The Joy of the Chase

Non-fiction ~ essay
Published in The Spectator, 20th April 1929
1,310 words
(First read 30/03/2014)

No, nothing to do with fox-hunting, I'm pleased to report.  A straightforward opinion piece about the best way ~ the only way, in fact ~ to go about antique-hunting.  EFB was very keen on antiques: it shines through in a lot of his descriptions of interiors, which are positively Edith-Wharton-esque in their detail.  His particular thing was silverware, apparently.  The one thing I marked as worthy of quoting is, unless I'm sorely mistaken, that rarest of EFB rarities ~ a joke.  He's listing examples of the things folk collect:

Birds' eggs, Botticellis, butterflies, postage stamps, Greek gems, china, coins, antique silver, seals, jade, first editions of books (and why not second editions of books by less popular and eminent authors, which are surely of enviable rarity?) [...]

He can have had no conception of just how vanishingly rare some of his books have become, said Ewie grumpily.  Anyway, this is available online here.