Smell of an old Book

  "well, I was  made for fellowship in love,

not fellowship in hate"

Antigone

Marble copy of the head of chryselephatine statue.

Couple of days ago I picked up the three volume set of out of print Greek Civilization

by Andrea Bonnard from a seller of the  downtown used book store. They were still in the original box. The box was severely damaged, the cardboard covering the  was missing, and side edges were torn apart. Comparing the price tag and they their age, I was pleased with their condition. They were first published in America in 1959 that put them  in 53, not a bad age for a book, considering they are exempt from the routine annoyances of man in a similar age..yet they are not fully immune to man made atrocities of our shared  environment. I thought that the books are  aged more gracefully than their master. I placed  my new possesions  on my dinning table, next few days  they remained untouched.

I patiently contemplate our first date untill this morning, then I moved them 

carefully to their new location, next to the my favored corner in the house. Outside the 

rain has just stopped,  the sun lights coming through window gentle warmed up my corner

I slowly picked first volume of the series and start turning the pages, suddenly there was this smell radiated from those yellowish brown pages I lift the book closer to my face
there it was,. the smell of the distant past... a mixture of aged ink, 

moist wood and glue... what a wonderful feeling that was.

 Comic Figure-perhaps Dosennus

 Ptolemy I

Girl of Antium- Helenistic Period

Photos by Andrea Bonnard, Greek Civilization