The Garbage Truck Doesn't Stop Here
Another Sunday, another trip to the flea market.
The Toronto Book Fair is on today, and I found a couple of bargains. I got myself a biography of Beethoven, a collection of Mordecai Richler's sports writing, and a copy of The Tibetan Book of The Dead. Thematically, it's all over the map, though I suppose that Beethoven and the Tibetans were both concerned with spiritual matters.
I saw one set of books that I wouldn't have minded having, but the price tag was a bit steep. It was a first edition of Fritjof Nansen's books on his Greenland journeys aboard the Fram. His journey predates Cook, Peary, and Amundsen by a decade or more. By the time of Amundsen and Scott's race to the south pole in 1911-12, Nansen was the eminence grise of arctic exploration. At $400, the set was a steal...for somebody else.
Nansen was a remarkable character, and is considered a hero in his native Norway. He set the stage for later arctic explorers by being prepared and knowledgeable about the conditions he faced. Nansen was the first man to make it across Greenland sometime in the 1890s. I believe he also spent a fair bit of time purposely stuck in the pack ice aboard Fram to study circumpolar ice movement. Unlike a number of British and Americans who perished under miserable conditions, Nansen methodically took on the worst of the elements and made it out to tell the tale.
The flea market is kinda neat like that. Amongst all the crap that people have piled on their tables, there are a few gems to be found. It's a treasure hunt every Sunday.
The Toronto Book Fair is on today, and I found a couple of bargains. I got myself a biography of Beethoven, a collection of Mordecai Richler's sports writing, and a copy of The Tibetan Book of The Dead. Thematically, it's all over the map, though I suppose that Beethoven and the Tibetans were both concerned with spiritual matters.
I saw one set of books that I wouldn't have minded having, but the price tag was a bit steep. It was a first edition of Fritjof Nansen's books on his Greenland journeys aboard the Fram. His journey predates Cook, Peary, and Amundsen by a decade or more. By the time of Amundsen and Scott's race to the south pole in 1911-12, Nansen was the eminence grise of arctic exploration. At $400, the set was a steal...for somebody else.
Nansen was a remarkable character, and is considered a hero in his native Norway. He set the stage for later arctic explorers by being prepared and knowledgeable about the conditions he faced. Nansen was the first man to make it across Greenland sometime in the 1890s. I believe he also spent a fair bit of time purposely stuck in the pack ice aboard Fram to study circumpolar ice movement. Unlike a number of British and Americans who perished under miserable conditions, Nansen methodically took on the worst of the elements and made it out to tell the tale.
The flea market is kinda neat like that. Amongst all the crap that people have piled on their tables, there are a few gems to be found. It's a treasure hunt every Sunday.
posted by othercat @ 3:02 p.m.
2 Comments:
At 7:32 p.m.,
sassinak said…
damn
that guy sounds really interesting... that does sound like a heinous price tag though!
At 9:17 a.m.,
othercat said…
The price tag is not really steep, when you consider the fact it was a first edition from 110 years ago. Nansen was a household name then, but today, he's largely a footnote in the whole arctic exploration saga.
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