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Show THE BOOK AUCTION "No, deaiie, you can't get an expurgated edition edi-tion of the works of Felicia Dorothea Hemans at the Book Auction, but it's about the only thing in the realm of books that you can't get and get at a better rate than you ever got anything in the book line. You never heard of such a thing? Well, as far as that's concerned, few people ever did. That, however, did not prevent that inveterate invet-erate biblio-maniac, Eugene Field, from seeking seek-ing one far and wide for many years. Just how he found one (specially prepared for the occasion, occa-sion, and extra-illustrated as to its front page), was told by one of his close friends who worked the game on him of supplying his long voiced demand. "You see, it had long been a trick of Field's to ask for the impossible from the little uniformed uni-formed dealers in books, who are found in every city, and who in the old days thronged the side streets in Chicago, and his favorite request was for an expurgated edition of the poetical works of Felicia Dorothea Hemans. This lequest was supposed to bring consternation to the dealer, and it usually did. But ho worked it once too otteu, when leaving his friend and deceiver on the outside out-side he sauntered into a book shop and voiced liis oft-repeated quest. The dealer reached to a high shelf and drew forth the volume, and sure enough there on the fiont page, where all the world could see it was recorded "the poetical works of Felicia Dorothea Hemans, carefully edited edi-ted and expurgated for the home and flieside." "The page had been skilfully inserted by the 'bunch' who had waited to do Field up, and the high price asked for the volume by the dealer who was, of course, 'next,' represented only a small percentage of what the joke cost Eugene Field. |