Item 22 is described by Bair as “long the bane of middle-school readers to whom it has been thoughtlessly prescribed as a moral tonic.” That would be Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, written by Mary Anne Evans, better known by her pseudonym of George Eliot. It is the tale of a poor weaver who is falsely accused of theft, loses his sweetheart to the real thief and his supposed friend, who then goes off to live in isolation, makes a lot of money, only to have that stolen. But... Silas finds a small child, who grows to be a fine young lady, giving meaning to Silas' life and his ultimate redemption from solitude. Its message is a bit clearer than Godot's, but it never has been much of a young people's favorite, as Bair points out. Published in 1861. $1,200.
This next one might be the bane of high school students except that this regularly assigned reading is generally much better appreciated by the young than is Silas' tale of woe. Item 30 is William Goulding's Lord of the Flies, the 1955 first American printing. It is a story of children, stranded on an island, who turn into something less than we might like to imagine without the guiding hand of society to keep them in line. Poor Piggy. $1,750.
Henry Thoreau is most remembered for his years at Walden Pond, but he made a few forays into some really serious wilderness. Item 83 is The Maine Woods, published in 1864, after Thoreau's death. In time, Walden would become a Boston suburb, but the north woods of Maine remains more or less like the forests of Thoreau's time, though logging has stripped it of its old trees. $1,500.
Lorne Bair Rare Books may be reached at 540-665-0855 or info@lornebair.com. The website is www.lornebair.com.
