Astrolearn astrology library progress report
– No. 12: 15th October, 2015
Within the past week, I have completed the enhanced cataloguing of the large-format books with unconventional bindings, and dealt with the small-format books with unconventional bindings too, in addition to a few miscellaneous small-format hardback books that were still lurking in the walk-in closet annex to the main shelf space. Some of this cataloguing was very tedious and time-intensive, and so I’m glad to have it out of the way. And yet, it has added important pieces of bibliographical history that will improve the finished catalogue as a result, so I have no regrets about having undertaken it.
There were a few nasty surprises of missing leaves and pages from some of the unconventionally bound books, either because they had never been printed or bound in the first place (a common failing with hand-produced books) or because they had been bound in too weakly and had fallen out before the books were offered for sale second-hand. Unfortunately, most of these books are very scarce, and replacements cannot be obtained at any price at the present time. Almost-complete copies will have to suffice for the time being, but by noting the defects now, I hope to pave the way for their eventual replacement, whether under my stewardship of the collection or under that of an ultimate successor.
The next stage, which I’m about to start (Friday Oct 16th), is to work though the hundreds of German books bought at auction in the summer of 2014 from the collection of a late esoteric bookseller in Pforzheim, Germany. The ones that are not yet in proper bookcases. They are also stacked on top of three very large books that would not fit in any bookcase and require proper cataloguing themselves, all of which I should get done in the next week’s work.
There is nothing worth reporting on the acquisitions front this past week. Funds are very scarce and will remain so for the rest of October now. But I continue to look forward to the arrival of the historically noteworthy mid-20th century French-authored publication mentioned in the previous update. The bookseller today confirmed that it was dispatched on Tuesday, which would mean there’s a good chance that it will be here by this time next week.
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