My hard drive apparently blew up, but it was a school-issued computer, so it didn’t cost me anything but annoyance. However, I do have some fun things to report on a far-from-technical front: amazing book finds that give me some small glimmer of joy as my Phillies let the World Series slip away.
First up we have the How and Wells two-volume commentary on Herodotus in hardcover. This gem cost me all of $2. In the first volume there is an undated newspaper clipping (but the magic of the internet shows us that is the beginning of this piece in the NY Times) about mummified cats as offerings in Egypt, which cites Herodotus. The owner placed the clipping at the appropriate place in Herodotus.
Tucked in the second volume (at page 112, with a beautiful map of Marathon) were two newspaper clippings, the first dated 10/22/83, is an editorial on the origins of the marathon entitled “Falsity: It’s Based on Myth,” by one Philip Winters (‘Philip Winters, a writer, has taught classics and run races.’).
The second, dated 11/5/83, contains two responses, the first by Professor Eugene N. Borza of Penn State. I assume that these volumes belonged to professor Borza, and I promise that they have found a good home.
Next is K.J. Dover’s Greek Word Order which I picked up for $1, but which appears untouched. Well, untouched but for the odd scribblings of a child who whiled away some long time practicing penmanship on the back flyleaf and the dust jacket. Among the many scribbles I can make out the words “food,” “cars,” “big cars,” various attempts at writing “Pep Boys,” and what appears to be a license plate number: FHg-5497. I don’t know who owned the book, but I have a feeling he or she left a bored and hungry child in the car while fetching some car part or other.
The only other clue is an odd ChapStick memo pad sheet with the note “Mem. 3. 8. 10-11,” which I take to be a reference to Xenophon’s Memorabilia. This is followed by a multiplication problem: 25 x 13. No help.
And lastly for this round is J.D. Denniston’s Greek Prose Style (purchased online after reading Michael Gilleland’s recent selection of excerpts from this book which I’ve so long wanted.) This copy previously belonged to professor Michael C. Landreth of the University of Illinois. I recognized the name and soon learned why: the only publication I could find under his name was an article on particle usage in Pindar, and I spent a portion of one summer in graduate school investigating similar constructions in Thucydides, so I’m sure I’d read the article.
Now, there were many more acquisitions, including some great standard works like Momigliano’s Studies in Historiography, and Bowersock’s Hellenism in Late Antiquity, several student editions of Greek and Latin texts (notably a selection of stories from Apuleius), an odd OCT here, a study of the reception of Dante there, but those noted above stood out to me, and I look forward to making use of them for years and years to come.