The Book at Sea

I've spotted the first turtles of the spring. They occupy their office with unmistakable dignity.

I was going through some books to-day, getting ready to write the next chapter of my comic. Looking at this book about Robert Blake, I was reminded of one of the reasons I like used books so much.

On the inside cover is this:

That address may still belong to an apartment building. When I looked for it on google maps, I found a website for some kind of educational consulting firm, but given the floating world of American education right now, it could very well be a company operating out of an apartment. This book was likely sold at an estate sale, though. I believe I bought it, like so many, at the long gone Fifth Avenue Books in San Diego, which was largely stocked with books from estate sales. It was one of the most interesting shops in town but, like so many things in the process of turning San Diego into the most expensive city in the U.S., it was replaced by some gringo's idea of a sushi restaurant.

The book was printed in London in 1989 and the only price on the dust jacket is £17.95. This Katherine Aaron may have acquired the book in England or it was given to her by someone who'd been there. The neatness of the signature suggests to me someone fairly young, as does the nickname "Caddie", and the fact that she wrote her name in the book at all. My guess would be fourteen or fifteen, except a book about the leader of the Parliamentary navy during the Interregnum seems like an obscure topic for a girl of that age. Maybe she was a little older. But who knows. It's intriguing, in any case.

Further in, there's another name:

Is this the same person? The capital "A" in Aaron is written the same way but Carolyn is a very different name to Katherine. Maybe she was considering changing her name. The lack of spacing between Carolyn and Rose makes me wonder if she spontaneously decided to add the middle name as she was writing. Or maybe she was Katherine's daughter and she inherited the book.

I wonder what became of them and why they had to sell their book about Robert Blake.