Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-13

able and portable what-not out of over
laid and forgotten past.
AS such. he Is nl-re than likely the culture
end of primitive man k:mcclf. or even of GER
tain animals gathering end boarding, primarily
against the hungers OF tomorrow and the next
day. Out in the %coSs, many time, have you
seen the squirrels in cfatigable in their
search, uncanny in the crts end crafts OF stor-
ing their Winter hoard. OF the very spirit,
these.
'Just such zest an almost furious zest,
takes hold of the modern collector at his best.
Distance? That's nothing. Deeply hidden ana
seemingly impossible of approach? Nothing.
Costly? mere nothing. God will provide.
And, seemingly He does. For in one way or
another the born collector bends circumstance
to his own need better than does almost any
other of the searchers after treasure.
And he Is an exciting person, both in action
and resting upon his good achievements. I
know Of no more interesting adventure than
j. Edward Newton is abe to recount in The
Greatest Book in the Wo ID" and The Ameni-
ties of Book Collecting" No more fascinating
story than William DINA CIRCUITS The Magic
Of the Book"
And now here is this other man. Barton
Currie, with his Fishers of Books"
genuine rod-and-St:eain G-light of hauling in
rare catches from hidden inetS Tor long passed
by and forgotten.
Sometimes the quest is co long and hot that
it's fevers shut of recital In this case, how
ever, there is no such handicap Barton
Curre Is joyous collector. taking triumph and
defeat as they cone, nc,.ing OF each useful
bit of information in the great adventure OF
collecting books. He tcl.s quite freely and In
tmately how he came to start upon this ca
reer, weaving into that explanation an artful
defense Of this book madness. In equal
frankneSs he opens up some OF his reckless
and inept outfarings along the collectors path
gay. Then, like the youth he appears to be.
he brags a bit about his triumphs here and
there.
Around these personal experiences Mr.. Currie
gathers a substantial store of definite mStruc-
ton and advice of EXPERT knowledge ON the
present status of the art of forecast for its
future For 20 years. now. rare editions and
manuscripts have beckoned this busy editor
away from his daily ardors into the pleasant
engagement of chasing rare scraps OF paper
around the world Up in his home. I'm told,
there are things to see-precious things, like
original manuscripts of this or that famous
creation, where the very hand of genius rested
upon the leaf and drew the words upon it that
bound the man and his work into living
reality before the eyes Of one looking upon 1t.
A touch Of history comes into this account
ing OF the rise of book collecting to busi-
ness. with agents and advertising and markets
attached. Now and then the business sounds
like Wall Street itself with when the Bulls
Boom Books" The special psychology Of the
rare-book dealer is most interesting to trade
psychology in general.
The whole adventure is a delight of happy
edge for the general reader along most pleas
ant way and Of definite instruction to those
who of like mind with Mr. Currie, begin TO
feel the drive Ito go a-fshin'," to become one
with the Fishers Of Books"
WET PARADE. BY Upton Sinclair, author Of
al, "The Jungle" oil" and others. Farrar &
Rinehart New York.
L Ar. SINCLAIR has long been crusader.
koLoc mrkNiC oh
may be puzzling the American people. He
delves into the matter, amasSes an abundance
OF information, puts it into story FORM and
passes it to the reading public as novel.
Quite often, the author merely states the facts
he has 80 laboriously gathered; he offers no
solution to the problem he is writing about;
there Is nothing especially constructive in his
method; he details material which is known
to the everyday newspaper reader.
In this particular instance Mr.. Sinclair has
taken up the prohibition problem, and when
the reader finishes the long novel he is some
what dazed. If, before he read the Sinclair
statements, he had opinions regarding the
eighteenth amendment one way or another, he
il now doubtful. He has gone through
mental whirlwind; he does not know whether
prohibition is good idea, a bad idea whether
it can be enforced. whether it cannot
The novel opens with the adventures Of
well-to-do family in the sugar country" OF
Louisiana. Certain members of the family al
though long associated with pollte Drinking,
nevertheless turn into real drinkers" This
phase Is not new, either in fact or fiction but
the author has made the most Of it. From
Louisiana the story shifts to New York City,
where Maggie May Of the Louisiana sugar
family finally turns into q "wowser lecturer"
q prohibition speaker Another member Of
the family becomes a successful poet and play
wright, but also a heavy drinker. The husband
Of Maggie May. always a rum fighter on &C
count of his fathers drink habit. becomes q
%
death by q bootlegger's bullet.