Image from here.

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 Knotweed

  Eye of Newt, and toe of frog,
    Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
    Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting
    Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing

Pretty gruesome stuff, but likely just herbs by other names….names designed to gross out the masses, to stop them from practicing magic. Here are some  translations:

Source(s):

Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation including the Demotic Spells, Univ. Chicago Press, 1986

and here.

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Sale 2188 Lot 296

WOOLF, VIRGINIA. Mrs. Dalloway. 8vo, gilt-lettered burgundy cloth, slightly cocked, spine ends lightly rubbed, a bit of toning to endleaves; original dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell, scattered overall darkening and rubbing, spine panel toned and with an uneven 1/4-inch chip at head affecting "M" of Mrs (small cellotape repair on verso), and few minor chips at foot not affecting lettering. first edition in the scarce dust jacket. Kirkpatrick A9a: Woolmer 82 London: Hogarth Press, 1925  Estimate $10,000-15,000

Sale 2188 Lot 297

WOOLF, VIRGINIA. To The Lighthouse. 8vo, gilt-lettered blue cloth, spine toned and a bit rubbed; fore edge foxed, occasionally creeping into margins; original dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell, spine panel sunned, 1/2-inch chip at head, clean split between spine and rear panel, lightly toned along outer edges but cover still bright. first edition of woolf’s masterpiece. Woolmer 154. London: Hogarth Press, 1927  Estimate $6,000-9,000

Update: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, 1925, and To the Lighthouse, 1927, sold for $15,000 and $5,000 respectively. Interesting that the better novel fetched the lower price. Both are of course high points, but many variables are at work here: condition of the books; the print run on Dalloway may have been smaller. More movies have been made of and about Dalloway…there may have been several tenacious bidders for it….

And as I check my handy Collected Books value guide by the Ahearns (2002) it appears that the Lighthouse buyer got the better deal: it’s listed at $20,000. Dalloway is at $15,000.

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• to the lighthouse 1st edition

Since I couldn’t afford the set, I settled for and bought RETROSPECTUS AND PROSPECTUS, THE NONESUCH DICKENS here

recently.  I wanted to learn more about the plates that were given away to subscribers. Here’s what I found:

Its many volumes are embellished with eight hundred illustrations made under the supervision of Charles Dickens himself and carefully printed from the original plates and blocks. All of these will unquestionably make the Nonesuch Dickens the most complete and the most beautiful edition of the present. But it is clearly certain that the Nonesuch Dickens will remain the most complete and the most beautiful edition of the future. For, having created for its subscribers  ‘an edition of Dickens to end all editions of Dickens,’ the Nonesuch Press will then distribute to each subscriber that most valuable of Dickens treasures, one of the original plates. Of these there are no more than 877 of major importance; and the edition has therefore been limited, not artificially but of necessity, to 877.

It is the hope of the Nonesuch Press that this announcement will cause the blood of many true collectors to tingle in anticipatory possession…

How to determine who gets which plate? The Press hit upon  the notion of distribution by lottery. ‘…a monster party will be held in London’ for the 877 subscribers.

Finally: I’ve seen computer programmers call code poetry. This to me is poetry:

“Each volume is bound in linen buckram. The titles are blocked in gold upon black leather labels. But, while the label is black in each instance, the buckram varies in colour throughout the set. The twenty three volumes upon one’s shelf will therefore represent a brave array of reds and yellows and blues and browns, an effect which should prove even more charming than novel. “

You can pick up a copy of RETROSPECTUS AND PROSPECTUS, THE NONESUCH DICKENS for as little as $25 at Oak Knoll Books.