Books and Literature

Kathryn Court, President and Publisher of Penguin Classics fell in love with the library on her first visit to New York in the early seventies. “It left a very strong impression on me, partly because the building was so beautiful, but more importantly because it was a truly democratic institution, open to anyone who wanted to read, to study, to write.”

“Sixty percent of your body is electronic now. I don’t know how you can exist without dada. I can’t,” Andrei Codrescu said in the signature wry tone that continues to delight NPR listeners.

This is not just any collection of first editions. First Editions/ Second Thoughts (FEST), hosted by Christie’s Auction House on December 2nd, was conceived to raise funds for PEN American Center, the world-renowned organization that defends imprisoned writers and celebrates literature. The second initiative of its kind, the original First Editions/ Second Thoughts launched in 2013 to benefit English PEN through rare book sales at Sothebys and raised $690K, including a healthy $230K sale of Harry Potter.

But be forewarned, to get inside that church for real, to feel that soft whoosh of unadulterated wonder, it takes a willingness to open your ears in sand-stuffed layers, of which there tend to be many calcified folds. We must always be on guard against partial thoughts at the expense of the whole-and our own natural tendency to pose and posture. Or the sentimental sludge that loops us into stories that sound damn good in our heads but are far more propaganda than the vital hum/roar of true emotion.