A Dublin haul

 

Late April and early May, I was in Dublin for a conference. As always when abroad, I wanted to bring home some books, but this time I had to show more restraint than usual because I was travelling with only a carry-on suitcase which was already quite full. Consequently, I had thought back to my first trip to Dublin, in 2023, when a friend had recommended that I visit Hodges Figgis bookshop. This is a largre and splendid shop, and I remembered a facsimile edition of one of the poetry collections by William Butler Yeats, one of my favourite poets. As I left Norway, this particular volume was the only item I planned on buying. 

When I got to Hodges Figgis, I quickly located the selection of Yeats' works and picked the copy of The Winding Stair and other poems. However, since I still had one hour left before meeting a colleague for lunch, I decided to spend that time browsing the various sections on three of the four floors of the bookshop. From a logistical point of view, this was a mistake since I soon became more lenient in my self-imposed restrictions and eventually abandoned them altogether. After the fourth book, however, I knew that I would probably not resist future temptations as bravely as I had thought, and I hurried downstairs to the till. As the cashier went through the stack of books, she also gave me a loyalty card with slots to be crossed out for each twelfth pound spent at the bookshop. My failed attempt at restraint left only four of the ten slots empty, and I regret nothing.  

The day after the conference, I met up with another colleague, an old gentleman who kindly gifted me a volume of historical articles to which he had contributed. I was utterly delighted at this generous present, especially since my colleague is an expert in the archaeology of medieval Dublin, a topic which I need to learn a lot more about in order to expand the horizon of my own research in the direction of Ireland. 

Four of the books I brought back from Dublin were unplanned. They therefore demonstrate how wise it is to yield to serendipity when it comes your way, especially when dealing with books.