They met this man, a lawyer from Schenectady, a collector - as he called himself - on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Over dinner he chatted incessantly, telling how, after visiting Paris, Rome, London and Moscow, he brought home tens of thousands of rare volumes that his practice of law allowed him to acquire. He talked non-stop about how he filled the entire estate with books. He went on to describe the leather in which many of his books were bound, and to praise the quality of the bindings, paper and typeface. He did not let them say a word at dinner, although they were only waiting for the moment to speak. But how can you live with such a person?© ozor