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Walter Kirn's avatar

You had my ideal reaction to the piece. You got it. And you divined what I was really getting at. I’m so glad you’re here

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Tom Gallagher's avatar

How our books say who we are:

Two summers ago, I packed up the library of a famous man. He was my wife's client, and I performed the task for two reasons. First as a favor to my wife since I had nothing else to do that July; second to spend hours in the man's company. Composer, conductor, musician. Classical, popular, and jazz. Winner of Oscars and Emmys. He spoke five languages. He was fascinating, congenial company. He told wonderful stories about hosts of famous people. I shall not repeat them. Although I knew him only a short time, I consider him a friend, and he said the same of me.

As I cataloged and packed in boxes more than 2,000 volumes, I saw the man reflected in the books. He loved art. Hundreds of large, glossy art coffee table books. From Bruegel to Van Eyck, High Renaissance, Impressionism, Late modern. Heinrich Wolfflin's History of Art in German: Handwritten notations in English and French. Volumes on music and musicology: in German, French and Italian.

American authors: first editions of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Anderson, Faulkner, O'Hara, Markam. Some bore inscriptions or dedications from the author. Comic books side by side with Thomas H. Johnson's edited letters of Emily Dickinson. Nearly everything by Thomas Mann and in multiple language versions.

Sometimes, on the way over I would pick up a sandwich to share. I'd call him. The conversation would begin without introduction: "Bernstein's--pastrami or corned beef?" He replied "Pastrami, and don't forget the Dr. Brown Cherry soda."

It's impossible to describe the scope and the depth of his scholarship and knowledge. Except to point to his books. It's difficult to explain the range of our discussions--from the sublime to the most ordinary. He took joy in both.

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