, and upon theContinent, it were difficult to describe my emotions.”

From the piles of paper Dibdin was at last able to unearth RichardHeber's will. Like Shakespere's, it made no mention of any books. Indeed,it was some time before the executors could locate the manifold branchesof his gigantic library. Two houses in London were found to be stuffedwith books, and so was the large mansion he had inherited in Cheshire.Other houses, similarly filled, were located in Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, andGhent, and another in Germany. No one has ever been certain whetherthese eight repositories housed the entire library of Richard Heber orwhether he had other store-places about Europe where unknown literarytreasures may still be lurking.

奇的迪布丁立即前往皮姆利科，成了第一个进入那座房子的人。“我吃惊地环视四周”，他这么写道，“我从未见过哪个房间、橱柜、过道和走廊挤着、塞着这么多书。这里三排书，那里两排书。几百册小四开本——有些相互交叠——立在又薄又小的十二开本上面，从书架的一端直达另一端。书堆一直摞到天花板，地板上也乱糟糟地散落着许多堆书。我目睹这一切，再想到他在霍德尼特乃至欧洲大陆上可能拥有的藏书，我的心情实在是难以言说。”

迪布丁最终在纸堆里找出了理查德•希伯的遗嘱。就像莎士比亚的遗嘱一样，里面根本没有提到书。事实上，遗嘱执行人得花点时间才能确定他庞大的藏书中各类都放在哪里。人们发现他在伦敦的两座房子里都堆满了书，他所继承的柴郡大宅也一样。他在巴黎、布鲁塞尔、安特卫普、根特和德国的房子里同样也都是书。没有人能确定，这八处房子是否囊括了理查德• 希伯的所有藏书；也没有人能确定，他在欧洲是否还有其他藏书地未被发现。

人越老越疯是不可避免的，因此最好以一种更自由的形式发疯，比如说痴迷书籍。

John Michell 约翰•米歇尔

[1]  “全世界藏书癖的源头”（the cause of Bibliomania all over the world），此处指书。

[2]  霍尔布鲁克. 杰克逊（Holbrook Jackson，1874—1948），英国作家、藏书家，西方书话瑰宝的集大成者。

Bush Is a Book Lover A glimpse of what the president has been reading.

小布什爱读书 看看美国总统读过哪些书

Karl Rove

卡尔・罗夫

作者简介

卡尔・罗夫（Karl Rove，1950—），美国著名政治家，担任乔治. W. 布什总统的高级政治顾问长达七年之久，在白宫主管战略主动权、政治事务、公共联络、政府间事务等多个部门，被外界誉为“布什的大脑”和“总统的建筑师”。他于2007年离职，但其政治策略发挥的影响力仍在继续。罗夫现居华盛顿，是《华尔街日报》（The Wall Street Journal）的专栏作家。

本文于2008年12月26日发表于《今日评论》（Today's OpinionJournal），罗夫以老友的身份讲述了他与布什总统比赛读书的故事。一个人的书单往往能体现他的品行心性，布什在政治上的功过是非且留待历史评说，但至少在读书方面，他能为我们提供不少借鉴。我们相信，手不释卷定能让你获益匪浅。

With only five days left, my lead is insurmountable. The competitioncan't catch up. And for the third year in a row, I'll triumph. In secondplace will be the president of the United States. Our contest is not aboutsports or politics. It's about books.

It all started on New Year's Eve in 2005. President Bush asked whatmy New Year's resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who'dgotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Threedays later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights andsaid, “I'm on my second. Where are you?” Mr. Bush had turned myresolution into a contest.

By coincidence, we were both reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's Teamof Rivals. The president jumped to a slim early lead and remained aheaduntil March, when I moved decisively in front. The competition soon spunout of control. We kept track not just of books read, but also the numberof pages and later the combined size of each book's pages—its “TotalLateral Area.”

We recommended volumes to each other (for example, heencouraged me to read a Mao biography; I suggested a book onReconstruction's unhappy end). We discussed the books and wrote thankyounotes to some authors.

离比赛结束只剩五天，我的遥遥领先已成定局。对手是赶不上我了。连续三年，我一直是冠军，亚军则是美国总统。我们的比赛无关体育，也无关政治，而是关于读书。

一切要从2005年新年前夜说起。布什总统问我新的一年有什么计划。我说，作为一个许久不读书的书虫，我的目标是在2006年每周读一本书。三天后，在总统的椭圆形办公室里，他盯着我说：“我在读今年的第二本书，你读到哪了？”布什就这样把我的计划变成了比赛。

巧的是，我们都在读多丽丝• 卡恩斯• 古德温的《竞争团队》。总统先生起初稍稍领先，并且一直保持到了三月份，但不久后我就牢牢掌握了领先位置。很快，比赛达到了疯狂。我们不仅比谁读的书多，还比谁读的总页数多，后来连每本书总页数的尺寸都比上了——我们比的是“书脊面积之和”。

我们相互推荐书。比如，他鼓励我读毛泽东的传记，我则向他推荐了一本讲战后重建的不幸结局的书。我们在一起讨论所读之书，还给一些作者写感谢信。

At year's end, I defeated thepresident, 110 books to 95. Mytrophy looks suspiciously like thosegiven out at junior bowling finals.The president lamely insisted he'dlost because he'd been busy asleader of the country.

Mr. Bush's 2006 readinglist shows his literary tastes. Thenonfiction ran from biographiesof Abraham Lincoln, AndrewCarnegie, Mark Twain, “Babe”Ruth, King Leopold, WilliamJennings Bryan, Huey Long,LBJ and Genghis Khan to James L. Swanson's Manhunt, and NathanielPhilbrick's Mayflower. Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D.MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton's Next, Vince Flynn'sExecutive Power, Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact, and Albert Camus'sThe Stranger, among others.

Fifty-eight of the books he read that year were nonfiction. Nearlyhalf of his 2006 reading was history and biography, with another eightvolumes on current events (mostly the Mideast) and six on sports.

到年底，我以110比95的成绩击败了总统。我获得的奖杯看上去和初级保龄球决赛的冠军奖杯差不多。总统牵强地认为，他之所以输掉比赛，是因为做国家领导人太忙了。

布什2006年的阅读书单体现了他的文学品位。他读的非虚构类作品中，从亚伯拉罕•林肯、安德鲁•卡耐基[1]、马克 •吐温、“贝比”•鲁斯[2]、利奥波德国王、威廉•詹宁斯 布赖恩、休伊•朗、林登•贝恩斯 约翰逊、成吉思汗等人的传记，到詹姆斯•L. 斯旺森的《追捕》、纳撒尼尔•菲尔布里克的《五月花号》，他都有所涉猎。除了约翰•D. 麦克唐纳的八本讲述特拉维斯•麦吉的故事的小说外，布什还读了迈克尔•克赖顿的《危机当前》、文斯•弗林的《执行力》、斯蒂芬• 亨特的《冲撞点》和阿尔伯特•卡默斯的《局外人》。

那年他读过的书中，有58 本是非虚构类作品。其中几乎一半是历史著作和人物传记，另外有8 本谈论时事（主要谈论中东问题）、6 本谈及运动。

To my surprise, the president demanded a rematch in 2007. Thoughthe overall pace slowed, he once more came in second in our two-manrace, reading 51 books to my 76. His list was particularly wide-rangingthat year, from history and biographical to current affairs. He read onebook meant for young adults, his daughter Jenna's excellent Ana's Story.

A glutton for punishment, Mr. Bush insisted on another rematch in2008. But it will be a three-peat for me: as of today, his total is 40 volumesto my 64. His reading this year included a heavy dose of history—including David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter, Rick Atkinson's Day ofBattle, Hugh Thomas's Spanish Civil War, Stephen W. Sears's Gettysburgand David King's Vienna 1814. There's also plenty of biography—including U. S. Grant's Personal Memoirs; Jon Meacham's American Lion;James M. McPherson's Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander inChief and Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without aNumber.

Each year, the president also read the Bible from cover to cover,along with a daily devotional.

The reading competition reveals Mr. Bush's focus on goals. It's notabout winning. A good-natured competition helps keep him centered andmakes possible a clear mind and a high level of energy. He reads instead

出乎我意料的是，总统在2007年要求再比一次。尽管这次比赛的节奏总体放缓了些，但他再一次以51 比76 的成绩屈居第二。他那年的阅读范围很广，从历史著作和人物传记到当前时事都有所涉及。他还读了一本青少年读物——他女儿詹娜的精彩作品《安娜的故事》。

布什不甘失败，坚持2008年再比。但这将是我取得三连冠的机会：截至今日，他读了40 本，我读了64 本。这一年里，他读了大量历史作品，包括戴维•哈伯斯塔姆的《最冷的冬天》、里克•阿特金森的《战斗日》、休•托马斯的《西班牙内战》、斯蒂芬•W. 西尔斯的《葛底斯堡》和戴维•金的《维也纳1814》。他还读了不少传记，如《格兰特将军回忆录》、乔恩• 米查姆的《美国雄狮》、詹姆斯•M. 麦克弗森的《战争考验：亚伯拉罕•林肯总司令》以及雅各布 239_08 齐默尔曼的《无名囚犯，无号牢房》。

总统每年都把《圣经》从头至尾读一遍，而且每天虔诚祈祷。

阅读比赛反映了布什先生对目标的专注。其实输赢无关紧要。良性竞争能帮他集中精神，带给他清醒的头脑和充沛的精力。他用读书代替看电视。他在“空军一号”上靠读书

of watching TV. He reads on Air Force One and to relax and because he'scurious. He reads about the tasks at hand, often picking volumes becauseof the relevance to his challenges. And he's right: I've won because he hasa real job with enormous responsibilities.

In the 35 years I've known George W. Bush, he's always had a booknearby. He plays up being a good ol' boy from Midland, Texas, but he wasa history major at Yale and graduated from Harvard Business School. Youdon't make it through either unless you are a reader.

There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would ratherburn a book than read one. Like so many caricatures of the past eightyears, this one is not only wrong, but also the opposite of the truth andevidence that bitterness can devour a small-minded critic. Mr. Bush lovesbooks, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them.

For two terms in the White House, Mr. Bush has been in the arena,keeping America safe and facing down enormous challenges, all the whileacting with dignity. And when on Jan. 20 he flies from Washington toTexas one last time, he will do so as he arrived—with friends and a booknearby.

来放松身心，因为他充满了求知欲。他读和手头事务相关的书，经常根据他面临的挑战选择要读的书。他说得没错——我之所以获胜，是因为他有真正的重任在身。

我和乔治•W. 布什相知相交35年，他手边总离不开书。他是个来自得克萨斯州米德兰镇的“好老弟”[3]，在耶鲁大学主修历史，后来又毕业于哈佛商学院。如果不读书的话，是没法做到的。

布什先生的批评者一直谣传他宁愿烧书也不读书。过去的八年里，类似的讽刺层出不穷。这种言论不仅大错特错，而且严重歪曲了事实。相反，这些真相和证据会让心胸狭窄的批评者无话可说。布什先生酷爱读书，并从书中汲取知识、增长智慧。

在白宫的两个任期内，布什先生一直从容自若地站在政治舞台上，守护国土的安宁，直面巨大的挑战。1月20日，他将最后一次从华盛顿飞往得克萨斯。抵达时，他身边除了朋友，还会有一本书。

[1]  安德鲁.卡耐基（Andrew Carnegie，1835—1919），美国传奇企业家，被誉为“钢铁大王”。

[2]  “贝比”. 鲁斯（“Babe”Ruth，1895—1948），美国职业棒球联盟的巨星。

[3]  good ol'boy（又作good old boy），美国俚语，一般用于描述美国南部乡村地区人情味特别浓或道德观念特别重的人。

Buried in Books

埋首书堆

Julie Rugg

朱莉. 鲁格

作者简介

朱莉・鲁格（Julie Rugg），美国纽约大学教授，关注青年、住房、福利等领域，曾参与救助无家可归者的志愿活动，目前住在纽约。

本文节选自2010年出版的《埋首书堆》（Buried in Books）。这是一本关于买书、借书、评论和读书的文集。文中，朱莉理直气壮地声称自己私藏图书馆的书是救书而非偷书，孩子气的话语让人好气又好笑。她不知疲倦地挖掘被埋没的佳作，并享受这个过程中的无与伦比的快乐。朱莉认为，打发时间的最佳方式之一是翻书。手持一卷，随手翻阅，时光便悄无声息地溜走。

Booklovers would like to appear sage and superior. In reality, themania associated with acquiring, reading and simply messing about withbooks can be downright grubby. I have myself succumbed to the worstsymptoms of this mania and have come through the other side a touchwiser but still—like a recovering addict—prone to spectacular lapses. Toooften I wander out of a second hand bookshop with a blush and a bagthat is just a little too heavy. When I get home I hide the purchases byspreading them about on existing piles of books, so my husband won'tnotice. It's a method learned from the tunnellers in The Great Escape, andI heartily recommend it.

Hunting down fellow bibliomaniacs is an agreeable compulsion, andanthologizing their behaviour through the ages has become somethingof an addiction. Some people I have come to like tremendously, HughWalpole, for example, began modestly as an unstoppable reader but hispassion for collecting accelerated exponentially as his income increased.At the end of his life he was said to have possessed 30,000 volumes. Thesheer bulk of his collection overcame all attempts to order and catalogue:he simply waded about in books. If he couldn't place his hand on the titlehe wanted, he bought another copy and as a consequence his collectioncontained many duplicates. It was the same for William Gladstone, whobought and sold whole libraries at a time; book dealers were often ableto sell his own books back to him, and he didn't notice. I wonder if thiswas better or worse than the mania of librarian Antonio Magliabechi,

爱书人往往爱表现得既明智又高傲。事实上，这种买书、读书和乱翻书的狂热简直是一团糟。我自己就表现出这种狂热最糟糕的症状。虽然我好不容易熬了过去，变得稍微明智了些，但就像康复过程中的瘾君子一样，我仍面临前功尽弃的危险。我经常背着沉甸甸的背包，涨红了脸走出二手书店。回到家后，我把新买的书混到原有的书堆里，这样就不会被我丈夫发现了。这是我从《大逃亡》中的隧道挖掘工那里学到的方法，在此强烈推荐。

于我而言，搜寻和我一样的书痴是种令人愉快的强迫症，将几个世纪以来的书痴行为编纂成册已让我上了瘾。我有一些非常喜欢的人，比如休奇•沃波尔。他最初只是个一拿起书就停不下来的读书人，但他藏书的热情随着收入的增长而成指数级递增。据说，他去世的时候藏书已多达3万册，如此庞大的数量使得所有整理归类的尝试终告失败——他简直就是在书海中艰难前行。如果他找不到想要的书，就会再买一本，如此一来，他的藏书很多都是重复的。威廉•格拉德斯通也是如此，他会一次买下或卖出一整套藏书；书商们经常把他自己卖出的书又卖回给他，他却觉察不到。我在想，他跟1714年去世的图书管理员安东尼奥•马利亚贝基相比，到底谁更疯

who died in 1714. He appeared to know exactly where in the world everybook was at any given time. I can forgive Hugh and even Mr. Gladstone,since both were monumental, marathon readers to whom respect is due.Magliabechi, on the other hand, is just a little bit spooky. The fact that healso liked spiders more than people is something of a giveaway.

Despite sharing in many of the manic elements of book love, Ihave to confess that I am a rubbish reader. I'm impatient and I skip. Itry and pretend that this is because I'm discerning but often I can be justlazy. In the majority of the novels I read—especially ones written by IrisMurdoch—I forget who everyone is unless I make a plan and I tend notto make plans very often. The Forsyte Saga defeated me entirely, eventhough it provided a plan so I didn't have to make one. But now and againa writer throws my complacency and I have to listen and think very hardindeed: each sentence is just so very good it can't be bolted, I try and dothose kinds of book maybe just three or four times a year, and I sneak backand reread on special occasions. It doesn't do to be spoiled.

Two things keep me reading and have me addicted for sure. First,I can't resist a good tale. I like stories where people lose everythingin order to find out who they are; I like books that inadvertently,accidentally, educate me about something I didn't even know I knewnothing about; I like books that plunge into a foreign landscape andleave the reader to hack their way through; I love stories that have an 'oh

狂。他似乎能随时说出世界上每一本书的准确位置。我可以对休奇甚至格拉德斯通先生表示理解，因为他们都是不朽的典范，是有毅力的读者，理应受到尊重。但马利亚贝基就有点古怪了，从他喜欢蜘蛛胜过喜欢人这一点就能看出来。

尽管我身上有不少书痴的特点，但必须承认我是个糟糕的读者。我没有耐性，喜欢跳读，我试图装作那是因为我善于鉴别书，但通常我只是懒罢了。我读过大部分小说后都记不清谁是谁——尤其是艾丽丝•默多克的小说——除非我画出人物关系图，但我很少这样做。尽管《福尔赛世家》[1]里有人物关系图，我无需自己画出，可我还是没读下去。但时不时会出现一位作者，让我不再那么洋洋自得，确实必须很努力地聆听和思考——每个句子都如此美妙，叫人不能囫囵吞下。这样的书我会每年试着读上三四回，并在某些时候偷偷重读。这一点都不为过。

我坚持阅读，甚至读上瘾的原因有两个。第一个原因是，我无法抗拒好故事。在我喜欢的故事中，人们不惜一切代价来发现自我；我喜欢的书，会碰巧教会我许多我从前并不知晓的事情；我喜欢的书，会引人进入异域风光，留下读者自行探索出路；我喜欢的书，要有一两处让人意想不到的跌宕

my God!’ twist or even two. I still remember that cracking big shockthat's in The Moonstone. Even not very good books with a fine plot willhave me–like Henry Crabb Robinson–speeding to the end just tosee how it all plays out.

The second thing that keeps me reading is the absolute clarity thatsome writers achieve. It's the point that has me saying loud in my head, “yes,that's like it is.” George Eliot is like that: her people are immediately real,and I'm not sure if any other author has been so perceptive. But many,many books will have at least one observation, one analogy, one single turnof phrase that makes the entire read worthwhile. So I will always plumpfor the tomes that I hope are orchards, with truths there to pluck fromevery page. However, junk is fine too and I'm happy with any detectivewho has a drink problem, Victorian melodrama or–when things arelooking otherwise bleak–something that nearly won the Booker ten yearsago, picked up in a library sale. Other people's taste in reading to-pass-thetimeis impossible to fathom, and it's best not to judge.

Of all the themes in this collection, I have most enjoyed the foraysinto the literature of bookselling and dealing. There are few great or evenadequate novels where this is a central concern–and coming very highlyrecommended are: Laurence Block's series featuring the bookshop–

起伏。我还记得《月亮宝石》[2]中的那个惊天的情节大逆转。只要有精彩的情节，哪怕书本身很一般——比如亨利•克拉布鲁宾逊[3]的作品——我也会迅速读完，看看最后会怎么样。

我坚持阅读的另一个原因是，有些作家的文字清晰明澈。它会让我在脑子里大喊：“对，就是那样。”乔治•艾略特就是如此：她笔下的每个人物都栩栩如生。我不清楚其他作者是否有这样的洞察力，但很多书里至少会有一句评论、一个比喻、一个用词让整本书值得一读。所以我总是会选好书，希望它是果园，每页都能采撷到真理的果实。不过，就算是烂书我也来者不拒，哪怕是关于酗酒的侦探或维多利亚时期音乐剧的书我都乐于读。每当心情不好的时候，就算是图书馆甩卖时买到的、十年前差点获得布克奖的书，我也读得很开心。别人对消遣读物的品位我没法参透，所以还是别妄下断言为妙。

在本书收集的各类文章中，我最喜欢关于书籍买卖的文章。以此为主题的小说没有什么很好的，甚至连合格的都不多。其中最受推崇的几本有：劳伦斯•布洛克写的关于书店老

owning burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr; Perez-Reverte's Dumas Club; IainSinclair's visceral but rather involved White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings,and–if you can get hold of a copy—Driff's Guide to Bookdealers. Thisis not a novel, but remains a remarkably good read. Driff was a grumpyold man long before grumpy was fashionable. Indeed, my first great bookbinge happened through the summer of ’86 in London, when Driff wasalways in my pocket. This was the very best way to discover the mustierbyways of the capital and further afield too.

Edinburgh also used to be a great place for a book trawl and maystill be yet. I hear that West Port Books is under new ownership: its dark,looming shelves invariably contained something worth buying as didthe shop round the corner from there, owned by a guy–who somewhatpredictably–always wore a kilt. But there's still McNaughtan's down thestairs opposite the much lauded Valvona and Crolla at the top of LeithWalk, or there was last time I looked and I hope it thrives. There arefewer and fewer towns and cities that contain a string of truly excellentsecond-hand bookshops, where it's possible to swap a couple of notes foran armful of unexpected treasure. I've heard it said that you can shopfor books on the Internet, but it sounds like a passionless exercise: a meremarriage of convenience. In reality, many readers do not know they wanta book until they see it, touch it, smell it and fall a little in love with itspromise. I know I'm not the only person who's bought a book just becauseof the way it sits in my hand.

板兼窃书贼伯尔尼•罗登巴尔的系列小说、佩雷斯－雷韦特的《大仲马俱乐部》、伊恩•辛克莱写的粗俗但引人入胜的《白教堂，红血迹》以及——如果可以弄到的话——德里夫的《书商指南》。《书商指南》不是小说，但很好读。德里夫是个怪脾气老头，他那种乖戾性情在当时很少见。事实上，我第一次冲动购书是1986年夏天在伦敦，当时我口袋里总揣着德里夫的书。这是探索首都和更远处各条偏僻小道的最佳方式。

爱丁堡曾是淘书的好去处，或许现在依然如此。我听说“西港书屋”换了新主人——它幽暗的书架上总是摆着值得一买的书。那条街拐角处有家书店，店主很好辨认，是个总是穿着苏格兰短裙的男人。那家书店里面也有些好书。利思道的尽头是倍受称赞的沃尔沃纳与克罗拉餐厅，它楼梯对面还有一家麦克诺坦书店，至少我最后一次看见时是这样，我衷心希望它生意兴隆。如今，聚集着一溜真正出色的二手书店、让人能用几块钱买到意外之宝的城镇越来越少了。我听说可以在网上购书，不过这听起来没什么意思，只是权宜之计罢了。实际上，许多读者都是在看见、触摸、嗅闻过一本书后，才渐渐爱上它，才知道自己想要它的。我知道，我不是唯一凭拿在手里的感觉就买下一本书的人。

This leads me to the contention that simply messing aroundwith books is one of the very best ways to pass time that there is. Notnecessarily reading, but just ambling about the house nonchalantly movingan armful of books from one place to another or creating a mountain ofopen volumes that's then abandoned because an entire other mountainin another room looks more interesting. Someone reordering their recordcollection by date or by alphabet or by genre will understand a similarcompulsion in a house full of books. When books come into a house in aconstant trickle there's always reshelving to be done and failures to weedout, borrowings to go back to their owners and the awful decision to bemade about what to read next.

Another theme I like that's emerged from the most recent travelsin the world of bookishness is tales about the mistreatment of books. Fora booklover, these are like mini-horror stories that send a little frisson offear down the spine. It is clear that Coleridge was a serial offender, but it'simpossible not to smile at Lamb's despair on finding that yet another ofhis volumes had caught the poet's attention, knowing the book won't bereturned in any fit state. Some people are unremitting in the protection theyafford the books they own. The habit of buying from jumble sales meansthat I tend not to be too distracted by bumps and foxing and sunning andall the other charming words used by proper book people. However, havingto use a university library means that I frequently handle books where thetext has been highlighted enthusiastically. Some students seem unaware thatusing a neon-coloured pen is not the same as reading. It always makes mecringe, and puts me in mind of graffiti on the Underground.

由此我得出结论，打发时间的最佳方式之一便是翻书。不一定要读，只需漫不经心地把一摞书从一处挪到另一处，或是翻开一大堆书然后扔下不看，跑到另一间房里看另一堆看起来更有趣的书。一些按年代、字母顺序或类别来重新排列藏书的人，能理解待在一间堆满书的房间里感受到的冲动。当书源源不断地运进屋子时，总有新书需要上架，总有旧书需要清理淘汰，总有借来的书需要物归原主，总有艰难的抉择决定接下来该读什么书。

最近在书界旅行的过程中，我开始对虐书的故事有了兴趣。对爱书人来说，这就像微型恐怖故事一样让人脊背发凉。柯勒律治显然是个惯犯；兰姆发现自己的藏书吸引了这位诗人的目光，因为深知它们不可能完好归来而流露出来的伤心绝望的表情，真是令人忍俊不禁。有些人会不遗余力地保护自己的书。我习惯从杂物堆里买书，这就意味着，我不会因为鼓包、黄斑、晒掉色和爱书人使用的其他“迷人词汇”而分心。然而，由于我不得不在大学图书馆里看书，我看的书常常被人热情地划上了着重线。有些学生似乎意识不到用荧光笔划线和读书不是一回事。这总让我觉得恐怖，使我联想到地铁里的涂鸦。

But this maltreatment is a reminder that each book has a life. Someare very short. A lot of contemporary political biographies go from printerto warehouse to shop to pulp factory before the ink is dry, and it is sad tosee a book that will never, ever be loved or even welcomed. I cannot recalloff-hand a whole novel about a book's life, but it could be a worthy rate. Ihave in my possession just one valuable and extremely arcane antiquarianbook, which dates from 1839. I hear rumors that Gladstone read thebook—not this very one, as far as I know—and it would be nice to thinkthat my copy travelled a little in elevated circles before coming to reseton my shelf. Suddenly I wonder where the book was during the war andwhether it had any close calls or if it just sat in a library somewhere for ahundred years, subject only to the flick of a feather duster.

Library books probably have a more thrilling life than most. JulesVerne had the vision of a library where books would leave the shelvesand then be handed on from reader to reader and only eventually returnto the shelves, years later, and not a little dog-eared. I used to pencil myname in books as I bought them, and then erase the mark when I passed iton. Now I leave the mark, because I have come to like reading the namesand inscriptions and notes left inside books as they move from owner toowner. I've been tempted to buy a book because it has a remarkably stylishbookplate: who would not want to be associated—albeit remotely—withsomeone who has impeccable taste? Even post-war municipal librarymarkings can have a utilitarian culture.

虐书这种现象提醒我们，每本书都有生命。有些书生命短暂。很多当代政治人物的传记从印刷厂出来后送到仓库，到商店再到纸浆厂时，油墨都还没干。看到一本书永远不会受人喜爱甚至不受人欢迎，着实令人难过。我一时想不起哪本小说专门讲述书的生命，但它可能是有价值的珍本。我的藏书中只有一本珍贵且特别神秘的古籍，出版时间可以追溯到1839年。我听说格拉德斯通读过这本书——据我所知，不是我这本——想象它曾在上流社会转过一圈，然后才来到我的书架上，还真叫人开心。我突然很想知道这本书在战争时代身在何处，它是否曾死里逃生，或只是在图书馆里呆了100年，除了鸡毛掸子外无人问津。

图书馆藏书的经历或许比大多数书都要惊心动魄。法国作家儒勒•凡尔纳[4]曾憧憬，图书馆藏书从离开书架，在读者之间传阅，到多年后回归书架时，没有一点儿卷边。我过去常常买来书后用铅笔在书上写下名字，给别人时再擦掉。如今我会留下它，因为我越来越喜欢看读者传承书籍时在书里留下的名字、题献和笔记。我曾因为一张特别引人注目的藏书票而买下一本书。藏书票上写着：纵使距离遥远，有谁不想结识品位无可挑剔的人呢？就连战后市政府藏书里的标记都沾染了功利色彩。

I feel mute with shame at the realization that the last anthologymade rather more jokes at the expense of librarians than really shouldhave been the case. This collection aims to underline my true belief thatlibrarianship is a noble calling. All the knowledge of the world is madefreely accessible by libraries, to anyone with the wit to wander into them; itis librarians who smooth the pathway. I can't pretend to be even nearly asuseful. The closest I have been to the job of librarian is as a volunteer whodelivered books to remarkably genteel housebound ladies in Stirling. Asmight be expected, they were consumed by an appetite for violent crimenovels although one customer had an inexplicable liking for Miss Read.The ladies pushed aside the tasking, involved and essentially wearyingselection of South American novels I literally pedaled from door to doorand brightened up when a new James Lee Burke fell out of the basket.

With a small coterie of exceptions, women are noticeably absentfrom literary accounts of bibliomania. Amongst the quotations here,women are usually only present to be impressed by bookishness andon no account can be allowed to display any of the nerdier bibliophilicsymptoms. Perhaps this is because men can continue to indulge manicbehaviours long into adult life, but women invariably have to grow up. Itwas something of a relief when my own particularly virulent strain of thebook disease was cured by having a family. Prams have no place in secondhandbookshops—literally, there's usually no room to get one in—andtend to get in the way when barging forward into the bunfight of a Feedthe Minds or Christian Aid book sale. Prams can be useful as a means

当我意识到我的上一本选集大多嘲讽图书管理员，而不是描述真实情况时，我羞愧得哑口无言。本书旨在强调我的真实信念——图书管理员是一项崇高的职业。因为有了图书馆，有才智之人才能自由自在地徜徉在知识的海洋里；正是图书管理员为我们铺平了道路。我不能装作自己做过和他们差不多有意义的事。我做过的最接近图书管理员的工作，是在斯特灵担任义工，将书送到很有文化修养的家庭主妇手中。诚如所料，她们大多喜欢暴力犯罪小说，只有一名顾客对里德小姐有莫名的好感。我骑着自行车挨家挨户将南美洲小说送上门去，那些女士却因麻烦、厌烦而不愿选书，反而对车筐中掉出的詹姆斯•李•伯克[5]的新作眉开眼笑。

除了少数例外，女性中显然缺乏文学作品里描写的藏书癖。从本文引语可以看出，女人通常只会被书呆子的行为打动，但自己绝不能表现出任何怪异的书痴症状。或许这是因为男人可以放任自己的狂热行为直至成年，女人则不得不成熟长大。我自己的藏书病因为成了家而有所缓解，这是一种解脱。旧书店里没有放婴儿车的地方——这个说法毫不夸张，婴儿车通常推不进去——就连在“精神食粮茶会”或“基督教会救助图书义卖会上”上讨价还价，它都会碍手碍脚。婴

of book transport, but then it is tiresomedeciding where to leave the baby. Havinga family also meant I had to stop theremarkably complex and fastidious methodI had pursued—since a teenager—ofrecording and cataloguing my purchases.Some kind of barrier was shattered whenmy baby was born. I called up Oxfam:they carted away sacks full of books, andI didn't even write down what I'd giventhem! This put an unforgivable hole in myscrupulously maintained data relating tomy own bookish behaviour, and I still don'tfeel quite right about it.

All of which brings us back to the fact that book love so often evokesthe most egregious vices. An acquaintance of mine who is otherwisegenerous with his time and even money is downright mean when it comesto books. They laud a book to the degree that wanting to read it becomesa physical ache, waft their hand towards it sitting invitingly on their shelf,but on no account does the book ever leave their possession. One carefulowner. Other people I know are very clear about the impression they wantbooks to give of their intellectual capacities. In all the academic offices I'vebeen in, I've never found a copy of Foucault that shows any sign of havingbeen read; Baudrillard looks similarly pristine. And I must confess that I

儿车倒是可以用来运书，但该把孩子放哪也是件叫人头疼的事。从青少年时期起，我对所购书进行记录和编目的方法就复杂而挑剔，成家也意味着我得放弃这一方法。孩子出生之后，我省去了一些记录和编目的麻烦。我打电话给乐施会[6]，他们用车拉走了成袋的书，而我甚至没记下自己给了他们什么书！我一直认真记录与藏书相关的事宜，这一次却是个无法弥补的漏洞。对此我一直耿耿于怀。

所有这些告诉我们一个事实——爱书经常引起最出乎意料的恶行。我有个熟人对时间甚至金钱都很大方，但一提到书马上就变成吝啬鬼。他们会把一本书夸上天，让你那么想读它，读不到就会浑身痛。他们会朝架上那本诱人的书扬扬手，但无论如何也不同意将它给人。多谨慎的主人！我认识的其他人都清楚地知道，书可以展示他们的聪明才智。在我待过的所有教务处里，我从未发现傅科的书有被人读过的痕迹，鲍德里亚[7]的书也是原封未动。我必须承认，我自己偷过一本

have myself stolen a book. It was Three Men in a Boat and I took it froma library cupboard while I was in the school dinner queue. I was snortingwithin the first few lines, and simply couldn't put it back. I still have thebook, and reread it every couple of years. I could argue that I rescuedrather than stole it, since the last stamp had been some time in the fifties:the book had been criminally underappreciated.

书。那本书叫《三人同舟》，是我在学校排队买饭时从书橱里拿的。我刚看头几行就呵呵地笑起来，就是不舍得把它放回去。我现在还留着那本书，每隔几年重读一次。我可以辩解说，我是救了它而不是偷了它，因为该书最后一次的借出记录是50年代——人们不懂得赏识它就是犯罪。

当书源源不断地运进屋子时，总有新书需要上架，总有旧书需要清理淘汰，总有借来的书需要物归原主，总有艰难的抉择决定接下来该读什么书。

Julie Rugg 朱莉•鲁格

1 《福尔赛世家》（The Forsyte Saga），英国小说家约翰. 高尔斯华绥的代表作。

2 《月亮宝石》（The Moonstone），英国小说家威尔基. 柯林斯的代表作，也是英国侦探文学的开山之作。

3  亨利. 克拉布. 鲁宾逊（Henry Crabb Robinson，1775——1867），英国日记作家。

4  儒勒.凡尔纳（Jules Verne，1828——1905），法国小说家，被誉为“科幻小说之父”。

5  詹姆斯. 李. 伯克（James Lee Burke，1936— ），美国推理作家，曾获埃德加. 爱伦. 坡奖。

6  乐施会（Oxfam），原名为“牛津饥荒救治委员会”（Oxford Committee for FamineRelief）。

7  让.鲍德里亚（Jean Baudrillard，1929——2007），法国社会学家、哲学家、后现代理论家。

The Silent-Reading Party

默读派对

Christopher Frizzelle

克里斯托弗. 弗里泽尔

作者简介

克里斯托弗・弗里泽尔（Christopher Frizzelle），西雅图最著名的新闻周报《陌生人》（The Stranger）的主编，负责电影、音乐、视觉艺术、戏剧、食物、图书等领域文章的采写，并开设了一个每周文化专栏。在加盟《陌生人》以前，弗里泽尔曾供职于《西雅图周报》（Seattle Weekly）。

本文于2010年4月发表在《陌生人》杂志网站上。文中描绘的新奇美妙的阅读派对可能会让你眼前一亮。天南海北、兴趣各异的陌生人齐聚一室，开始一场阅读盛宴。这里有轻松的氛围，有惬意的环境，有思想的交流和碰撞，也有甜蜜的约会和得遇知音的期待，但没有狭隘、傲慢和偏见。“独乐乐不如众乐乐”，与志同道合的朋友一起分享阅读的快乐当真是人生一大乐事。心动不如行动，带上一本书，约上三五好友，也来搞一个小型的阅读派对吧！

Every first Wednesday of the month at 6:00 p.m., the Fireside Roomat the Sorrento Hotel goes quiet and fills with people—crazy-haired,soft-spoken, inscrutable, dorky, NPRish, punk, white, black. The readingpublic. It fills right away, all these people who don't know each other, andthey sit very closely, sometimes three strangers to a couch. By 7:00 p.m.,you can't get a seat.

The party spills into the foyer—there's a table for chess or whatevernear the elevator, and two people sitting there, staring into books. Areporter for the Shoreline Community College newspaper showed up thelast time to ask about the event, but it's not much of an event: Nothinghappens. No one ever addresses the room. No one reads anything at youthrough a microphone. You just sit and read and get waited on, and leavewhenever you feel like it. For the first two months, the hotel extendedhappy hour all night for the reading party, and somehow “happy hour allnight” caught on: Now the hotel does happy hour all the time.

You can read whatever you want, and it runs the gamut. Tworeading parties ago, a business lawyer next to me was reading that day'sNew York Times. An art critic was reading A Brief History of Curating byHans Ulrich Obrist. A singer/performer/musician was reading Moby

每月第一个周三的下午六点，索伦托酒店的“炉边屋”餐厅里静悄悄的，坐满了各色人等——有发型怪异者、柔声细语者、神秘莫测者、神情呆滞者、自诩精英者、朋克装扮者，有白人，也有黑人。这是一群阅读的人。餐厅里每次很快就坐满了人，他们互不相识，但坐得很近，有时三个陌生人挤在一张沙发上。到7 点的时候，几乎找不到空座位。

于是参加派对的人涌到了大厅。电梯旁有张用来下棋或做其他用途的桌子，两个人坐在那里专注地看书。上一次，雪兰社区学院院报的记者现身此处，采访关于活动的事。但这不是什么活动：因为没发生什么事。没有人登台致辞，也没有人用麦克风讲话。人们只是坐着读书，还有人接待，想走的话随时可以走。最初两个月，因为这个阅读派对，酒店把“欢乐时光”[1]延长到了整个晚上，此举大受欢迎。现在，酒店全天都提供“欢乐时光”服务。

这里什么书都有，想读就能读。记得上上次阅读派对中，我身边一位商务律师在读当天的《纽约时报》。一位艺术评论家在读汉斯•尤里斯•奥布里斯特的《策展简史》，一名歌手、演员兼音乐家在读《白鲸记》，一位家具制造师在读马修• 斯

Dick. A furniture maker was reading Where We Live Now: An AnnotatedReader, edited by Matthew Stadler. Charles Mudede was reading WalterBenjamin, possibly for the billionth time. An investigative journalist wasreading Robert Greenfield's Exile on Main St., about the Rolling Stonesrecording Exile on Main St. A food critic was reading Elaine Dundy's TheDud Avocado, a drunky 1950s New York novel gorgeously republishedrecently by NYRB. A woman at the next table was reading MichaelLewis's The Big Short. Someone else was scribbling in a notebook; there'sone in every crowd.

The insane thing about a party where you're not supposed tomake small talk is that it makes you want to make small talk. You almostcan't not do it. (But what a relief to not have to!) If you go with friends,someone will quietly explode over what they're reading and you will wantto know what it is, or they will interrupt your reading and hand you theirbook and say, “Just read this—just this paragraph.” At the last readingparty, a man and a woman were sitting in leather wingback chairs in frontof the fireplace, and he was reading Joseph Campbell and she was, well,listening to him whisper to her about Joseph Campbell. I unsuccessfullyeavesdropped. I could only make out “theological shifts,” “how we live,”“ethical.” Hearing “ethical” sent me back a few pages (in Nabokov's Pnin)to reread something I'd just underlined: “Some people, and I am one of

塔德勒所编的《现今居所：带注解的读者》。查尔斯•穆迪第[2]在读瓦尔特•本雅明[3]的书，其实他可能已经读了无数次了。一位调查记者在读罗伯特•格林菲尔德的《颓废大街》，该书记载了“滚石”乐队灌录专辑《颓废大街》时的情况。一位美食评论家在读伊莱恩•邓迪的《纽约女孩在巴黎》，一部20 世纪50年代的纽约小说，最近在《纽约书评》上精彩重刊。邻桌一位女士在读迈克尔•刘易斯的《大卖空》。还有人在笔记本上涂鸦——每一群人里都有这种人。

一个不允许闲聊的派对只会让你更想闲聊，这是件疯狂的事。你几乎控制不了自己。（幸亏不是必须要闲聊！）如果你和朋友们一起去，有些人在安静的阅读中情感会迸发，你则想知道他们在读什么。或者他们会打断你的阅读，把他们的书递给你，说：“读读这个——就是这段。”上一次阅读派对上，一男一女坐在壁炉旁的翼状靠背扶手皮椅上，男人在读约瑟夫•坎贝尔的书，女人则在听他低声谈论关于约瑟夫• 坎贝尔的事。我勉强偷听到了 “神学流变”“我们如何生活”“道德”这几个词。听见“道德”这个词后，我立刻把自己读的书（纳博科夫的《普宁》）往前翻了几页，重读了我刚刚划线的几句话：“有些人讨厌大团圆结局，我就是

them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. Doom shouldnot jam. The avalanche stopping in its tracks a few feet above the coweringvillage behaves not only unnaturally but unethically…” (I was happy to bereading Pnin and not Joseph Campbell. No offense to Joseph Campbell.)

…

The Shoreline Community College newspaper reporter asked howit started: Annie Wagner (former Stranger staffer) and Brendan Kiley (stilla Stranger staffer) and I used to read after work together at Brendan'sapartment. Brendan always had tea and cheese and figs and tomatoes anddark chocolate and whiskey, and lived in an apartment with lots of chairsand lamps. We were all going to be at home alone reading otherwise;why not do it together? So civilized. So casual. None of the pressuresof talking! Mixed with intermittent talking, when you couldn't resist!Then Brendan got a new apartment and Annie moved to Chicago andsometimes, walking by the Sorrento, I would think: We should do it there,and it should be open to anyone, and it should be free. And, helpfully, theSorrento agreed. You should come next time. Bring whatever.

其中之一。我们觉得上当受骗了。伤害才属正常，厄运不可避免。雪崩在离畏缩发抖的村庄几英尺远处停止，这不仅不正常，而且不道德……”（我庆幸自己读的是《普宁》，而不是约瑟夫•坎贝尔。在此绝无冒犯约瑟夫•坎贝尔之意）。

……

雪兰社区学院院报记者问过阅读派对是怎么发起的。事情是这样的：安妮•瓦格纳（原《陌生人》编辑）、布伦丹 •基利（现《陌生人》编辑）和我过去经常在下班后一起到布伦丹家去读书。布伦丹家里有很多椅子，灯也不少，还总备着茶水、奶酪、无花果、番茄、黑巧克力和威士忌。与其我们回家孤零零地读书，为何不一起读呢？如此文明，如此随意，还没有聊天的压力！实在忍不住的时候，也能时不时地聊上几句！后来，布伦丹搬进了新公寓，安妮移居芝加哥。有时路过索伦托酒店的时候，我会想——我们应该在这里一起读书，它应该向所有人开放，应该是免费的。索伦托酒店帮了大忙，同意我们这么做。下次你也来吧，随便带些什么。

1  欢乐时光（happy hour），酒吧间术语，指在一定的时段内为顾客提供优惠服务，或酒水打折，或免费供应小吃。

2  查尔斯. 穆迪第（Charles Mudede，1969——），成长于美国的津巴布韦作家、电影制片人、左翼文化批评家。

3  瓦尔特.本雅明（Walter Benjamin，1892——1940），犹太人，20 世纪上半叶德国最重要的文学评论家、美学家和哲学家。

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第四章　书之归去来

——摘自《护书之苦——书若安好，便是晴天》

Of the Manner of Lending All Our Books to Students

关于向学者出借书的规范

Richard de Bury

理查德•德•伯利

作者简介

理查德•德•伯利（Richard de Bury, 1287—1345），达拉谟大主教，英国最早的藏书家之一，开启西方书话的第一人。他出身贵族，早年即热爱藏书，英王爱德华三世时期任外交官时遍览欧洲各大图书馆和书店。出任达拉谟大主教后，他的藏书更为丰富，几乎囊括了所有学科、所有形式的书籍。他在去世前一年写下传世之作《书之爱》(Philobiblon)，该书被公认为第一部深度谈论书籍知识的著作。

《书之爱》原文用拉丁文写成，最著名的英译本(The Love of Books: The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury)是1888年牛津大学三一学院学者托马斯（Ernest C. Thomas）根据28部译稿整理的版本。本文即节选自这部英语文学的典范之作，介绍了作者向牛津大学赠书后制订的借书规范。在严密条款的字里行间，不难瞥见伯利的一腔护书之情，亦可从中得见“图书馆学界第一部教科书”的风姿。

It has ever been so difficult to restrain men by the laws of rectitude, that the astuteness of successors might not strive to transgress the bounds of their predecessors, and to infringe established rules in insolence of licence. Accordingly, with the advice of prudent men, we have prescribed the manner in which we desire that the communication and use of our books should be permitted for the benefit of students.

Imprimis, we give and grant all and singular the books, of which we have made a special catalogue, in consideration of affection, to the community of scholars living in ____ Hall at Oxford, as a perpetual gift, for our soul and the souls of our parents, and also for the soul of the most illustrious King Edward the Third from the Conquest, and of the most pious Queen Philippa, his consort; to the intent that the same books may be lent from time to time to all and singular the scholars and masters of the said place, as well regular as secular, for the advancement and use of study, in the manner immediately following, that is to say:

Five of the scholars sojourning in the Hall aforesaid shall be appointed by the Master thereof, who shall have the charge of all the books, of which five persons three and not fewer may lend any book or books for inspection and study; but for copying or transcribing we direct that no book shall be allowed outside the walls of the house. Therefore, when any scholar secular or religious, whom for this purpose we regard with equal favour, shall seek to borrow any book, let the keepers diligently consider if they have a duplicate of the said book, and if so, let them lend him the book, taking such pledge as in their judgment exceeds the value of the book delivered, and let a record be made forthwith of the pledge and of the book lent, containing the names of the persons delivering the book and of the person who receives it, together with the day and year when the loan is made.

用公正的法规约束人们始终是件难事。精明的后辈或许不会试图逾越前辈划定的界限，也不会傲慢地反抗已经确立的制度。因此，我们按审慎之人的建议制订规范，力求为学者们交流和用书提供便利。

首先，鉴于其影响，我们将开列于特别目录上的每册书，作为永久的礼物赠与牛津大学___学院的学者。这是为了我们自己和我们父母的灵魂，也是为了自征服者威廉[1]以来最著名的国王爱德华三世[2]的灵魂，以及他的配偶——最虔诚的王后菲莉帕的灵魂。为了促进学术研究的发展和应用，以便该学院的每位学者和大师，无论是教会人士还是世俗学者，都有机会借阅相同的书籍，特制订如下规范：

应指定该学院的五位学者为“大师”，负责管理全部书籍。以查阅和研究为目的而借书，应至少经过其中三人批准；但以复制或抄写为目的的，则不准将书带出门外。因此，无论是教会人士还是世俗学者为此种目的前来借书，我们都将一视同仁。管理员在借书之前，需仔细检索馆内是否还有该书的副本。如果有，他们才可借出此书，根据管理员的估价收取价值高于书价的抵押品，并立即记下抵押物和书籍的相关信息，包括经手人姓名、借书人姓名和借阅日期。

But if the keepers find that the book asked for is not in duplicate, they shall not lend such book to any one whomsoever, unless he shall belong to the community of scholars of the said Hall, unless perhaps for inspection within the walls of the aforesaid house or Hall, but not to be carried beyond it.

But to any of the scholars of the said Hall, any book may be lent by three of the aforesaid keepers, after first recording, however, his name, with the day on which he receives the book. Nevertheless, the borrower may not lend the book entrusted to him to another, except with the permission of three of the aforesaid keepers, and then the name of the first borrower being erased, the name of the second with the time of delivery is to be recorded.

Each keeper shall take an oath to observe all these regulations when they enter upon the charge of the books. And the recipients of any book or books shall thereupon swear that they will not use the book or books for any other purpose but that of inspection or study, and that they will not take or permit to be taken it or them beyond the town and suburbs of Oxford.

但如果管理员发现求借之书并无副本，则除非借书人是上述学院的学者，或者不将书带出馆外，只在上述馆内查阅，否则不可出借此书。

但对上述学院的任何一位学者而言，借书前需先由三位管理员登记姓名和借阅日期。不过，借书人除非经上述三位管理员批准，否则无权将交托给他的书借与他人。管理员从记录上删去第一位借书人的姓名之后，才可登记第二位借书人的姓名和借阅日期。

每位管理员在踏上此岗位时，都应发誓遵循所有规定。每位借书人也需发誓，保证自己借书只作查阅和研究之用，不作他用，并承诺绝不将书带出牛津城郊。

Moreover, every year the aforesaid keepers shall render an account to the Master of the House and two of his scholars whom he shall associate with himself, or if he shall not be at leisure, he shall appoint three inspectors, other than the keepers, who shall peruse the catalogue of books, and see that they have them all, either in the volumes themselves or at least as represented by deposits. And the most fitting season for rendering this account we believe to be from the First of July until the festival of the Translation of the Glorious Martyr S. Thomas next following.

We add this further provision, that anyone to whom a book has been lent, shall once a year exhibit it to the keepers, and shall, if he wishes it, see his pledge. Moreover, if it chances that a book is lost by death, theft, fraud, or carelessness, he who has lost it or his representative or executor shall pay the value of the book and receive back his deposit. But if in any wise any profit shall accrue to the keepers, it shall not be applied to any purpose but the repair and maintenance of the books.

此外，上述管理员每年都应向馆长和与他一起工作的两位学者报账。如馆长无暇过问，则应指定管理员之外的三位检查员进行审查。此三人须对书目了然于胸，检查馆内藏书是否齐全、是否有实体书籍或至少是抵押物。我们认为最适合的账期是每年7月1日至次年的光荣圣者托马斯转葬日[3]。

我们还要另附以下条款：借书人每年应将所借之书向管理员展示一次，如果愿意的话，他还可以查验其抵押物。此外，如因死亡、偷窃、欺骗或疏忽而导致书籍丢失，丢书人或其代理人或其遗嘱执行人应照书价赔偿，并取回抵押物。但如管理员从中获得任何利益，则该款项只可用于书籍的修理维护，而非其他任何用途。

我们按审慎之人的建议制订规范，力求为学者们交流和用书提供便利。

Richard de Bury 理查德•德•伯利

[1]  征服者威廉（William the Conqueror，约1028—1087)，即英格兰的威廉一世，英格兰诺曼王朝的第一位国王，因著名的“诺曼征服”而得名“征服者”。

[2]  爱德华三世（Edward III，1312—1377），英格兰国王，本文作者曾任其教师。

[3]  光荣圣者托马斯转葬日，英国中世纪的节日。托马斯大主教被追谥圣人后，其遗骨于7月7日从原来的墓地转至坎特伯雷大教堂的圣地，后人将这天定为纪念日。

Welcome Home Borrowed Book

欢迎回家，我的书

Mrs. George Archibald Palmer

乔治•阿奇博尔德•帕尔默夫人

作者简介

乔治•阿奇博尔德•帕尔默夫人（Mrs. George Archibald Palmer，1854—1928），原名安娜•坎贝尔•帕尔默（Anna Campbell Palmer），美国作家。她10岁时首次在当地杂志上发表文章，起初用各种笔名进行创作，婚后则一直用“帕尔默夫人”作为笔名。她最好的作品均刊于《诗艺杂志》(Magazine of Poetry)。其代表作包括《褐色的小种子》(Little Brown Seed)、《盖伊夫人》(Lady Gay)、《盖伊夫人和姐妹》(Lady Gay and Her Sister)等。

1900年，《纽约时报》的编辑收到了一位诗迷寄来的短诗，是帕尔默夫人在十几年前写成的诗作原稿。本文选取的版本再现了此诗的真实面貌。古语有云：书非借而不能读。然而，读书者乐，借书者未必欢喜。作者手持友人归还的一本旧书，眼见纸页翻卷，百感交集，是该欣喜还是该怅惘？

I really am obliged to you for bringing back my book,

It moves me much to look whereon I thought no more to look;

It reminds me of the early time when it was lent to you,

When life was young and hope was fair, and this old book was new.

How well does memory recall the gilt that on it shone

The day I saw it, coveted, and bought it for my own;

And vividly I recollect you called around that day,

Admired it, then borrowed it, and carried it away!

And now it comes to me again across the lapse of time,

Wearing the somewhat battered look of those beyond their prime.

Old book, you need a rest—but ere you're laid upon the shelf,

Just try and hang together till I read you through myself.

你将此书归还，我确深表感激，

曾以为永失所爱，现如今百感交集；

借书之时往昔，此书将其唤起，

当年韶华希望在，旧书新装仍未改。

未忘当年，那镀金装饰，闪闪发光，

眼见此书，我心怀渴望，买回珍藏；

记忆犹新，那日你登门造访，

倾慕它，求借它，带走了它！

而今光阴荏苒，爱书重归枕畔，

奈何痕迹斑驳，旧日衣装已烂；

旧书啊，请好好休息，回到原架静卧，

在我读你之前，请多多保重，千万不要封脱页落。

而今光阴荏苒，爱书重归枕畔，奈何痕迹斑驳，旧日衣装已烂。

Mrs. George Archibald Palmer乔治•阿奇博尔德•帕尔默夫人

On the Return of a Book Lent to a Friend

友人还书记

Christopher Morley

克里斯托弗•莫利

作者简介

克里斯托弗•莫利（Christopher Morley，1890—1957），20 世纪上半叶美国著名的小说家、诗人和新闻记者，《星期六文学论坛》 （Saturday Review of Literature）的创立者之一。莫利是一位多产作家，无论是风格怪异的小说、带有文艺色彩的闲谈，还是轻松的韵文或活泼的随笔，他都能信手拈来。他一生著有50多部小说和诗集，其中讲述爱尔兰移民之女的浪漫故事的《女人万岁》（Kitty Foyle）被好莱坞改编成电影，且该片荣获了奥斯卡奖。

本文节选自1919年出版的《闹鬼的书店》 （The Haunted Bookshop）。该书是莫利早期的半传记性小说。本书讲述的事情很简单，无非是一本借给朋友的书被还了回来，书主人欣喜不已。但在作者的连珠妙语之下，全文充满了诙谐幽默的气息，一语道破所有爱书人“借书不还”的通病，让人忍俊不禁。

I give humble and hearty thanks for the safe return of this book which has endured the perils of my friend's bookcase, and the bookcases of my friend's friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition.

I give humble and hearty thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant as a plaything, nor use it as an ash-tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff.

When I lent this book I deemed it as lost; I was resigned to the bitterness of the long parting: I never thought to look upon its pages again.

But now that my book has come back to me, I rejoice and am exceedingly glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honour: for this my book was lent, and is returned again.

Presently, therefore, I may return some of the books that I myself have borrowed.

感谢老天！这本书终于安然归来。它在我朋友的书柜里历经劫难，又在他朋友的书柜里饱受折磨，回到我这里时样子竟还说得过去。

感谢老天！朋友没拿它当小孩的玩具，没用它接雪茄的烟灰，也没把它丢给大狗嚼着玩。

借出此书时，我料定它有去无回。我默默忍受长久的别离之苦，从未奢望与它重逢。

但如今爱书归来，我欣喜若狂！取出光亮的摩洛哥皮，待我将它重新装订，高高置于荣耀之架上——我书曾借出，如今归故里。

不过如今看来，我借来的不少书也该物归原主了。

Lending Books

谈借书

Anatole Broyard

阿纳托尔•布鲁瓦亚尔

作者简介

阿纳托尔•布鲁瓦亚尔（Anatole Broyard，1920—1990），美国《纽约时报》的书评家、编辑。他除了撰写书评，还著有自传体作品《风靡一时的卡夫卡：格林尼治村回忆录》（Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir）、随笔集《被书唤起》（Aroused by Books）和《我的病及其他生死随笔》（My Illness and Other Writings on Life and Death）等。

本文节选自1981年《纽约时报》的书评专栏。对于爱书人的“借书之痛”，布鲁瓦亚尔有一段极其精彩的描述。他将借书的痛楚比作“父亲看着女儿和别人未婚同居时的感觉”，将自己脑海的空白比作“舌头触碰到牙腔一样”。作者的爱之深、痛之切，尽在无限留白之中。

Summer vacation is a time for reading, and my friends come to me to borrow books because I have more than most people. In their innocence, they have no idea what I go through in lending a book. They don't understand that I think of myself as offering them love, truth, beauty, wisdom, and consolation against death. Nor do they suspect that I feel about lending a book the way most fathers feel about their daughters living with a man out of wedlock.

This is not to say that there is no pleasure in lending. Each man as a bit of the evangelist in him, and when a book moves me I want to put it into everyone's pocket. If such a book were widely read, the world would be a better, lovelier place. But it is not these books that people ask to borrow. How many friends have asked for The Collected Poems of Elizabeth Bishop, or Johan Huizinga's The Waning of the Middle Ages?

A less noble motive for lending books is a simple curiosity to see what will happen, a throwback to the child who makes his toys collide. To press a potent book on someone is like giving a dinner guest a strong drink that may cause him to act either foolish or exalted. Some readers even “pass out" after imbibing such a book: they dismiss the experience because they can't handle it.

Occasionally, I'm asked, as if I were a doctor, to prescribe a book for a particular condition—for a recently divorced person or one who is suffering from depression. What kind of book a divorced or depressed person might want to read is a nice question: Should it be comforting or a confirmation of their conviction that things fall apart and the center cannot hold? Why doesn't anyone ask me to suggest a book for someone who has just fallen in love?

暑假正是读书时。朋友来向我借书，因为我的书比大多数人的多些。那些天真无邪的人根本不了解我把书借出时的感受。他们不理解，我觉得自己给予他们的是真爱、真理、美好、智慧和对抗死亡的慰藉。他们也不知道，我出借藏书时的感觉，就像大多数父亲看着女儿和某人未婚同居时的感觉一样。

这并不是说借书给别人毫无乐趣可言。每个人都会有点传教精神，如果一本书感动了我，我就希望把它塞进每个人的口袋。如果这本书普及开来，世界将变得更美好、更可爱。但人们想借的不是这种书。有多少朋友曾向我借过《伊丽莎白•毕肖普诗选》或约翰•赫伊津哈的《中世纪的衰落》？

借书给别人还有个不太崇高的动机，就是单纯地好奇书借出之后会发生什么——这和小孩把玩具互相撞击的目的一样。迫使某人读某本够劲的书，就像给宴会上的客人灌烈酒一样，有可能让他丑态尽出或兴奋异常。有些读者“吸收”这种书后甚至会“晕倒”——他们应付不来，只好放弃体验。

偶尔有人请我针对某种“症状”推荐一本书——就好像我是个医生似的——给新近离婚的人或心情抑郁的人看。离婚或抑郁的人会想看什么书呢？这是个不错的问题。那本书是该给他们提供安慰呢，还是让他们确信万物瓦解、中心难再维系？为什么没人请我给初堕爱河的人推荐一本书呢？

It is irritating to think that others consider reading a leisurely, holiday activity. They enjoy a fling with books while I'm married to them. In their restless promiscuity, they ask only for new books, while I feel that they have no right to the latest Leonard Michaels until they have gone through Chaucer and Rabelais. They are nostalgic about everything but books.

The thought of people reading in the sun, on a beach, tempts me to recommend dark books, written in the shadow of loneliness, despair, and death. Let these revelers feel a chill as they loll on their towels. Let Baudelaire's "wing of madness" pass over them like a scavenging seagull.

There are times when someone will ask for a particular book, and I'll try to turn them away from it out of a fear that they won't do it justice.

Helen Vendler said that I. A. Richards, one of the great poetry critics, was always trying to protect his favorites against the misinterpretations of a careless world. Mallarme had a severe attitude toward the same issue. He said that “if a person of ordinary intelligence and insufficient literary preparation happens by accident to open one of my books and pretends to enjoy it, there has been a mistake. Things must be returned to their places."

一想到别人把阅读视为悠闲的假日消遣，我就恼怒不已。他们喜欢和书逢场作戏，我却与书结亲。他们滥交无度时只找新书，而我却认为，除非读过乔叟或拉伯雷的经典著作，否则他们不配读伦纳德•迈克尔斯的最新作品。他们对一切都怀旧，只是除了书。

想到沙滩上的人们在阳光下读书，我就想向他们推荐些黑暗的书，这些书是在寂寞、绝望和死亡的阴影下写成的。让这些狂欢者懒洋洋地躺在浴巾上时感到一丝凉意，让波德莱尔“疯狂的翅膀”像觅食的海鸥一样和他们擦身而过。

有时有人向我借一本特定的书，我会设法回绝，因为我害怕他们不会公正地对待那本书。

海伦•文德勒说过，伟大的诗评家之一I. A. 理查兹总是努力保护自己最心爱的作品免遭世人漫不经心的曲解。马拉美对这一问题也持严肃的态度。他说过：“如果一个智力平庸、缺乏文学修养的人碰巧翻开我的一本书，并装作喜欢它，那肯定是搞错了。该怎么回事，就怎么回事。”

Not many of my friends are poor, and thus the question arises: If you truly wish to read this book, if you are serious, why don't you go out and buy it? Why don't you make the same offering to literature that you make to other good causes? In Loitering With Intent, Muriel Spark's heroine observes that otherwise worldly people often act as if books were mysteriously difficult to procure. To the doting book lover, the idea of reading a borrowed book is disgusting, an unclean habit akin to voyeurism.

Occasionally I come across a book so extraordinary that I want to keep the experience to myself. Such a book seems to confer an immense advantage, to make the reader more desirable, witty, or profound than those who have not read it. To lend such a book, to give up such a precious edge in this furiously competitive world, would be foolish. The secrets in a book like this ought to be saved for a rainy day, for an exquisite emergency.

The moment a book is lent, I begin to miss it. According to T. S. Eliot, each new book that is written alters every previous one. In the same way, each absent book alters those that remain on my shelves. The complexion of my library, the delicate gestalt, is spoiled. My mind goes to the gap as one's tongue goes to a cavity. My security is breached, my balance tipped, my affections confused, my barricades against chaos diminished. Until the book is returned, I feel like a parent waiting up in the small hours for a teenage son or daughter to come home from the dubious party. In Zuckerman Unbound, Zuckerman's brother marries a girl as the only way to repossess a book he lent her. Some bibliomaniacs would sooner give away a book than suffer the anxiety of lending it.

我的朋友没几个是穷人，所以我要问问：如果你确实想读这本书，如果你是认真的，那么为什么你自己不去买一本？为什么你在其他东西上舍得花钱，对文学却一毛不拔？缪丽尔•斯帕克《踩盘子》一书的女主人公发现，世人总是惺惺作态，仿佛书籍极难获取。对酷爱书的人来说，“读借来的书”这个想法就像窥阴癖这类不洁嗜好一样令人作呕。

我偶尔会发现一本甚为特别的书，让我不愿与旁人分享阅读体验。这种书似乎能让人受益匪浅，让读过的人比没读过的人更成熟、更睿智也更深邃。借出这样一本书，将这样的珍宝置于这个竞争激烈的世界中，无疑是愚蠢的行为。这类书中的秘密应该妥善珍藏，留待不测之日，以备不时之需。

书刚刚借出，我就开始想念它了。根据T. S. 艾略特的说法，每本新书都会改变从前所有的书。同样，每本缺少的书都会改变我书架里剩下的书。我书房的布局被毁了，那种雅致的形态不见了。我的大脑一片空白，就像舌头触碰到牙腔一样。我深感不安、失去平衡、心烦意乱、头脑不听使唤。在书被还回来之前，我的感觉就像父母等待未成年子女从不三不四的派对上归来一样。在《被解放的祖克曼》里，祖克曼的兄弟娶了一个女孩，因为他曾借书给她，而和她结婚是要回这本书的唯一办法。有些藏书狂宁可把书送人，也不愿忍受出借藏书之苦。

The most dangerous part of lending books lies in the returning. At such times, friendships hang by a thread. I look for agony or ecstasy, for tears, transfiguration, trembling hands, a broken voice—but what the borrower usually says is, "I enjoyed it."

I enjoyed it—as if that were what books were for.

借书给人最危险的部分在于还书。此时此刻，友情悬于一线。我期待见到朋友时的痛苦、狂喜、泪水、变化，或是颤抖的双手、哽咽的声音。但借书人通常这么说：“我挺喜欢它。”

我挺喜欢它——仿佛这就是书存在的意义。

借书给人最危险的部分在于还书。此时此刻，友情悬于一线。

Anatole Broyard阿纳托尔•布鲁瓦亚尔

Bibliomania

藏书狂

Roger Rosenblatt

罗杰•罗森布拉特

作者简介

罗杰•罗森布拉特（Roger Rosenblatt，1940— ），美国作家、记者、编辑、电视评论家、剧作家。他身为《时代周刊》（Time）的评论家，曾赢得诸多殊荣，包括乔治•波尔克奖（George Polk Award），以及海外新闻协会（Overseas Press Club）和美国律师协会（American Bar Association）颁发的奖项。他还是著名的艾美奖 （Emmy Award）的获得者。

罗森布拉特在纽约大学读本科时就开始收藏研究类书籍，后为普利策奖评奖委员会（Pulitzer Prize Committee）评论过数百种图书。他甚至提出：“书籍就是我们的全部，我们因书籍而不朽，它们赋予生命秩序。”他的代表作是被译为多国文字的《战争的孩子》 （Children of War）。

本文选自罗杰1994年在纽约美国广场剧院首演的单人秀《藏书狂》。他将书主人面对借书者时的那种又惊又怕、欲语还休的心态描摹得精彩至极，令人读来如闻其声、如见其人。

The custom of borrowing books confutes nature. In every other such situation, the borrower becomes a slave to the lender, the social weight of the debt so altering the balance of a relationship that a temporary acquisition turns into a permanent loss. This is certainly true with money. Yet it is not at all true with books. For some reason a book borrower feels that a book, once taken, is his own. This removes both memory and guilt from the transaction. Making matters worse, the lender believes it, too. To keep up appearances, he may solemnly extract an oath that the book be brought back as soon as possible; the borrower answering with matching solemnity that the Lord might seize his eyes were he to do otherwise. But it is all play. Once gone, the book is gone forever. The lender, fearing rudeness, never asks for it again. The borrower never stoops to raise the subject.

Can book borrowers be thwarted? There are attempts. Some hopeful people glue stickers that read EX LIBRIS to the inside covers (clever drawings of animals wearing glasses, adorable yet pointless, and the name of its owner: "EX LIBRIS Rosenblattimus") —as if the presence of Latin and the imprint of a name were so formidable as to reverse a motor reflex. It never works. One might try slipping false jackets on one's books—a cover for Cry, the Beloved Country disguising a book actually entitled Utility Rates in Ottawa: A Woman's View.

There's no spectacle that is as terrifying as the sight of a guest in your house whom you catch staring at your books. It is not the judgmental possibility that is frightening. The fact that one's sense of discrimination is exposed by his books. Indeed, most people would much prefer to see the guest first scan, then peer and turn away in boredom or disapproval. Alas, too often the eyes, dark with calculation, shift from title to title as from floozie to floozie in an overheated dance hall. Nor is that the worst. It is when those eyes stop moving that the heart, too, stops.

借书的习俗战胜了人类的天性。在任何其他类似的情况下，借用人会成为出借人的奴隶，沉重的人情债会破坏人际关系的平衡，使暂时的所得变成永久的损失。借钱无疑就是这样，但借书可不是如此。出于某种原因，借书人会觉得，一本书一旦落入自己手中就成了自己的东西。他会忘掉借书这码事，也不会为此感到内疚。更糟的是，书主人也相信这一点。表面上，书主人会郑重其事地让借书人发誓尽早还书；借书人则会同样一本正经地表示，如果没有按时还书，愿上帝夺去自己的双眼。但这不过是演戏罢了。书一旦被借走，就一去不复返了。书主人碍于情面不便开口要书，借书者则绝口不提此事。

能挫败借书人的企图吗？有人尝试过。有些人满怀希望地在书的封面内侧贴上“藏书票”[1]（上面画着戴眼镜的动物，惹人怜爱但叫人不得要领，上面还有书主人的名字“罗森布拉特珍藏”），仿佛写上拉丁文和名字就能吓得别人乖乖还书。这个方法从没奏效过。有人则试着给自己的书换上假封面，比如给《女性视角下的渥太华公用事业率》换上《哭泣的大地》的封面。

看见客人在你家里虎视眈眈地盯着你的藏书，没有比这更恐怖的事了。这确实恐怖，无需多加评判。事实上，从一个人的藏书能看出他的判断力。其实大多数人都非常希望客人先瞟上一眼，然后就觉得无聊，或是不以为然地转身离开。天啊，很多时候，客人总是以老谋深算的眼光，细细打量每本书的标题，就像逐个打量热力四射的舞池里的靓女一般。但这还不是最糟的，最糟的是，当那双眼睛停在某处时，你的心跳也随之停止。

The guest's body twitches; his hand floats up to where his eyes have led it. There is nothing to be done. You freeze. He smiles. You hear the question even as it forms: "Would you mind if I borrowed this book?" Mind? Why should I mind? The fact that I came upon that book in a Paris bookstall in April 1969—the thirteenth, I believe it was, the afternoon, it was drizzling—that I found it after searching all Europe and North America for a copy; that it is dog-eared at passages that mean more to my life than my heartbeat; that the mere touch of its pages recalls to me in a Proustian shower my first love, my best dreams. Should I mind that you seek to take all that away? That I will undoubtedly never get it back? Then even if you actually return it to me one day, I will be wizened, you cavalier, and the book spoiled utterly by your mishandling? Mind?

"Not at all. Hope you enjoy it."

"Thanks. I'll bring it back next week."

"No rush. Take your time." [Liar.]

客人的身体一扭，抬手伸向盯住的书。一切都无法挽回了。你呆住了，他却微笑着。你耳边飘来这样一个问题：“你介意我借这本书吗？”介意？我为什么会介意？事实上，我搜遍了欧洲和北美洲的大小书店，才在巴黎的一个书摊上遇见此书。那是1969年4月——我想是13号，是个细雨霏霏的午后。对我的生命来说，那本书中一些折角的段落比心跳还重要；仅仅是轻抚它的书页，就能把我带进普鲁斯特[2]式的回忆中，忆起我的初恋，我最美的梦境。你要把这一切都夺走，而且我肯定要不回来——你说我会不会介意？即使有朝一日你真的将书归还，我早已形容憔悴，书也会因为你的粗鲁对待而备受摧残。你说我会不会介意？

“当然不介意。希望你喜欢它。”

“多谢。我下周就还你。”

“不急，慢慢看吧。”（心里说：你个骗子。）

[1]  EX LIBRIS 是拉丁文，原义是“珍藏”，如今是“藏书票”的国际通用符号。藏书票是欧美藏书家请艺术家或自己设计印制的小纸票，票面上除了藏家姓名和图案外，通常还印有EX LIBRIS 字样。藏书票一般贴于每本藏书的封面内侧，或扉页右上角或正中，表示该书为某人或某图书馆所收藏。

[2]  马塞尔•普鲁斯特（Marcel Proust，1871—1922），法国小说家，擅长细致的心理描写，以及用一件小事牵出长篇的琐碎回忆。

如果您喜欢这些文章，请戳上面的图片，直接购买完整版电子书 。

第五章　淘书琐记

——摘自《藏书之乐——书架上的珍宝》

On Book-Buying

关于买书

Augustine Birrell

奥古斯丁・比勒尔

作者简介

奥古斯丁・比勒尔（Augustine Birrell，1850—1933），英国作家、政治家、律师。毕业于剑桥大学三一学院，后成为法学教授，1907至1916 年间在英国内阁主管爱尔兰事务。比勒尔的作品包括评论文集《附言》（Obiter Dicta）以及夏洛蒂・勃朗特（Charlotte Brontë）和威廉・哈兹里特（William Hazlitt）等人的传记，尤以机智幽默的文学评论为人所知。

本文选自1885 年出版的《闲暇时光》（The Leisure Hour）。在文中，作者提出了一个令人耳目一新的观点——最好的书必然都是二手书。他推崇通过淘书来充实自己的藏品，因为藏书能让人更客观地反观自身，书中内容还能让人领略喜悦和忧伤。开始藏书吧！这样，当你在暮光下凝视爱书的书脊时，也能像作者一样宣布：“它们属于我，我也属于它们。”

The most distinguished of living Englishmen who, great as he is in many directions, is perhaps inherently more a man of letters than anything else, has been overheard mournfully to declare that there were more booksellers' shops in his native town sixty years ago, when he was a boy in it, than are today to be found within its boundaries. And yet the place “all unabashed” now boasts its bookless self a city!

Mr. Gladstone was, of course, referring to second-hand bookshops.Neither he nor any other sensible man puts himself out about new books.When a new book is published, read an old one, was the advice of a sound though surly critic. It is one of the boasts of letters to have glorified the term “second-hand,” which other crafts have “soiled to all ignoble use.” But why it has been able to do this is obvious. All the best books are necessarily second-hand.

The writers of today need not grumble. Let them “bide a wee.” If their books are worth anything, they, too, one day will be second-hand. If their books are not worth anything there are ancient trades still in full operationamongst us—the pastrycooks and the trunkmakers—who must have paper.

But is there any substance in the plaint that nobody now buys books,meaning thereby second-hand books? The late Mark Pattison, who had16,000 volumes, and whose lightest word has therefore weight, once stated that he had been informed, and verily believed, that there were men of his own University of Oxford who, being in uncontrolled possession of

在世的英国人里有位最著名的人物，他在各个领域都很杰出，但他实际上可能只是个文人。有人曾听见他哀叹说，60 年前，当他还是个小男孩的时候，他家乡的书店比今天多得多。如今，这个地方没有几本书，却“厚颜无耻地”自称为城市！

当然，格拉德斯通先生说的是二手书店。无论是他还是其他有理智的人，都不会为新书而费神。每当有新书出版，心智正常但无礼的评论家就会建议人们读旧书。文人总是赞美“二手书”，批评其他书“业已堕落”。但他们这么做的原因很明显——最好的书必然都是二手书。

今天的作家无需抱怨。让他们“稍等片刻”——如果他们的书有价值，总有一天也会变成二手书。如果他们的书毫无价值，还是有不少古老的行当在今天仍然用得上——糕点师傅和制箱工人都需要用纸。

但是，感叹如今没人买书——特指二手书——有没有根据呢？己故的马克•帕蒂森[1]有16000 册藏书，所以他最微不足道的话都极有分量。他曾宣称，自己曾听说在他所在的牛津大学，有些人每年可自由支配的收入不下500 英镑，但

annual incomes of not less than £500, thought they were doing the thing handsomely if they expended £50 a year upon their libraries. But we are not bound to believe this unless we like. There was a touch of morosity about the late Rector of Lincoln which led him to take gloomy views of men, particularly Oxford men.

No doubt arguments a priori may readily be found to support the contention that the habit of book-buying is on the decline. I confess to knowing one or two men, not Oxford men either, but Cambridge men (and the passion of Cambridge for literature is a byword), who, on the plea of being pressed with business, or because they were going to a funeral, have passed a bookshop in a strange town without so much as stepping inside, just to see whether the fellow had “anything.” But painful as facts of this sort necessarily are, any damaging inference we might feel disposed to draw from them is dispelled by a comparison of price-lists. Compare a bookseller's catalogue of1862 with one of the present year, and your pessimism is washed away by the tears which unrestrainedly flow as you see what bonnes fortunes you have lost.A young book-buyer might well turn out upon Primrose Hill and bemoan his youth, after comparing old catalogues with new.

Nothing but American competition, grumble some old stagers.

Well! Why not? This new battle for the books is a free fight, not a private one, and Columbia has “joined in.” Lower prices are not to be looked for. The book-buyer of 1900 will be glad to buy at today's prices.

若每年肯花50 英镑买书，就算是出手大方了。他对此话深信不疑，但信不信由你。这位已故的林肯学院院长有点阴郁，这让他对人们——尤其是牛津的学者——的看法颇为悲观。

毫无疑问，要找到论据支持“买书的习惯日渐衰微”这个观点并不难。我承认，我认识一两位学者，他们均非来自牛津，而是来自剑桥——俗话说，剑桥人酷爱文学。不过，他们借口事务繁忙，或要参加葬礼，在异乡路过书店时竟不肯走进去瞅一眼有什么“好货”。上述情形着实叫人心痛，让人不禁往坏处想。但只要比较一下书价清单，这些想法就会烟消云散。对比一份1862 年和今年的图书目录，看看自己失去了多少好运气，你便会抑制不住地掉下眼泪，忘却之前的悲观。比较完新旧目录之后，年轻的买书者或许会跑到普利姆罗斯山去，为自己年纪太轻而哀叹不已。

有些藏书老手抱怨说，这只不过是美国人的竞争而已。

好吧！为什么不竞争呢？这场全新的书战是场混战，而非私人争斗，哥伦比亚已“参与其中”。低价书根本找不到。1900 年的人会很乐意以今天的价格[2]买书。一想到他们办不

I take pleasure in thinking he will not be able to do so. Good finds grow scarcer and scarcer. True it is that but a few short weeks ago I picked up(such is the happy phrase, most apt to describe what was indeed a “street casualty”) a copy of the original edition of Endymion (Keats's poem—O subscriber to Mudie's!—not Lord Beaconsfield's novel) for the easy equivalent of half-a-crown—but then that was one of my lucky days. The enormous increase of booksellers’ catalogues and their wide circulation amongst the trade has already produced a hateful uniformity of prices.Go where you will it is all the same to the odd sixpence. Time was when you could map out the country for yourself with some hopefulness of plunder. There were districts where the Elizabethan dramatists were but slenderly protected. A raid into the “bonnie North Countrie” sent you home again cheered with chapbooks and weighted with old pamphlets of curious interests; whilst the West of England seldom failed to yield a crop of novels. I remember getting a complete set of the Bront books in the original issues at Torquay, I may say, for nothing. Those days are over.Your country bookseller is, in fact, more likely, such tales does he hear of London auctions, and such catalogues does he receive by every post, to exaggerate the value of his wares than to part with them pleasantly, and as a country bookseller should, “just to clear my shelves, you know, and give me a bit of room.” The only compensation for this is the catalogues themselves. You get them, at least, for nothing, and it cannot be denied that they make mighty pretty reading.

到，我便心花怒放。好书越来越少，确实如此。不过，我在几周前“淘到”（这可是个妙词，多用于描述“街头偶遇”）一册初版的《恩底弥翁》。这是济慈的诗作，而非比肯斯菲尔德勋爵的小说——哦，感谢米迪图书馆的成员！我买它只花了半克朗[3]——那天可是我的幸运日。如今，图书目录越来越多，又在业内广为流传，导致书价趋于一致，这真是可恨。无论你走到哪里，书价总是六便士。过去，你可以心怀希望走遍全国，但求淘到些廉价好书。那时，伊丽莎白时期的剧作在有些地方根本没人在意。到“美丽的北国”扫荡一番，你便会满心欢喜地买回不少廉价书，带上稀奇古怪的旧书满载而归；而在英格兰西部，则不难找到大量小说。我记得曾在托基弄到一套原版的勃朗特作品集，我敢说，几乎没花钱。那样的日子一去不复返了。实际上，乡下书商更常听说伦敦拍卖会的消息，更常收到邮寄的图书目录，所以他们很可能高估手头货物的价值，不愿像他们应该做的那样，一边说着“你知道，我只想收拾书架，腾点地方”，一边高高兴兴地把书卖掉。买家获得的唯一补偿是图书目录本身。至少你能免费拿到这些目录。不可否认的是，这些目录挺耐看。

These high prices tell their own tale, and force upon us the conviction that there never were so many private libraries in course of growth as there are today.

Libraries are not made; they grow. Your first two thousand volumes present no difficulty, and cost astonishingly little money. Given £400 and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with this number of books, all in his own language, and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy. But pride is still out of the question. To be proud of having two thousand books would be absurd.You might as well be proud of having two top-coats. After your first two thousand difficulty begins, but until you have ten thousand volumes the less you say about your library the better. Then you may begin to speak.

It is no doubt a pleasant thing to have a library left you. The present writer will disclaim no such legacy, but hereby undertakes to accept it,however dusty. But good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one. Each volume then, however lightly a stranger's eye may roam from shelf to shelf, has its own individuality, a history of its own. You remember where you got it, and how much you gave for it; and your word may safely be taken for the first of these facts, but not for the second.

The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own

高昂书价的产生自有原因。它迫使我们相信，过去的私人藏书没有如今这么欣欣向荣。

藏书不是靠人硬造出来的，而是逐渐增加的。收集最初的2000 本并不困难，花费也少得叫人吃惊。普通人以正常方式藏书，无需匆匆忙忙，也无需担心品位的问题，只需花上400 英镑和5 年时间，就足以坐拥2000 册用其母语写成的书。这样一来，这世上至少有一个地方能让人感到幸福了。不过，这还远远谈不上自傲。有了2000 本藏书便自鸣得意，就如同有了两件外套就自以为了不起，这实在是荒唐。不过，藏书到了2000 本，困难才刚刚开始。除非藏书过万，否则还是少谈自家藏书为妙。藏书过万之后，你才3 有资格谈论。

获得别人遗赠的藏书，无疑是件乐事。无论书上有多少尘土，本人绝不会放弃这类遗赠，只会欣然接受。继承藏书固然是好事，自己收藏则更胜一筹。不管陌生访客扫视书架时多么漫不经心，架上每本书都有自己的个性和来历。你记得是从哪里淘到它的，为它花了多少钱。你说的购书地点有人相信，购书金额则没人当真。

拥有自己的藏书的人，能够客观地反省自身，相信自己

existence. No other man but he would have made precisely such a combination as his. Had he been in any single respect different from what he is, his library, as it exists, never would have existed. Therefore, surely he may exclaim, as in the gloaming he contemplates the backs of his loved ones, “They are mine, and I am theirs.”

的存在是合乎情理的。除了他之外，没有人能集齐和他完全一样的藏书。只要他身上任何一处有所不同，现在这批藏书就不会存在。因此，他在暮光下凝视爱书的书脊时，自然可以宣布：“它们属于我，我也属于它们。”

继承藏书固然是好事，自己收藏则更胜一筹。

Augustine Birrell 奥古斯丁•比勒尔

[1]  马克. 帕蒂森（Mark Pattison，1813—1884），英国作家、牧师，是英国高等教育改革的早期倡导者。

[2]  此处指本文写作的时间，应早于1885 年。

[3]  克朗，英国旧制货币单位。

The Mania of Collecting Seizes Me

为书痴狂

Eugene Field

尤金・菲尔德

作者简介

尤金・菲尔德（Eugene Field，1850—1895），美国诗人和专栏作家，以创作儿童诗歌闻名，也是颇负盛名的藏书家。

1882 年，他的第一部作品《先驱读本》（The Tribune Primer）问世，这部作品讽刺了那些规劝教育孩子的书籍。他的其他作品包括《儿童情歌》（Love Songs of Children）、《摇篮曲》（Lullaby Land）、《让人受益的故事》（A Little Book of Profitable Tales）和《书痴的爱情事件》（The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac）等。尤金. 菲尔德藏书楼现属美国圣路易斯市博物馆，向全市公立学校的学生免费开放。

本文选自1896 年出版的尤金・菲尔德遗作《书痴的爱情事件》。这本书介绍了三种出于不同原因藏书的人。作者认为，真正的书痴不可治愈，藏书狂的激情如此微妙，又如此具有感染力，会在不知不觉中蛊惑人心。你是否已被蛊惑？读完本文，便见分晓。

There are very many kinds of book collectors, but I think all maybe grouped in three classes, viz.: those who collect from vanity; those who collect for the benefits of learning; those who collect through a veneration and love for books. It is not unfrequent that men who begin to collect books merely to gratify their personal vanity find themselves presently so much in love with the pursuit that they become collectors in the better sense.

Just as a man who takes pleasure in the conquest of feminine hearts invariably finds himself at last ensnared by the very passion which he has been using simply for the gratification of his vanity, I am inclined to think that the element of vanity enters, to a degree, into every phase of book collecting; vanity is, I take it, one of the essentials to a well-balanced character—not a prodigious vanity, but a prudent, well-governed one.But for vanity there would be no competition in the world; without competition there would be no progress.

In these later days I often hear this man or that sneered at because,forsooth, he collects books without knowing what the books are about.But for my part, I say that that man bids fair to be all right; he has made a proper start in the right direction, and the likelihood is that, other things being equal, he will eventually become a lover, as well as a buyer, of books.Indeed, I care not what the beginning is, so long as it be a beginning.There are different ways of reaching the goal. Some folk go horseback via the royal road, but very many others are compelled to adopt the more tedious processes, involving rocky pathways and torn shoon and sore feet.

藏书家有许多种，但我认为可归为三类：为满足虚荣心而藏书的，为学习知识而藏书的，或因为崇拜和喜爱书而藏书的。有种情况相当常见：一个人起初只为满足自身的虚荣心而藏书，却发现自己深深爱上了淘书的过程，并成为了更高层次的藏书家。

正如一个陶醉于征服女子芳心的男人，其初衷只为满足虚荣心，却总是发现自己最终成了激情的俘虏。我倾向于认为，藏书的每个阶段都或多或少夹杂着虚荣的成分。我认为，虚荣对正常人来说是必不可少的——这里说的不是妄自尊大的虚荣，而是审慎克制的虚荣。如果没有虚荣，世上就没有竞争；没有竞争，社会就不会进步。

这些日子里，我经常听见人们嘲笑某人，因为他只知拼命藏书，却不知自己藏了些什么书。但要我说，此人所为无可厚非；他已经朝着正确的方向迈出了一步，只要顺其自然，他最终会成为一位爱书人和购书者。的确，我不关心开端如何，只要有个开端就好。条条大道通罗马。有些人喜欢骑马走阳关大道，但还有许多人则更爱崎岖小道，哪怕满地碎石将鞋底磨穿、脚掌磨破也乐此不疲。

So subtle and so infectious is this grand passion that one is hardly aware of its presence before it has complete possession of him; and I have known instances of men who, after having associated one evening with Judge Methuen and me, have waked up the next morning filled with the incurable enthusiasm of bibliomania. But the development of the passion not always marked by exhibitions of violence; sometimes, like the measles,it is slow and obstinate about “coming out,” and in such cases applications should be resorted to for the purpose of diverting the malady from the vitals; otherwise serious results may ensue.

Indeed, my learned friend Dr. O'Rell has met with several cases (as he informs me) in which suppressed bibliomania has resulted fatally. Many of these cases have been reported in that excellent publication, the Journal of the American Medical Association, which periodical, by the way, is edited by ex-Surgeon-General Hamilton, a famous collector of the literature of ornament and dress.

To make short of a long story, the medical faculty is nearly a unit upon the proposition that wherever suppressed bibliomania is suspected immediate steps should be taken to bring out the disease. It is true that an Ohio physician,named Woodbury, has written much in defence of the theory that bibliomania can be aborted; but a very large majority of his profession are of the opinion that the actual malady must needs run a regular course, and they insist that the cases quoted as cured by Woodbury were not genuine, but were bastard or false phases, of the same class as the chickenpox and the German measles.

这种猛烈的激情如此微妙、如此有感染力，会在不知不觉中蛊惑人心。例如，我认识这么一个人，他在某天晚上结识了我和梅休因法官，第二天早上醒来时就成了不可救药的藏书狂。但这种激情并不总是突然发作。有时，它会像出麻疹一样缓慢又顽固。此时应该对症下药，让它从病人身体里“发出来”，否则后果不堪设想。

其实我博学的友人奥雷尔医生告诉我，他见过许多这样的病例——受压抑的藏书狂最后一命呜呼。《美国医学协会杂志》这本优秀的期刊也报道过不少类似的病例。顺便说一句，这本期刊的编辑汉密尔顿曾是外科主任，也是收集服饰文学的著名藏书家。

长话短说，致命的医学案例说明，对于所有疑似受压抑的藏书狂，基本上都该立即采取措施让其病症“发出来”。没错，俄亥俄州的伍德伯里医生写过不少文章支持“藏书狂能够治愈”的观点，但他的绝大多数同行认为，真正的病症应该有个常规的发展过程。他们坚持说，伍德伯里医生引用的治愈病例是假的，不是子虚乌有就是病症不同，更像是水痘或德国麻疹。

My mania exhibited itself first in an affectation for old books; it mattered not what the book itself was--so long as it bore an ancient date upon its title page or in its colophon--I pined to possess it. This was not only a vanity, but a very silly one. In a month's time I had got together a large number of these old tomes, many of them folios, and nearly all badly worm-eaten, and sadly shaken.

One day I entered a shop kept by a man named Stibbs, and asked if I could procure any volumes of sixteenth-century print.

“Yes,” said Mr. Stibbs, “we have a cellarful of them, and we sell them by the ton or by the cord.”

That very day I dispersed my hoard of antiques, retaining only myPrynne's Histrio-Mastix and my Opera Quinti Horatii Flacci (8 vo., Aldus,Venetiis, 1501). And then I became interested in British balladry—-a noble subject, for which I have always had a veneration and love, as the well-kept and profusely annotated volumes in cases 3, 6, and 9 in the front room are ready to prove to you at any time you choose to visit my quiet, pleasant home.

我的症状最初表现为对古书痴迷。书本身无关紧要，只要扉页或版权页上印着一个古老的日期，我就渴望将它占为己有。这不仅虚荣，还很愚蠢。在一个月的时间里，我就收集了一大堆古书，其中许多是对开本。几乎所有的书都惨遭虫蛀，书页摇摇欲坠。

一天，我走进斯蒂布斯的书店，问他有没有16世纪印的书。

斯蒂布斯先生说：“有呀，我们这有一地窖呢，论吨或者论捆卖。”

就在那一天，我将自己囤的古书纷纷散去，只留下普林的《演员的悲剧》和《贺拉斯剧作集》（8 卷本，奥尔德斯编，维纳提斯出版社，1501 年版）。后来，我转而对英国民谣感兴趣——这是个高贵的学科，我一直对它又敬又爱。那些保存完好、注释详细的卷册放在我起居室编号为3、6、9的书柜里。你可以随时到我安静怡人的住所来，它们静候你的赏玩。

Outlandish Books

奇异之书

Henry Ward Beecher

亨利・沃德・比彻

作者简介

亨利・沃德・比彻（Henry Ward Beecher，1813—-1887），美国著名牧师、社会改革家、废奴主义者，也是19 世纪末最雄辩的演说家之一。他的著作包括《进化与宗教》（Evolution and Religion）和小说《诺伍德：新英格兰村庄生活的故事》（Norwood: A Tale of VillageLife in New England）等。其姐哈丽雅特. 比彻. 斯托（Harriet BeecherStowe）是声名卓著的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》（Uncle Tom's Cabin）的作者，该书被认为是美国南北战争的导火索。

本文选自1863 年出版的《眼与耳》（Eyesand Ears）。比彻用生花妙笔勾勒了一个由书籍带来的奇异世界，一个隔绝尘埃与喧嚣的世界，一个可与爱丽丝梦游之仙境媲美的世界。爱书的你，又怎忍心让这些奇异之书长久地在架上蒙尘？不妨找个阳光明媚的下午，推开书店大门，随手拿起一册旧书，期待一份萍水相逢的惊喜。

It is good to walk through an antiquarian bookstore. There is a great deal to be learned from books without reading them. The histories which books contain are, often, not half so interesting or so instructive as the histories which books themselves are. As often as the spring comes, and work is less imperious, and warmer days set loose the wild and yearning imaginations of the soul, as the air sets loose the roots and frees the flowers from their long imprisonment, we feel a roving mood. The fields are too far off, and a solitary sea-side is not to be found in the vicinity of this great commercial city. Picture-galleries are few, and the people in them many; and one scarcely knows where to find the quiet and the meditative incitements which he wants.

At such times I stroll into one of those establishments, now so numerous, that import and sell second-hand books. The moment that one is across the threshold he feels that he has changed worlds. All the clamor of the street, the ceaseless passage and clash of innumerable vehicles, the confusion of voices, seem smothered to a low and gentle hum, and even that is forgotten in a moment. Then one walks up and down the passages lined with books, the alcoves of books, the long tables thick with books, the corners stocked and heaped with books, as if this were a city of books, in ruins, like some Oriental city of desolation. All languages are here, and all of them are dumb. Their silent symbols hold up hieroglyphic significance to such eyes as may chance to know them. But as one might stand over a tomb, and muse who was laid therein, of what nature, disposition, history;of what experience of woe or joy in life; with what hopes, thoughts,

经过古书店是件妙事，无需阅读即可从书上了解很多事情。书中涉及的历史往往还没有书本身历史的一半有趣或有益。每当春天来临，工作相对轻闲时，温暖的日子会释放人们心中狂野热烈的想象。随着轻风将根和花从漫漫寒冬的囚禁中释放出来，我们有了外出的心情。田野太过遥远，繁华都市的附近也找不到清静的海滨。画廊虽少，里面的人却很多；真不知道在哪里才能安安静静地思考。

每当这个时候，我就会踱进一家如今随处可见的二手书店。一跨过门槛，就仿佛进入了另一个世界。街上的嘈杂喧哗和车水马龙似乎都被隔在门外，变成了低沉轻柔的嗡嗡声，甚至就连这嗡嗡声也瞬间被忽略了。徜徉在摆满书的通道和橱柜、堆满书的长桌、摞满书的角落间，仿佛这里是废弃的书城，就像某座荒废的东方古城。所有的语言都在这里，无声无息。对于有缘得见的人来说，那些沉默的符号意义含糊。人们站在坟墓前时，会默默思考躺在里面的人是谁、个性如何、脾气如何、经历如何，他一生有何悲欢，又有什么样的期望、

ambitions, struggles, failures, or evanescent victories; so do we stand by the side of a book in an unknown language. What means this title-page?What are the words of introduction? Open to the middle: Is this a story,an argument, a criticism, a history? Is it a grave affirmation of mighty truth, such as Bacon would have plucked down for heavenly thoughts? Or is it some jester, that flashes his momentary say, and waits for an answering laughter? How causeless are causes here! These words that have fallen on many a soul like a bow on a violin, and caused vivid emotions to spring forth from their touch, are now reaching toward my eye, but without a response. They touch, but I do not sound.

They are like winds blowing among petrified trees whose leaves are fast and whose branches are stiffened forever. But though their glory is gone, once they were sovereigns. This well-thumbed volume has once been a favourite. It has been the last thing consulted before sleep; a solaceto lucid intervals; perhaps often a companion of journeys. Or when the new grass was soft to pavement-worn feet, and the solitary scholar has wandered out to hear blackbirds sing by the side of spring-swollen streams,or to search for cowslips in the watery edges of the marsh lands, under his arm, but with affectionate care, goes this welcome companion.

A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity.It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues you never. It is not offended at your absent-mindedness, nor jealous if you turn to other pleasures, of leaf, or dress, or mineral, or even of books. It silently serves

想法、野心、挣扎、失败或短暂的成功；我们站在用陌生语言写成的书旁时也是如此。这个扉页有什么意义？导言里说了些什么？翻开书中某页，猜测它是故事、论述、评论还是历史。它是对真理的有力肯定吗，就像培根为了神圣的思想而写下的作品？还是某个小丑灵光乍现说出俏皮话，等待回应的笑声？我们是多么有缘无份。这些文字就像琴弓在小提琴上飞舞，激荡过多少灵魂，触发过多少情感。如今，它们呈现在我眼前，却得不到回应。它们触碰我的心灵，我却发不出声音。

它们就像风吹过石化的树木，树上的枝叶纹丝不动。尽管它们荣光不再，但它们曾是一方的主宰。一本常被翻阅的书曾经备受宠爱。它曾是睡前做的最后一件事，是清醒时期[1]的慰藉，或许还常常充当旅伴。或者当春天来临，新生的小草轻抚着走厌了石板路的双足，隐居的学者也来到户外漫步，在春水满溢的溪流旁倾听乌鸫鸣唱，或是在沼泽边寻找报春花。在他的臂弯中，在他的精心呵护下，就有这样一本书充当最佳的旅伴。

书是好伴侣。它满腹经纶，但从不饶舌；它诲人不倦，却并不纠缠不放。你心不在焉，它毫不恼怒；你移情别恋（将满腔爱意转向树叶、衣服、矿石甚或其他书），它也不妒忌。

the soul without recompense, not even for the hire of love. And yet more noble, it seems to pass from itself, and to enter the memory, and to hover in a silvery transfiguration there, until the outward book is but a body, and its soul and spirit are flown to you, and possess your memory like a spirit. And while some books, like steps, are left behind us by the very help which they yield us, and serve only our childhood or early life, some others go with us in mute fidelity to the end of life, a recreation for fatigue, an instruction for our sober hours, and a solace for our sickness or sorrow. Except the great out-doors, nothing that has no life of its own gives so much life to you.

And here are these uncomplaining favourites, now tumbled in heaps, or keeping dusty company in this great catacomb of literature! No gentle hand now fondles them, no eye searches them. They are foreigners,strangers in a strange land. But, peradventure, there yet shall come a dried and wrinkled man, poor in garb, as befits so poor a purse, and wandering up and down among these silent souls imprisoned in ink and paper words,who, seeking this dusky volume, shall renew his youth of joy, greet a loving,absent friend, go and sell all that he hath to buy this pearl of price to him,and faintly kindle again in his heavy, dark heart the light of a long-lost treasure.

它默默地服务于人，不求回报，甚至不求情意。更难得的是，它似乎能超越自身，潜入人的记忆，并徘徊在那里挥之不去，直到书不再是外在的形体，它的灵魂与精神也飞向你，像幽灵一样占据你的记忆。有些书就像阶梯一样，在我们的童年或青少年时期为我们服务过之后，便被抛在脑后。另一些书则是默默无闻的忠实伙伴，是我们疲乏时的消遣、清醒时的指南、病痛或悲伤时的安慰，陪伴我们直到生命的最后一刻。除了广袤的外部世界，没有哪个无生命的事物能像书一样赋予你生机。

即使这些昔日的宠儿如今在文学巨大的地下墓穴里凌乱堆放，落满灰尘，它们也毫不抱怨！现在，没有温柔的手爱抚它们，没有渴求的眼睛搜寻它们。它们只是异乡异客。但偶尔会出现一个皱纹满面、破衣烂衫、囊中羞涩的干瘪男人，在这些禁锢于墨水和文字中的沉默灵魂之间来回游荡。他在寻找这尘封的书卷，为了重拾青春的欢乐，与久别的好友重逢。他倾尽所有去购买这颗对他来说十分宝贵的珍珠，并借助这失落已久的珍宝，为沉重阴暗的心灵再次点亮淡淡的光芒。

[1]  清醒时期，原指精神病人发病的间歇期，此处指两次睡眠之间的清醒状态。

Book Collecting Abroad

海外淘书

Alfred Edward Newton

阿尔弗雷德. 爱德华. 纽顿

作者简介

阿尔弗雷德・爱德华・纽顿（Alfred Edward Newton，1864--1940），美国作家，20 世纪欧美最重要的藏书家之一，开创了西方书话的新气象，生前共收集了近10 万册典籍。他还著有大量关于淘书和藏书的随笔，它们最初刊登于《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic），后结集为单行本《藏书之爱》（The Amenities of Book-Collecting and Kindred Affections）。该书以藏书为中心，对书店经营、拍卖风云等也有所涉猎，语言诙谐，妙趣横生，为爱书人和藏书家之必读书。

本文节选自1918 年出版的《藏书之爱》。在文中，纽顿介绍了自己浸淫书海数十年的经验。他拥有一套与众不同的藏书标准，对每一本藏书的来龙去脉都了然于心，对书迷的心理更是了如指掌。正如作者所说，鲜花总有凋谢的一天，古书却能散发恒久的芬芳。与此公一同徜徉于浩如烟海的藏书世界，爱书人定可获益良多。

We collectors strive to make converts; we want others to enjoy what we enjoy; and I may as well confess that the envy shown by our fellow collectors when we display our treasures is not annoying to us. But,speaking generally, we are a bearable lot, our hobbies are usually harmless,and if we loathe the subject of automobiles, and especially discussion relative to parts thereof, we try to show an intelligent interest in another'shobby, even if it happen to be a collection of postage-stamps. Our own hobby may be, probably is, ridiculous to someone else, but in all the wide range of human interest, from postage-stamps to paintings—-the sport of the millionaire--there is nothing that begins so easily and takes us so far as the collecting of books.

And hear me. If you would know the delight of book-collecting,begin with something else, I care not what. Book-collecting has all the advantages of other hobbies without their drawbacks. The pleasure of acquisition is common to all—-that's where the sport lies; but the strain of the possession of books is almost nothing; a tight, dry closet will serve to house them, if need be.

It is not so with flowers. They are a constant care. Someone once wrote a poem about “old books and fresh flowers.” It lilted along very nicely; but I remark that books stay old, indeed get older, and flowers do not stay fresh: a little too much rain, a little too much sun, and it is all over.

我们收藏家努力地去改变别人的想法；我们想让其他人爱己所爱；我也不妨坦言，我们在展示自己的珍宝时，就算其他收藏家表示嫉妒，我们也不会觉得他讨厌。不过一般来说，别人容忍得了我们这群人，因为我们的爱好通常是无害的。如果我们讨厌汽车这个话题，尤其讨厌讨论与汽车零件有关的话题，我们就会巧妙地表现出对另一个人的爱好感兴趣，即使那爱好碰巧是集邮。藏书的爱好在别人看来或许是荒唐的，但在人类广泛的兴趣爱好——从集邮到收藏油画（这种百万富翁的消遣）——之中，没有什么像藏书这样容易入门，又能持久。

且听我说。如果你想了解藏书的乐趣，就从收藏别的东西开始吧，随便什么都行。藏书拥有其他爱好的所有长处，而没有它们的短处。收藏的愉悦人人都有——这就是藏书这项爱好的基础；但藏书几乎没有什么压力；如果需要的话，一个结实干燥的壁橱就能装下它们了。

养花就不是这样了，花需要持久的照顾。有人曾以“老书与鲜花”为主题赋诗一首，诗句极富韵律。但我注意到，书总是旧的，实际上会越来越旧，花也不能永葆新鲜：只要雨水多了一点，阳光多了一点，就全凋谢了。

Pets die too, in spite of constant care—-perhaps by reason of it. To quiet a teething dog I once took him, her, it, to my room for the night and slept soundly. Next morning I found that the dog had committed suicide by jumping out of the window.

The joys of rugs are a delusion and a snare. They cannot be pickedup here and there, tucked in a traveling-bag, and smuggled into the house;they are hard to transport, there are no auction records against them, andthe rug market knows no bottom. I never yet heard a man admit paying a fair price for a rug, much less a high one. “Look at this Scherazak,” a friend remarks. “I paid only nine dollars for it and it's worth five hundred if it's worth a penny.” When he is compelled to sell his collection, owing to an unlucky turn in the market, it brings seventeen-fifty. And rugs are ever a loafing place for moths—-but that's a chapter by itself.

Worst of all, there is no literature about them. I know very well that there are books about rugs; I own some. But as all books are not literature,so all literature is not in books. Can a rug-collector enjoy a catalogue? I sometimes think that for the over-worked businessman a book-catalogue is the best reading there is. Did you ever see a rug-collector, pencil in hand,poring over a rug-catalogue?

尽管悉心照顾，宠物也还是会死——或许正是因为照顾得太多了。有一次，为了安抚一只正在长牙的小狗，我把他/她/ 它带到我的房间里过夜，然后我就呼呼大睡了。第二天早上，我发现那只狗已经跳窗自尽了。

地毯带来的乐趣是种幻觉，是个陷阱。它们不能在这里或那里淘到，不能塞进旅行袋，也不能偷偷带进屋；它们很难运送，没有地毯的拍卖记录，其市场价格也没个准。我从未听人承认自己以平价购买地毯，更别说高价购入了。“看看这块施拉扎克地毯，”一位朋友谈到，“我买它只花了9 美元，现在肯定值500 美元了。”当他不得不卖掉自己的藏品时，由于地毯市场不景气，那块地毯只卖了17 美元50 美分。而且地毯总是蛾子的安乐窝——不过那可以另写一章了。

最糟糕的是，没有关于地毯的文学作品。我很清楚有一些关于地毯的书，我自己就有几本。但正如不是所有书都是文学作品一样，也不是所有的文学都在书里。地毯收藏家会喜欢目录吗？我有时想，对于操劳过度的商人来说，一份书籍目录才是最佳的读物。但你见过地毯收藏家手里拿着铅笔，研究一份地毯目录吗？

Print-catalogues there are; and now I warm a little. They give descriptions that mean something; a scene may have a reminiscent value, a portrait suggests a study in biography. Then there are dimensions for those who are fond of figures and states and margins, and the most ignorant banker will tell you that a wide margin is always better than a narrow one.Prices, too, can be looked up and compared, and results, satisfactory or otherwise, recorded. Prints, too, can be snugly housed in portfolios. But for a lasting hobby give me books.

Book-collectors are constantly being ridiculed by scholars for the pains they take and the money they spend on first editions of their favorite authors; and it must be that they smart under the criticism, for they are always explaining, and attempting rather foolishly to justify their position.Would it not be better to say, as Leslie Stephen did of Dr. Johnson's rough sayings, that “it is quite useless to defend them to anyone who cannot enjoy them without defense?”

I am not partial to the “books which no gentleman's library should be without,” fashionable a generation or two ago. The works of Thomas Frognall Dibdin do not greatly interest me, and where will one find room today for Audubon's Birds or Roberts's Holy Land except on a billiard tableor under a bed?

版画[1]目录倒是有——现在我接近主题了。版画目录的说明还算有点意义：风景画或许能勾起回忆，肖像画让人想研究人物传记。就算是喜欢插图、说明和页边的人也能各取所需，连最无知的银行家也会告诉你，宽的页边[2]比窄的好 。价格也可以查询比对；不管拍卖结果是否令人满意，都会被记录下来；版画也可以舒服地躺在画夹里。但说到持久的爱好，我还是要选书。

学者总是嘲笑藏书家，因为他们煞费苦心、投入重金，只为购买心仪作者的初版书。他们准是深受批评之苦，因为他们总是在解释，傻乎乎地试着为自己辩护。莱斯利•斯蒂芬如此评价约翰逊博士的草率言谈：“面对无法忘我投入的人，为自己辩护是没用的。”这样说岂不更好？

我并不偏爱一两代人之前很流行的“绅士书房必备之书”。我对托马斯•弗罗格纳尔•迪布丁的作品没什么兴趣。如今，除了台球桌上和床底下，哪里还能找到地方存放奥杜邦的《鸟类图谱》和罗伯茨的《圣地》？

The very great books of the past have become so rare, so high priced,that it is almost useless for the ordinary collector to hope ever to own them, and fashion changes in book-collecting as in everything else.Aldines and Elzevirs are no longer sought. Our interest in the Classics being somewhat abated, we pass them over in favor of books which, we tell ourselves, we expect some day to read, the books written by men of whose lives we know something. I would rather have a Paradise Lost with the first title-page, in contemporary binding, or an Angler, than all the Aldines and Elzevirs ever printed.

That this feeling is general, accounts, I take it, for the excessively high prices now being paid for first editions of modern authors like Shelley,Keats, Lamb, and, to come right down to our own day, Stevenson. Would not these authors be amazed could they know in what esteem they are held, and what fabulous prices are paid for volumes which, when they were published, fell almost stillborn from the press? We all know the story of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat: How a “remainder” was sold by Quaritch at a penny the copy. It is now worth its weight in gold, and Keats's Endymion,once a “remainder” bought by a London bookseller at fourpence, now commands several hundred dollars. I paid three hundred and sixty dollars for mine—-but it was once Wordsworth's and has his name on the titlepage.

往昔的伟大著作现已十分罕见且价格高昂，以至于普通收藏家几乎无望拥有它们。跟其他领域一样，藏书界的风尚也变了。阿尔定版[3]和埃尔塞维尔[4]版的书现已无人追寻。人们对古典作品的兴趣有些消退，转而关注那些我们告诉自己总有一天会读的书，那些我们对其作者的生平有所了解的书。比起所有的阿尔定版和埃尔塞维尔版书，我更想要一本带初版扉页的后世重装本[5]《失乐园》，或是一本《钓客清话》。

这种感觉普遍存在，我认为这导致了现代作家的初版本价格奇高，比如雪莱、济慈、兰姆，一直到我们今天的史蒂文生。这些作家的书当年差点没能出版，现在却备受推崇，卖出了惊人的高价。他们倘若地下有知，不会感到诧异吗？我们都知道菲茨杰拉德《鲁拜集》的故事：夸里奇书店曾以1 便士卖出一本“滞销书”，现在它的价格赶得上与书等重的黄金了。还有济慈的《恩底弥翁》——伦敦一位书商以4 便士的价格买的那本“滞销书”，现在价值数百美元。我买《恩底弥翁》花了360 美元——但这本曾是华兹华斯的藏书，扉页上还有他的名字呢。

But it is well in book-collecting, while not omitting the present, never to neglect the past. “Old books are best”, says Beverly Chew, beloved of all collectors; and I recall Lowell’s remark: “There is a sense of security in an old book which time has criticized for us.” It was a recollection of these sayings that prompted me, if prompting was necessary, to pay a fabulous price the other day for a copy of Hesperides, or the Works Both Humane and Divine of Robert Herrick, Esq., a beautiful copy of the first edition in the original sheep.

We collectors know the saying of Bacon: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested”;but the revised version is, some books are to be read, others are to be collected. Mere reading books, the five-foot shelf, or the hundred best,every one knows at least by name. But at the moment I am concerned with collectors' books and the amenities of book-collecting; for, frankly--

I am one of those who seek

What Bibliomaniacs love.

Some subjects are not for me. Sydney Smith's question, “Who reads an American book?” has, I am sure, been answered; and I am equally sure that I do not know what the answer is. “Americana”--which was not what Sydney Smith meant--have never caught me, nor has “black letter.” It is

但在藏书这件事上，既不应忽略当代作品，也不应忽视往昔著作。贝弗利•丘说的“古书最佳”深得所有收藏家的追捧。我想起洛厄尔的话：“古书中有一种安全感，因为它们经过了时间的筛选。”这些话驱使我（如果这种驱使有必要的话）高价买了一本《守护金苹果树的仙女，或罗伯特•赫里克人性与神性兼备的作品集》。那是一本美丽的原装羊皮初版书。

我们收藏家都知道培根的名言：“有些书只须浅尝，有些书可以吞咽，极少数书则需咀嚼品味”；但我修改后的版本是，有些书是用来读的，有些书则是用来藏的。仅仅用来读的书，“五英尺书架”[6]或“百部最佳作品”，每个人都知道这些书，至少知道书名。但现在我关注的是用来藏的书，以及藏书的惬意；因为，坦白地说--

我是一个追寻者，

追寻书痴之所爱。

有些类别的书不适合我。悉尼•史密斯的问题“谁会去读美国人的书？”我确信已有人回答了；同样，我确信自己不知道这个答案。“美洲学”[7]——这不是悉尼•史密斯所指的书——从来吸引不了我，“黑体字本”也一样。我没必要

not necessary for me to study how to tell a Caxton. Caxtons do not fall in my way, except single leaves now and then, and these I take as Goldsmith took his religion, on faith.

Nor am I the rival of the man who buys all his books from Quaritch.Buying from Quaritch is rather too much like the German idea of hunting: namely, sitting in an easy chair near a breach in the wall through which game, big or little, is shooed within easy reach of your gun. No, my idea of collecting is “watchful waiting,” in season and out, in places likely and unlikely, most of all in London. But one need not begin in London:One can begin wherever one has pitched one's tent.

研究如何辨别卡克斯顿[8]版。卡克斯顿版向来与我无缘，只是偶尔有一两张散页落入我手。我对待它们就像哥德史密斯[9]对待宗教一样，毫不怀疑。

我从来不和那些只从夸里奇书店买书的人一般见识。从夸里奇书店买书就像德国人对狩猎的观念一样：也就是说，坐在一张安乐椅上，对着墙上的一个缺口，毫不费力就能打到大小猎物。不，我的收藏理念是：无论何时何地（主要在伦敦）都“静观其变”。但你无需从伦敦起步：不管你驻扎在哪，从那里开始就行。

我的收藏理念是：无论何时都“静观其变”。但你无需从伦敦起步：不管你驻扎在哪，从那里开始就行。

Alfred Edward Newton 阿尔弗雷德•爱德华•纽顿

[1]  版画，在古籍市场上指旧式印刷图片，现在指在版画界使用的技法，如木刻、金属雕版、石印等。

[2]  margin 既可指“页边”也有“利润”之意，此处为双关语。

[3]  阿尔定版泛指15、16 世纪由威尼斯著名出版家奥尔德斯. 皮尔斯. 马努蒂尔乌斯及其家族印行的书。

[4]  埃尔塞维尔，荷兰出版集团，世界最大的出版商之一。与阿尔定版书均有极高的收藏价值。

[5]  后世重装本，非原始装帧但仿照当时形制，经后世书商或藏书者重新装帧的版本，收藏价值远不及上面提到的两个版本。

[6]  “五英尺书架”指《哈佛经典》。哈佛大学第二任校长查尔斯. 艾略特曾在一次演讲中说，人文教育可以通过每天花15 分钟阅读放在五英尺书架上的经典图书来获得。

[7]  美洲学，泛指一切与美洲相关的史料、论著、文艺作品，主要和美国相关。

[8]  威廉・卡克斯顿（William Caxton，1422—1491），英国出版家，一生出版了近百部书籍。在这些“卡克斯顿版”书籍中，以孤本或残篇留存到今天的约有1/3，是英国最为珍贵的“摇篮本”书籍。

[9]  奥利弗・哥德史密斯（Oliver Goldsmith，1730—1774），英国诗人、剧作家、小说家。

A Review of the Chase

忆淘书

Holbrook Jackson

霍尔布鲁克・杰克逊

作者简介

霍尔布鲁克・杰克逊（Holbrook Jackson，1874—1948），英国作家、藏书家，亦为西方书话瑰宝的集大成者。他撰写的《藏书癖之剖析》（The Anatomy of Bibliomania）几乎涉猎了各种关于书的话题，被誉为“爱书人的百科全书”。此外，他还著有《惧书》（The Fear of Books）与《书人之乐》（Bookman's Pleasure）等书话作品。他视书为精神的空气、食物和饮料，被弗朗西斯・梅内尔爵士（Sir Francis Meynell）誉为书界的“指挥家而非作曲家，并且是位光彩照人的指挥家”。

本文选自1930 年出版的《藏书癖之剖析》。淘书是人类最悠久的爱好之一，时至今日，人们对它的痴迷仍不减当年。霍尔布鲁克. 杰克逊在这篇关于淘书的散记中，综合了前人的淘书经验，探讨了淘书的意义和淘书人应有的素质。尽管此文距今已近百年，但作者的观点仍能给人无限启迪。

Book-hunting is a great sport, and many books are written of it;one would have it a “royal sport as old as literature--as literature, that is,inscribed upon any material more portable than that of the Rosetta stone;no hobby so old, so enduring, or respectable”, says Percy Fitzgerald, “almost from the first days of writing it declared itself”, and still flourishes, “the very literature of the subject is enormous, would fill a small library.” It is a wonder to hear what is related of illustrious collectors in this behalf, how many rich men are employed about it, how many booksellers, auctioneers,itinerant vendors, agents of all sorts, how much revenue consumed on this disport, how much time is spent upon it every year in London, New York,and Paris alone.

Many other sports and recreations there be, much in use, as athletics,card playing, dancing, shooting, sailing, motoring, flying, which many commend in just volumes, but none more consuming, none arousing greater devotion or keener delight. It is “mainly a personal affair, which begins and ends with a life: once a collector, always a collector”; book-hunting, like rumour in Virgil, grows as it goes, vires acquirit eundo; but it requires as much study and perspicacity as the rest, and is to be preferred before many of them; athletics and hunting are very laborious, and many dangers accompany them; but this is still and quiet. And if so be the book-huntercatch no book, yet he hath a wholesome walk to the bookshops, pleasant talk belike with booksellers, often entertaining characters and well-informed withal; he hath the good company of books, converse with them, dipping here and there, tasting title-pages, pleasing his touch with

淘书是一项伟大的运动，相关题材的书籍不在少数。珀西菲茨杰拉德说，“这项高贵的运动像文学一样历史悠久--就像文学，镌刻在任何比罗塞塔石碑[1]更加便于携带的材料上。没有什么爱好比淘书更古老、更持久、更可敬。它几乎从写作诞生之日起就已存在”，至今仍欣欣向荣。“与淘书相关的文学作品汗牛充栋，足以填满一间小书房。”这个领域有多少杰出的收藏家，多少富人忙于此事，多少各类书商、拍卖商、流动书贩、代理商为此奔波；人们在这项娱乐活动上花了多少钱，每年仅在伦敦、纽约、巴黎就花了多少时间？这些数字着实令人惊叹。

此外，还有许多常见的运动和娱乐，如田径、打牌、跳舞、射击、航海、开车、驾机等，尽管有许多书的推荐，但都不及淘书令人痴迷，让人全身心投入，给人无上的喜悦。淘书“主要是个人的事，始于此生，终于此生；一日藏书，终生不渝”。正如维吉尔所言，淘书有如谣言，越传越快，渐行渐长。但淘书像其他运动一样需要研究和洞察，却比许多运动更受人喜爱。田径和狩猎都十分消耗体力，且伴有危险，淘书则平和安静。即使没有淘到书，走着去书店也是锻炼身体，还能和热情好客、消息灵通的书商愉快地交谈。以书为良伴，与之交谈，随意翻阅，玩味扉页，轻抚平滑的封面，欣赏匀

the feel of a smooth binding or his eyes by the sight of a well-proportioned page, or having his pulse quickened by the sight of some rarity, as Haslewood, Dibdin's friend, when he first saw Juliana Berners' Boke of Hawkyng, Huntyng, etc.

He hears the prattle of the book-market, which he thinks better than the noise of hounds, or the blast of horns, and all the sport that they can make, for of all these impassioned pursuits, there is none more disturbing, more distressing in deception and hope, more intellectually absorbing, more obstinate in ill-success, more insatiable in triumph, more abundant in joys, noble, healthy and pure, than book-hunting. It is not easy; “there are difficulties of acquisition,” saith Powell, “necessities of research, and many snares and pitfalls beset those who go forth to the chase unequipped with the necessary knowledge, and, if they stalk the big game of the book world, with the necessary money.” No use hunting Caxton's or First Folio Shakespeare's with a popgun; at the same time I would not set up the most expensive books as the best hunting, even though so experienced an authority as Rosenbach will have that tracking down Bibles in manuscript is the greatest sport of all because it takes a king's ransom to secure a really fine one. It is a varied sport and there is good hunting for all. “My sport is book-hunting,” says Newton, “I look upon it as a game, a game requiring skill, some money, and luck; and if there is more in a book than in any other hunted thing once you have caught it, the game's the thing when the hunt is on.” According to Mr. Gladstone a book-collector ought to possess these six qualities: Appetite, leisure, wealth, knowledge, discrimination,

称的排版，就会觉得满心欢喜。看见珍品时，心跳还会加速。迪布丁的朋友哈斯尔伍德第一次看见朱丽安娜伯纳斯的《卖书淘书手册》时，就是如此。

听着书市上的闲聊，淘书人觉得这比猎犬狂吠、号角齐鸣更加美妙。世间所有的运动和热烈的追求中，没有什么比淘书更扰人心绪，比用欺骗和希望更让人苦恼不堪；没有什么比淘书更引人入胜，让人更不易被失败击垮，更不易因成功而满足；也没什么比淘书更让人高兴、高贵、健康和纯粹。淘书并不简单。鲍威尔说：“获得书籍的过程中会遇到重重困难，需要研究相关知识。如果没有必备的知识，淘书人便会被陷阱和圈套包围；如果他们想在书海里钓大鱼，资金也必不可少。”用玩具枪可猎不到卡克斯顿版或莎士比亚第一对开本[2]。同时，我认为，不该把最贵的书视为最好的猎物，尽管像罗森巴赫这样经验丰富的权威人士认为，搜寻手抄本的《圣经》才是最伟大的运动，因为一件真正的珍品值一位国王的赎金。淘书这种运动丰富多彩，每个人都能找到自己喜爱的猎物。纽顿说：“我最爱的运动是淘书。我把它看成一场游戏，这个游戏需要技巧、金钱和运气。如果说淘到的书与其他猎物有什么区别，那就是当你获得一本书时，游戏才真正开始。”根据格拉德斯通先生的说法，藏书家应当具备六种品质：兴趣、时间、财富、知识、鉴别力和毅力--

and perseverance--a formidable list, but be not daunted, for he himself had, by his own confession, but two of these qualities, the first and the last, and even so continued to collect some 5,000 volumes...

The book-hunter must be moved by the love of the chasse a livres, or of the books themselves, or both. Some claim that the desire for books is enough in itself, although our mighty hunter Heber combined a country life of farming and hunting with a town life of book-collecting and study. But I confess the chase of books is a passion which lasts throughout life and may, this side of dotage, legitimately outrace all other passions; as in Richard Smith, who lived to a very great age and spent a good part of it almost entirely in the search of books, and the Emperor Julian, who confessed, and his words afterwards were carved over the door of his library at Antioch: “Some love horses, or hawks, or hounds, but I from my boyhood have pined with a desire for books.” But it is not probable that the Emperor hunted his own books, pursued them himself, tasting the unquestionable delight in buying an odd volume and haunting the stalk in a search for its companion; he more likely resembled Henry Huth, who never searched for books himself but sat in wait for them to be brought to him; he was not a hunter of books but the builder of a library, or, as W. C. Hazlitt asserts, one who had his library “made for him”. At his best the book-hunter loves both the chase and the quarry, as true hunters at all times have delighted in the pursuit and capture of what they need, because it affords a kind of sportive excitement.

这六种品质令人望而生畏，但是不要气馁。格拉德斯通先生坦言，他自己也只具备其中两种——兴趣和毅力。即便如此，他仍有约5000 本藏书...

淘书人必须喜爱淘书的过程，或喜爱书籍本身，抑或两者兼而有之，并在其驱使下行动。尽管伟大的淘书人希伯将乡间的耕作和狩猎，与城里的淘书和研究相提并论，但有人声称，对书籍本身的渴望已经足够。我却认为，追寻书籍是一种持续终生的激情，或许这种溺爱之情应当胜过其他激情，例如长寿老人理查德史密斯，他几乎毕生都在追寻书籍。朱利安大帝也坦言：“有人喜欢马、猎鹰、猎犬，我则自幼渴求书籍。”这句话后来被刻在了他位于安条克的图书馆门上。但朱利安大帝不太可能自己去找书，亲自去淘书，也不太可能体会到买到一册散卷，再去寻找其他各卷的乐趣。他更像亨利胡特，从不自己找书，而是等书“找上门来”。他不是淘书人，而是图书馆的建造者，或者说是W. C. 黑兹利特所谓的“请人为自己建造图书馆的人”。淘书人最好既爱淘书过程又爱书籍本身，正如真正的猎人始终以追逐过程和捕获猎物本身为乐，因为他们能从中体会到一种运动的激情。

The book-hunter must be keen, earnest, skillful; he must not be--and the great collector never has been--a dilettante: least of all today, when collection is almost an exact science. T. J. Wise, in our own time, is a notable example of the complete hunter of books. He combines the maximum of skill in pursuit with the maximum of bibliographical interest in possession: The chief characteristic which will keep his name alive in the history of books is that he was the first to insist on specializing the system of entries and to give it a scientific uniformity and accuracy. As a favourable example of the good book-hunter in past times, I would point to Peiresc, a mighty hunter before the Lord, if ever there was one; he hunted books personally in all places, adorned them in gold, purple, and all manner of neat and curious workmanship, by the hands of the most excellent craftsmen, who were part of his household; he diligently read his books, and his next care was to travel over Europe seeking more treasures for his library; but his own efforts did not satisfy his hunger, so he sent others from his own house, into all the islands of the Aegean Sea, to the mountain Athos, to Constantinople, to Alexandria, to Memphis and to Carthage, who for him and with his money sought to procure the most ancient books in the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Coptic, and Ethiopian languages.

...

In America book-collecting with some is already commercialized, as Rosenbach confesses, “some of the most discerning men in Wall Street purchase rare books as an investment”, they keep them in strong rooms with stocks and shares and bonds, believing that “such treasures will always

淘书人必须执着、真诚、技巧娴熟，绝不能一知半解——伟大的收藏家从不一知半解：尤其是在当今，收藏几乎已成为一门精密科学。T. J. 怀斯是我们这个时代完美淘书人的典型代表。他具备最高超的淘书技巧，对藏书有着最浓厚的学术兴趣。他名留书史的主要原因在于，他第一个坚持将书目系统专业化，并提出了统一精确的科学标准。说到历史上优秀淘书人的典型，我想谈谈佩雷斯克，这位神灵面前的英勇猎手。他亲自前往各地淘书，让最优秀的工匠用黄金、帝王紫[3]和精巧独特的工艺装饰他的藏书。这些工匠同时也是他的家仆。他勤于读书，游遍欧洲为自己的书房寻找新的珍宝。但光是他一个人的努力并不能满足他对书的渴求。于是，他派人携款前往爱琴海各岛、阿索斯山、君士坦丁堡、亚历山大、孟菲斯以及迦太基等地，为他寻找用希腊文、希伯来文、阿拉伯文、波斯文、科普特文和埃塞俄比亚文撰写的最古老的古籍。

......

在美国，有些藏书行为已走向商业化。如罗森巴赫所说，“华尔街眼光最敏锐的人购买珍本书作为投资”，将书与股票和债券一起锁进保险库，坚信“即使股市暴跌或华尔街陷

sell at a premium, even when the market is tumbling and Wall Street is in a panic”. But, I repeat with Lang, “book-collecting ought not to be a mere trade, or a mere fad; its object is to secure the comforts of a home for examples really rare or beautiful, or interesting as relics”. John Hill Burton has an axiom that the mercenary spirit must not be admitted to a share in the enjoyments of the book-hunter, he will not allow that a thought should be given to the value of the books, even after the bookman has taken his last survey of his treasures, and spent his last hour in that quiet library, he must not allow money-making--even for those he is to leave behind--to be combined with his pursuit, for if he do so it loses its fresh relish, its exhilarating influence, and becomes the source of wretched cares and paltry anxieties, nor will he regret in the end that the hobby which was his enjoyment has been in any wise the more costly to him, if he has not made it a means of mercenary money-getting.

Many will agree with Lang when he argues that although there is much reason in this, “there is room for difference of opinion”, for it is one thing for the collector to be able to reflect that the money he has spent on books is not lost, and that his family may be richer for his taste, and another to buy books as a speculator buys shares, meaning to sell again when he has a profit; and I see no harm in the former finding consolation in moments of pecuniary panic, for “rare books are a safe investment; the stock can never go down”. Hill Burton, on the other hand, would have no collector sell his books without urgent and necessary reason; he disallows barter of any kind; but, perhaps, he would exonerate one who,

入恐慌，这些珍宝也能以高价出售”。但是，我重申朗格的观点，“藏书不应只是一种贸易或一时的流行，它的目标是用像文物一般珍稀、美丽、有趣的书让家变得更舒适”。约翰希尔伯顿有一句格言：淘书人的乐趣中，不应有唯利是图的成分。爱书人即使最后一次环视自己的珍藏，在静悄悄的书房里度过最后的时光，也无法容忍“考虑书籍价值”的念头存在。他无法容忍将藏书和谋利联系在一起，哪怕是他的继承人也不能打这个主意。因为如果这么做的话，藏书就变得不再令人开怀，不再让人上心，也不再惹人担忧。尽管藏书这个爱好代价不菲，但只要没把它当作赚钱的手段，他在临终之际就不会后悔。

朗格认为，尽管这很有道理，但“总会有人持有不同的看法”。许多人会赞同他的这一观点。收藏家要证明自己买书的钱没有白花，他的爱好能让家里变得富有，这是一回事；而像投机者炒股一样买书，有利润就可卖出，又是另一回事。我认为前者有益无害，因为“珍本是安全的投资，永远不会贬值”，能在资金短缺时给人慰藉。希尔伯顿则认为，若非紧急情况和必要原因，藏书家不应出售其藏品--他不允许

knowing the value of his books, sold them during his lifetime, as Milton did, because “he thought he could dispose of them to greater advantage than his wife would be able to do”; let the collector, he enjoins, confine his attention to purchasing only. “No good ever comes of gentlemen amateurs buying and selling; they will either become systematic losers or acquire shabby habits.”

...

The postulates I would advance for the true book-hunter are few and simple: 1. He must hunt the books himself and not by proxy, must actually undergo the anxiety, the fatigue, and, so far as purse is concerned, the risks of the chase. 2. He must love his quarry, as the fox-hunterdeclares he loves the fox, but without his desire to destroy it. 3. He must keep his books for useful studies, delightful reading, or the companionship of their presence: own all the books you can, use all the books you own, and as many more as you can get. 4. He must hunt the books he himself likes and not those approved by fashion, custom, etc. Never hunt the book you ought to hunt, only those you want. We should try to purchase the books which disenchant us least. The one best and sufficient reason for a man to buy a book is because he thinks he will be happier with it than without it. He that is animated by such motives is almost ravished with the pleasure of the game. Book-hunting will be his chief delight and he will judge all places by their capacity to provide him with the means of gratifying his taste.

这样的事发生。然而，深知藏书价值的人在有生之年将书售出，这种事他或许能够谅解。弥尔顿就是这么做的，因为“他认为自己卖书比妻子经手更能给书找到好归宿”。他强调，藏书家应把全部精力用于买书。“既买书又卖书的业余藏书家没有好下场，他们不是彻底失败，便是染上陋习。”

......

我对真正的淘书人只有几点简单的要求：1. 他必须亲自淘书，不委托他人，必须切身体会其中的焦虑和疲劳，并在考虑资金的情况下，体验追逐的风险。2. 他必须爱书，就像猎狐人声称“爱”狐狸一样，但他不能有猎狐人的破坏欲。3. 他藏书是为了有益地学习，愉快地阅读，或与之为伴——买下所有能买的书，用尽所有买到的书，从中获得最大的收益。4. 他必须淘自己喜爱的书，而非盲目跟风。不要去淘“应该找”的书，而要去淘“想要找”的书。我们应该购买让自己头脑发热的书。一个人买书的最佳理由是，拥有此书比没有此书能让自己更开心。这种淘书的动机让他充满活力，其中的快感让他几乎不可自拔。淘书将成为他最大的乐趣；一个地方能否提供他喜爱的书籍，则将成为他评价此处的标准。

[1]  罗塞塔石碑，公元前196 年的石碑，刻有埃及国王托勒密五世的诏书。

[2]  第一对开本是1623 年刊印的第一部莎士比亚剧作全集，被英国文学爱好者视为最有价值的藏本之一。

[3]  帝王紫，古时紫色染料难以获取，故紫色一直以来是帝王或贵族的专属。

Book Scouting: Hunting for Valuable Books Can Be a Treasure Hunt for the Mind

书探：淘书与寻宝

Jennifer Taylor

珍妮弗・泰勒

作者简介

珍妮弗・泰勒（Jennifer Taylor），美国作家，曾在日本旅居两年，期间在乡村中学担任英语教师。

本文于2007 年9 月发表于雅虎网站。书探，顾名思义就是淘书的侦探。书探的工作怎样进行？书探有什么特征？他们淘书的标准又是什么？种种疑问或许正在你心中升腾。别急，作者将为你一一道来。如果你碰巧是爱书人，不妨做个业余书探吧，或许宝藏就在前方等你来寻。

Books inspire passion in people from all walks of life. Why not turn that passion into a little extra pocket money by learning the art of being a book scout?

Book scouts are individuals who haunt estate and library sales and other interesting venues looking for elusive collectible books to sell to antiquarian book dealers. With the growth of book collecting as a hobby, demand for rare or interesting volumes has skyrocketed, leading towards an overall growth in the popularity of the book scout task. But book scouts bare notoriously secretive about giving advice on how to do what they do. Knowledge, after all, is the key to a book scout's success. Knowing where to look for books and what is valuable is ninety percent of the book scout'strade, and such secrets should not be given away lightly!

A day in the life of a book scout typically starts out very early in the morning. Book scouts are the first people to arrive at estate sales; often, they show up prior to the opening of the sale to sign up on an entry list or get a good spot in line. Many times they will visit several sales that are close together and visit them all shortly after opening. “The early bird catches the worm” might as well be the motto of the book scout's profession. The afternoon or evening is often spent either shopping the day's finds around to various book dealers, or listing the books online if the book scout happens to be a bookseller too.

书会激起各界人士的热情。为何不学着做个书探，把这种热情变成一点零花钱？

有些人常出没于资产出售、藏书出售和其他有趣的场所，寻找有收藏价值的珍本，并将其卖给古籍书商，这些人就是“书探”。由于藏书作为一种爱好已得到发展，人们对珍本或有趣书籍的需求急剧高涨，导致书探的任务大幅增加。但书探也因其神秘性而臭名昭著，他们不会告诉别人如何做这一行。毕竟，知识是一名书探成功的关键。知道去哪淘书、哪些书有价值是书探90%的工作内容，这种秘密他们可不会轻易告人！

书探一天的工作一般开始于清晨。他们最先到达资产出售的地点，通常销售开始前就在入场名单上签了字，或在排起的长队里抢了个好位置。他们往往一次逛几处相距不远的销售地，都赶在刚开门的时候。“早起的鸟儿有虫吃”也许也适合当书探这个行业的座右铭。下午或晚上，他们通常把当天的收获拿去和多位书商做交易，本身碰巧就是书商的书探还会在网上开列书籍清单。

To be a book scout is to spend a lot of time alone, digging through piles of Reader's Digest Condensed Books and old copies of Good Housekeeping; it takes patience, knowledge, and a willingness to persist. It's also possible to go months and months without coming across a real treasure, so the book scout profession is not for the faint of heart. Many people find being a book scout a better hobby than a career, given the very unpredictable nature of finding and selling rare books.

What does a book scout look for? There are two types of books that are valuable: books which are valuable because of what they are, such as collectible first editions or signed limited press runs; and books which are valuable because of the information they contain.

Depending on whether or not the book scout sells books themselves or if they primarily sell books to other dealers, they might be searching for rare collectible volumes or difficult-to-locate technical manuals. First editions, signed limited editions, banned books, and artistically-bound volumes all have value. For collectible books like these, the book scout primarily seeks out books in excellent or fine condition. Collectible books depend on condition to be valuable——after all, nobody wants to present a first edition of Old Yeller to Aunt Sally and have it fall apart in her hands, covered in crayon and smelling of cigarettes.

Reference manuals on hard-to-find subjects can also be extremely valuable, if their information is current. Book scouts who sell books themselve soften go through the non-fiction section of book sales very closely, looking

书探很多时候都是独自一人，在成堆的《读者文摘精华本》和过期的《好管家》杂志里翻淘。这需要有耐心、知识和意愿才能坚持下去。也可能连续好几个月都找不到一件真正的珍宝，所以心理承受力差的人可做不了书探。考虑到寻找和出售珍本完全要靠碰运气，很多人不把书探当成职业，只把它当作爱好。

那么，书探要找的是什么呢？两类书是有价值的：第一类是本身就值钱的书，例如有收藏价值的初版本或签名限量本；第二类书之所以值钱，是因为书中包含的信息。如果书探自己当书商，他们会寻找有收藏价值的珍本；

如果要把书卖给其他书商，他们则会去寻找罕见的技术手册。初版本、签名限量本、禁书以及装帧精美的书都有价值。对于这些有收藏价值的书，书探主要寻找品相上佳的。这些书的价值高低取决于其品相——毕竟，没人愿意把《老黄狗》的初版本拿给萨莉姑妈[1]看，那本书到了她手里就会四分五裂，而且书上全是笔迹和烟味。

如果书中的信息很新，那么，关于罕见主题的参考手册也会很值钱。自己卖书的书探经常在书展的非小说类作品区

for rare treatise on chemical processes or genetics. Many books on technical subjects are printed by universities and have relatively few copies in circulation. It's the information within them that makes the book valuable, so condition is less important as long as the book itself is sturdy and the text is still legible.

The skills of a book scout primarily lie in the ability to process information quickly, glancing across a row of books on a shelf and picking out the books that are interesting with speed and accuracy. At some estate or library sales, several book scouts compete with one another to find the real treasures, so speed is of the essence. Another requisite trait of book scouts is the deep and honest love of books. Reading and knowing books is essential for a book scout to put up with the uncertainty of markets. Many book scouts are collectors as well, selling the books that they find to support their own book-buying habit. Finally, knowledge and awareness of book markets is essential. Being able to identify valuable books while in the field is what marks a book scout from your average everyday book shopper.

Being a book scout isn't for everyone; it's a tough occupation that rarely pays the bills. Collecting books has never been a more popular hobby; however, the ease of the Internet has made finding books to be much easier than in decades past, opening the door to amateurs and making the profession of book scouting far more crowded than ever. At the same time it holds the thrill of the treasure hunt and for those with a genuine passion for books, the sheer enjoyment of book scouting outweighs the uncertainty of actually making any money.

仔细翻淘，寻找关于化学处理和遗传学的罕见著作。很多科技类书籍都由大学出版印制，发行量相对而言比较小。书中包含的信息使其很有价值，因此品相就不那么重要了，只要书本身还算结实、文字还能辨认就行。

书探首要的技能就是快速处理信息，扫一眼架上成排的书，就能迅速而准确地挑出珍品。某些资产或藏书出售时，就会有一些书探争着寻找真正的宝物，因此速度尤为重要。书探必备的另一项素质是对书籍深厚而诚挚的喜爱。面对市场的不确定性，阅读和了解书籍对书探来说必不可少。许多书探也是藏书家，他们卖掉淘到的书是为了让自己能有钱买其他书。最后，掌握有关图书市场的知识和动态也很关键。能否在书海中慧眼识珠，是区分书探和普通买书人的重要标志。

不是所有人都适合当书探。这是份艰苦的职业，赚不了几个钱。作为一项爱好，藏书从未像今天这样流行。然而，网络的便利使淘书变得比几十年前容易得多，这就为业余人士敞开了大门，也让从事书探这个行当的人比从前更多。淘书像寻宝一样刺激，而且对真正的爱书人来说，纯粹的淘书乐趣远胜于从中赚钱——而且也不一定能赚到钱。

[1]  萨莉姑妈，19 世纪英国民间游戏中常见的木偶的名字，如今多指代易被嘲笑的人或物。

Collecting Old Books

收集古书

Rachel Pickett

雷切尔・皮克特

作者简介

雷切尔・皮克特（Rachel Pickett），美国联邦快递的分拣经理（SortManager at FedEx），出生并成长于纽约，现居北卡罗来纳州。她兴趣广泛，业余时间喜欢烹饪、绘画与写作。她写作的内容涉及许多领域，包括饮食、保健、宠物、旅游、音乐等。可以说，她是一位多才多艺的作家。

本文于2006 年1 月19 日首发于雅虎网。文章篇幅不长、语言平实，却是开始古书收藏之旅前的必读文章。从概念界定到纸张辨别，从价位衡量到淘书去处，文中一应俱全。如果你对收集国外古书感兴趣，不妨自测一下是否知晓这些淘书的基础知识。

Most ordinary people think that old books are anywhere from 20 to 100 years old. The fact is that the term old books refer to books made in the 1700s or earlier. Before the 1800s books were typically printed on small hand presses that were only able to turn out a limited amount of books. Larger presses were not used in the mainstream printing community until around the mid 1800s.

Books printed pre 1800 were generally printed on laid or wove paper. Laid paper was made from pulverized cotton and linen. Laid paper was named so because the final product was dried on wire racks. Wove paper was dried on woven mesh and created a distinctive criss cross pattern on the paper that cannot be mistaken for anything else. A quality wove or laid paper book made in the 1700s can easily outlive a book printed in the mid 20th century.

In the mid 1860s book publishers began making paper out of wood pulp. Because of the high acid content of this paper it disintegrates much faster and is a much poorer material than cotton or linen rag. This fact simply makes old books much more collectible than newly printed books that may seem old. If you're only looking for books to decorate your shelves with it doesn't matter what kind of old books you get. You can find brightly colored books with decorative bindings, or even finely crafted volumes for a fraction of the original cost, but the value here is all based on what the books look like.

大多数普通人都认为，“古书”是指有20 年到100 年历史的书。事实上，“古书”是指18 世纪或更早以前制作的书。19 世纪以前，印书普遍采用小型手动印刷机，故印本数量有限。直到19 世纪中期前后，印刷业才开始广泛使用大型印刷机。

19 世纪前出版的书籍，通常印于帘纹纸或布纹纸上。帘纹纸以碎棉花和亚麻为原料，成品放在铁丝帘上晾干，故得名“帘纹纸”。布纹纸则放在编织网上晾干，纸面呈现独特的十字形纹路，不易与其他纸张弄混。印于布纹纸或帘纹纸上的18 世纪书籍，比20 世纪中期出版的书更容易长久保存。

19 世纪60 年代中期，出版商开始用木浆造纸。木浆造的纸酸性极强，比用棉花和亚麻碎布造的纸更易碎裂、质量更差。这使得古书比看似古老的近代书籍更具收藏价值。如果你只想弄些书来装饰书架，那什么样的“古书”都没问题。你可以弄些色彩亮丽、装饰花哨，甚至是靠装帧才卖这么贵的书。不过，这些书的价值仅在于外观。

If you are seriously interested in collecting old books pre 1800s there are several places you can look. Flea markets and estate sales are great places to find reasonable prices on lots of books (10-20 or more books). Since there is such a wide variety of book subjects and authors availableyou should consider looking for books within a specific category. Titles that were also socially or historically significant should not be overlooked. Books like Robinson Crusoe and The Adventures of Mark Twain although printed often over the years, are still quite valuable.

Of course, first edition books are the ones that you want to be searching for. First edition books have a higher resale value than later copies. Estate sales and flea markets have already been established as great resources for old books, but you can also pick up old books at libraries, and both public and private auctions for only a few dollars. This is part of the reason why book collecting is quickly becoming a popular collector's area.

Naturally, rare titles are also worth more than just any old book. For example, Uncle Tom's Cabin was once banned in many parts of the world and some of the original copies have been destroyed or lost. Rare titles sell for a lot more than most old books, which currently go for around $50-$1000. Rare titles typically sell from $100 to well over $1000 depending on the author and subject. Books with attractive leather bindings alone can go for $50 to $100 without even considering who wrote it or what it's about. Books that also have the dust jacket (if available) will resell for more money.

如果你真想收藏19 世纪之前的古书，有几个地方可以找找。跳蚤市场和资产出售场所都是花一小笔钱买一大堆书（10到20 本，甚至更多）的好地方。由于书籍题材和作者繁多，你该考虑收藏某一特定类别的书。不应忽略有社会意义或历史价值的书，如《鲁滨逊漂流记》和《马克•吐温的冒险系列》，这类书尽管屡次重印，但仍具收藏价值。

当然，你最应该搜寻的是初版书，其转售价值高于后来的版本。资产出售场所和跳蚤市场无疑是古书的重要来源地，但从图书馆里、公开或私人拍卖会上，你也可能仅花几美元就淘到古书，这就是藏书迅速在收藏界流行开来的部分原因。

自然，珍本书比普通古书更具价值。例如，《汤姆叔叔的小屋》曾被世界上的许多地方列为禁书，很多初版本被销毁或遗失不见。珍本书的价格比大部分普通古书高得多，目前的价格通常从50到1000美元不等。根据作者和内容的不同，其售价从100 到1000 美元以上不等。若该书有精美的皮革装帧，就算不考虑作者和内容，也能卖到50 到100 美元。若是配上书衣（如果有书衣的话），转售价格会更高。

Some other places that can be good for finding old books are also in your local newspaper. Look for bookstore or library closings to see if they are giving books away at drastically reduced prices or even for free. Sometimes estate sales are listed in the classifieds sections as well as private owners selling collections and volumes. Quality old books can be found if you know where to look. In order to find the best books you have to be active in the old book collecting community in your area. Know what books are out there, which ones are plentiful and which are not and that should give you some clue as to what to start looking for. Good luck!

你也可以在本地报纸上发现其他一些淘古书的好去处。找找即将停业的书店或图书馆，看看它们是否在超低价清仓，甚或是免费送书。有时，分类广告里会出现资产出售或私人出售藏书的消息。只要你知道去哪里找，就能找到优质的古书。为了找到最佳的古书，你必须活跃于本地的古书收藏圈。知道市场上有哪些书，哪里书多哪里书少，能为你开始淘书之旅提供一些线索。祝你好运！

知道市场上有哪些书，哪里书多哪里书少，能为你开始淘书之旅提供一些线索。

Rachel Pickett 雷切尔•皮克特

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