{"product_id":"2940012261229","title":"My Unknown Chum","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  • FOREWORD\u003cbr\u003e  • SKETCHES OF FOREIGN TRAVEL\u003cbr\u003e    • A PASSAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC\u003cbr\u003e    • LONDON\u003cbr\u003e    • ANTWERP AND BRUSSELS\u003cbr\u003e    • GENOA AND FLORENCE\u003cbr\u003e    • ANCIENT ROME\u003cbr\u003e    • MODERN ROME\u003cbr\u003e    • ROME TO MARSEILLES\u003cbr\u003e    • MARSEILLES, LYONS, AND AIX IN SAVOY\u003cbr\u003e    • AIX TO PARIS\u003cbr\u003e    • PARIS\u003cbr\u003e    • PARIS—THE LOUVRE AND ART\u003cbr\u003e    • NAPOLEON THE THIRD\u003cbr\u003e    • THE PHILOSOPHY OF FOREIGN TRAVEL\u003cbr\u003e    • PARIS TO BOULOGNE\u003cbr\u003e    • LONDON\u003cbr\u003e  • ESSAYS\u003cbr\u003e    • STREET LIFE\u003cbr\u003e    • HARD UP IN PARIS\u003cbr\u003e    • THE OLD CORNER\u003cbr\u003e    • SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THEATRE ALLEY\u003cbr\u003e    • THE OLD CATHEDRAL\u003cbr\u003e    • THE PHILOSOPHY OF SUFFERING\u003cbr\u003e    • BOYHOOD AND BOYS\u003cbr\u003e    • JOSEPHINE—GIRLHOOD AND GIRLS\u003cbr\u003e    • SHAKESPEARE AND HIS COMMENTATORS\u003cbr\u003e    • MEMORIALS OF MRS. GRUNDY\u003cbr\u003e    • THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE\u003cbr\u003e    • BEHIND THE SCENES\u003cbr\u003e    • THE PHILOSOPHY OF CANT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFOREWORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    _Life is too short for reading inferior books._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      _Bryce._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1878 a letter of introduction to Mr. S—— of Detroit was instrumental\u003cbr\u003ein securing for me the close friendship of a man some twenty years my\u003cbr\u003esenior—a man of unusual poise of mind and of such superb character that\u003cbr\u003eI have ever looked upon him as a perfect type of Newman’s ideal\u003cbr\u003egentleman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy new friend was fond of all that is best in art and literature. His\u003cbr\u003epet possession, however, was an old book long out of print—\"Aguecheek.\"\u003cbr\u003eHe spoke to me of its classic charm and of the recurring pleasure he\u003cbr\u003efound in reading and rereading the delightful pages of its unknown\u003cbr\u003eauthor, who saw in travel, in art, in literature, in life and humanity,\u003cbr\u003emuch that other travellers and other writers and scholars had failed to\u003cbr\u003eobserve—seeing all with a purity of vision, a clearness of intellect,\u003cbr\u003eand recording it with a grace and ease of phrase that suggest that he\u003cbr\u003ehimself had perhaps been taught by the Angelic Doctor referred to in the\u003cbr\u003eclosing lines of his last essay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA proffered loan of the book was eagerly accepted. Though still in my\u003cbr\u003eteens, I soon became a convert to all that my cultured friend had said\u003cbr\u003ein its praise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the aid of a Murray Street dealer in old books, I was fortunate\u003cbr\u003eenough to get a copy for myself. I read it again and again. Obliged to\u003cbr\u003etravel much, I was rarely without its companionship; for I knew that if\u003cbr\u003eother reading-matter proved uninteresting, I could always find some new\u003cbr\u003econversational charm in the views and words of the World-Conversant\u003cbr\u003eAuthor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFearing that I weighed the merits of the work with a mental scale\u003cbr\u003ewanting in balance, I asked others what they thought of it. Much to my\u003cbr\u003esurprise, they had never even heard of it. In fact, in these thirty-four\u003cbr\u003eyears I have found but three persons who knew the book at all. Recently\u003cbr\u003eat The Players I asked Mr. Evert Jansen Wendell if he knew \"Aguecheek.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Why,\" said he, \"it was in my hands only yesterday. It is in my\u003cbr\u003elibrary—my dramatic library.\" The late John E. Grote Higgens, President\u003cbr\u003eof the St. George Society, knew its interesting pages well; and it is, I\u003cbr\u003eam assured, a \"prized unit\" in the library of His Eminence Cardinal\u003cbr\u003eFarley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI lent my copy to young and old, to men and women of various professions\u003cbr\u003eand to friends in the world of commerce. The opinion of all might be\u003cbr\u003esummed up in the appreciation of a well-known Monsignor—himself an\u003cbr\u003eobservant traveller and an ardent lover of \"real\" literature. Returning\u003cbr\u003ethe book, he said, \"I have read it with the greatest of pleasure, and\u003cbr\u003ehave turned to it often. I could read it a hundred times. It is a great\u003cbr\u003ebook. Its fine humor, its depth, its simplicity and high ideals, commend\u003cbr\u003eit to all, especially the highly educated—the scholar.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles B. Fairbanks is the reputed author, but the records show that he\u003cbr\u003edied in 1859, when but thirty-two years old—an age that the text\u003cbr\u003erepeatedly discredits. Whether written by Mr. Fairbanks or not, the\u003cbr\u003emodest author hid his identity in an obscure pen-name that he might thus\u003cbr\u003ebe free to make his book \"his heart in other men’s hands.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147357274352,"sku":"2940012261229","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012261229_p0.jpg?v=1763554272","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012261229","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}