Ugh. I find this depressing…
Check this out. In case the link breaks, the gist of this feature from Christian Science Moniter is that a rare edition of a Poe work is going up for auction.
In reading the article, I got something out of it that I don’t think was intended. It’s because of this section:
The book’s owner is former television executive and rare book collector William Self. His 300-book collection, all of which goes on sale today, also includes rare works by Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.
Self, who is 88, has told the press that were his children to inherit the books, they wouldn’t be able to afford to pay the taxes on them.
Is it just me or is that last bit depressing. The man seems to have spent a good part of his entire life collecting these books. They are likely a part of who he is. He should be able to pass them on as family heirlooms, a way for his children (who I presume for the purposes of this post like him) to remember and honor him. He can’t…because Uncle Sam wants a cut first…
