Arthur Conan Doyle said that Edinburgh once had a bookstore that kept an egg box full of “volumes in various stages of decay.” Any book in the box could be had for twopence.
I never passed without diving into this lucky bag, where among heaps of theological literature, obsolete algebras, torn Latin grammars and tables of logarithms, one might occasionally come upon what would repay one.
In the days when money was tight, he built his library with classics. I was delighted that he found the Essays of Sir William Temple.
Among his finds was a book on international law published in 1642. An inscription says it was acquired by Gulielimi Whyte in 1672. Doyle thought of the previous owner as Willie Whyte, lawyer.
The detail comes from a series of six articles called “Before My Bookcase.” Doyle was recalling his library from afar, offering his views of what was good and what was not.
Some of his views are wonderful. His most battered book was a volume of Macaulay, and he said that Stevenson could “touch that weird, vague note which haunts the imagination.” I’m not sure what more can be said about that fellow.
But a lot of what Doyle said and wrote was beyond eccentric. I take the articles as a kind of antidote, perhaps even as a vaccine. I hope they will keep me from expressing strong views about literature.
• Source: Arthur Conan Doyle, “Before My Bookcase,” was originally published in Great Thoughts magazine between May 5 and June 30, 1894. Five of the six parts are here:
https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Before_My_Bookcase.
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