How did it become my Holy Grail? Well, I'd seen it at this wonderful used book store we used to have called the Attic Owl, and was intrigued because I'd read about it, possibly in Farmer's first Riverworld novel (which has coincidentally gone missing, who did I lend it to?!), and in how Burton had had to create new words to approximate concepts not present in the English language, and so on. So on the one hand, I was interested in myth, fantasy and fairy tales from all corners of the world. On the other, there was the linguist's fascination with this particular adaptation.
So I riffle through it, and on many pages, but probably not that many, the ink's seeped through the pages so that, while legible, there's superimposed text/mirror text there. It's not a pristine copy, it's a used book. And it's probably about 30 bucks, so I hem and I haw and I end up putting it back on the shelf. I go home, and I toss and I turn and I think well, where am I gonna get a copy of this book if not this one. They don't grow on trees (so to speak). And the next time I go to the Attic Owl, I look for it and it's gone. Of course it's gone. And every time I've walked into a used book store worth its salt - i.e. not just a mass paperback turnstile - I've looked for it.
Which is ridiculous, because in this day and age, with eBay and online stores and ebooks and everything, I could have found the book many times over. In fact, the pic above is of a current printing available, leather-bound, from Amazon for 30$. Stupid retro collector's mind! Then again, grabbing something off a website doesn't feel like collecting, the thrill's just not there. Do I HAVE to find it like a piece of lost treasure for it to COUNT?
So what makes a collector's Holy Grail? To me, it was Regret. The one that got away when I was most primed (not an Amazon joke) to have and read it. For others, it may be Nostalgia and retrieving something from their childhood, which is similar. My finger's been hovering over some eBay sales of Remco monster action figures, Gecko and Snake-Man, which were my brother and I's favorite toys as kids. And it's possible a Holy Grail is Holy because of its rarity. You tell me. What are YOUR collection Holy Grails? Did you ever glimpse them? Did you mortgage your house to get them? Have you abandoned all hope?
Comments
No wait... I remember the main one: vintage 60's and 70's rock instruments.
They're physically huge, heavy and prone to breaking down. In the case of keyboard instruments, authenticity also means they're harder to play than the soft touch found on modern digital copies, so your perceived skill gets downgraded a notch or two.
They're also, as any vintage collectible, enormously expensive. I think I've managed to stop the addiction now, though it ran red hot for a while.
Top that expense, time lavished on restoring and repairing the instrument, getting it onto a trailer and bringing it to a gathering of other musicians one can often discover that you receive no Kudos for authenticity: "Dude!" you are sometimes told, "that thing is OLD! It's huge! It looks hard to play and it's covered in wood! Save up to buy something real and get with it, and don't come back until you do!"
Yup, geekery, that deviant disinterest in the mainstream*, ALSO flows into music.
*Wait... in today's age IS there even a mainstream?? It seems more a great plaited cord of many strands, a braided river of interests.
So I haven't mortgaged the house, but mmmmmmmay have spent more than a wise man might. The question is: now that I no longer wonder if this delusion is going to lead to fame and riches... when should I stop claiming them as business expenses?
*sigh*