47、December 12,1952

                        14 East 95th St.
                        New York City

                        December 12, 1952

To “her friends at 84, Charing Cross Road”:
    The  Book-Lovers’ Anthology stepped out
of its wrappings, all gold-embossed leather
and  gold-tipped  pages,  easily  the  most
beautiful  book  I own including the Newman
first  edition.    It  looks  too  new  and
pristine  ever  to have been read by anyone
else,  but  it  has  been: it keeps falling
open  at  the most delightful places as the
ghost  of  its  former  owner  points me to
things   I’ve   never   read  before.  Like
Tristram  Shandy’s   description   of   his
father’s    remarkable    library     which
“contained  every  book  and treatise which
had  ever  wrote  upon the subject of great
noses.”(Frank! Go find me Tristram Shandy!)
    I do think it’s a very uneven exchange
of Christmas presents. You’ll eat yours up
in a week and have nothing left to show for
it by New Year’s Day.   I’ll have mine till
the  day  I  die — and  die  happy  in  the
knowledge  that  I’m  leaving it behind for
someone else to love. I shall sprinkle pale
pencil  marks  through  it pointing out the
best passages to some booklover yet unborn.
    Thank you all. Happy New Year.
                                  Helene

注释：
step out of 从…走出去（上一篇刚注释完）
eat up 吃光
You’ll eat yours up in a week 你一个星期后就会吃光你的
booklover 爱读书的人

收藏句子：
You’ll eat yours up in a week and have nothing left to show for it by New Year’s Day. I’ll have mine till the day I die—and die happy in the knowledge that I’m leaving it behind for someone else to love. I shall sprinkle pale pencil marks through it pointing out the best passages to some booklover yet unborn.（不得不说，太有文采了🤓）