Aquisitions: March 10

I made three stranger, rather minor purchases this Saturday, at an exceptionally unusual used bookstore/barn near where I grew up in South Jersey. This particular bookstore is better as an experience than a place to buy books you want to read, but I found some fun stuff:

On the left is a “Kittredge Shakespeare” copy of the The Tempest. I’m going to re-read The Tempest this week, and wanted a clean copy, not the one I marked up in college. After some research I now know who Kittredge is, but this is the first I’ve seen of these old-standards, which have now been replaced by a sea of others.

In the middle is a short critical “Contemporary Writers” consideration of Saul Bellow written in 1982. I have no idea if it will be any good, but I bought it because it’s about Bellow.

Finally, there Marmaduke. Since discovering Joe Mathlete Explains Today’s Marmaduke, I’ve purchased a few old paperback editions of the strip from the 60s. They’re magnificent. Brad Anderson has been writing and drawing this strip for over 50 years, and as near as I can tell it’s never been good or funny. But Marmaduke has always been ruthless, and I can’t get enough of it.