Canary in a cat house

I was with Olga yesterday, browsing the shelves of the bookstore beside the office of the All-UP Workers Union at UP Diliman, looking for nothing in particular, waiting for time to pass by, doing the occasional "Tignan mo 'yun o!(point to a book)," and "Mahal naman nito" when Olga noticed in one of the shelves one of the books by our favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., behind it were other books of his, and we did not do much effort in reading the titles as we thought we have copies of them already.

Or so we thought.

We noticed this one thin book, and yes, the title was Canary in a Cat House in quite good condition apart from a tear in the back cover.

A quick search on the internet confirmed it. This is indeed the Holy Grail of Vonnegut Books. Published by Gold Medal (Firs Print in 1961), it could now fetch as high as $100 online (check out e-bay or amazon.com). Buccaneer Books published an illegal bootleg in 1991, which costs $25.

Canary in a Cat House is a collection of 12 Vonnegut short stories, all of which later appeared in Welcome to the Monkey House, apart from Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp which is included in the collection Bagombo Snuff Box.

Yes. this means that unless you are a collector of Vonnegut, Canary in a Cat House is of little value. But hey! I got my copy for Php100.

Did I enjoy my copy? The thought of having it when I didn't was greater than now that I have it. But that does not mean that I didn't love relishing the thought of having something that other book lovers would like to have.

This is my second time that I found a relatively expensive book dusting away in the shelves of second hand bookstores. My first was last year when I got Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude for Php50 at Recto.

Indeed, one man's garbage is another man's treasure. All it takes is diligence, determination, and the occasional bit of luck.

Will I sell it? I plan to hold to it yet for quite a while. I think the price will go up soon as Vonnegut just passed away last year. Huhu.

Well, that brings my list down to: Bagombo Snuff Box, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, Between Time and Timbuktu, Happy Birthday Wanda June and Sun/Star/Moon.

Help with these would be highly appreciated! Wink wink