Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Word of the Day: incunabulum

Word of the Day

incunabulum (n)

A book printed before the 16th century; artwork from an early period

"'It's a long story, Sergeant. A few months ago we had a rare book stolen from this room. A beautiful old Tier Buch -- a book of animals -- an incunabulum.'"
--Carey Magoon, I Smell the Devil

I attended an antiques fair last weekend in upstate New York. There were many old books there -- though not as old as incunabula. The aroma of musty, falling-apart books invokes the past like nothing else, I think. Nostalgia stinks?

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