Grattis Eugene!

Eugene Field

2 september 1850 - 4 november 1895

etsning av William Bicknell

Tidningsman, poet och humorist kanske mest känd för sina verser för barn, blir du nyfiken på hans skriverier, så har Gutenberg många av hans böcker.

THE BIBLIOMANIAC'S PRAYER

Keep me, I pray, in wisdom's way

  That I may truths eternal seek;

I need protecting care to-day,—

  My purse is light, my flesh is weak.

So banish from my erring heart

  All baleful appetites and hints

Of Satan's fascinating art,

  Of first editions, and of prints.

Direct me in some godly walk

  Which leads away from bookish strife,

That I with pious deed and talk

  May extra-illustrate my life.

But if, O Lord, it pleaseth Thee

  To keep me in temptation's way,

I humbly ask that I may be

  Most notably beset to-day;

Let my temptation be a book,

  Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep,

Whereon when other men shall look,

  They'll wail to know I got it cheap.

Oh, let it such a volume be

  As in rare copperplates abounds,

Large paper, clean, and fair to see,

  Uncut, unique, unknown to Lowndes.