Temptation

If you have lived as long as I have, you will know that temptations comes in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes, from the most unexpected source. Yesterday it came in the post, in the guise of yet another invitation to renew my subscription to the Folio Society.

In flaunting their wares they are without shame: A glossy booklet, a flyer, and even a Christmas Card, the first this year, with snowflakes descending on already overburdened rooftops. And inside, an “extra thank you”; a little silver sticker, offering me a discount of £5.95.

But of course for any temptation to be worthwhile, the pleasure has to outweigh the pain, which is why my “Dear Mr McCloskey” letter, is headed up with the news that, “You could save up to £182.90”. And not sure as to whether or not I might be suffering from dementia, the letter begins, “You may remember that I wrote to you recently”. Of course I remember! that’s the whole point about temptation. And more to the point, and sadly, it is their computer, that is forever seeking to seduce me. Why? I have asked myself, do these invitations keep coming; surely it must have occurred to the computer that I might be dead.

Well, as my Irish ancestry would have said, “it’s a grand offer”. I can have any one of six exclusive editions as featured in the brochure “worth up to £150, absolutely FREE”. And if I reply within 7 days, I will get a copy of Charles Dickens’s, A Christmas Carol worth - £26.95, and it’s “FREE”, even if, after the 10 days free trial, I return the exclusive edition that I selected from among the six. And wait for it, I can also keep “the special “Thank you” gift” worth £5.95”.

Now of course you can’t “spend £ … and save £…”And as they caution in business and politics, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. So what then, if you succumb to the seductive embrace of the Folio Society?

Not exactly in the small print, but towards the end of my personal three-page letter comes the quid pro quo. “All you need to do”, (I like the sound of that), is purchase one book within a month of this bumper package arriving on the doorstep, and two further books by the 1 March, 2008.

Well, as a kind of pre-New Year resolution, (and having held out for so long), I have decided to give in to temptation. Why? Because at my age temptation doesn’t come along that often. So, shall I slink off with, “The takes of Beatrice Potter”, the going rate, “£180.00”. “The First Folio of Shakespeare”, or “Byzantium”, or as an alternative to these, Tolstoy’s Collected Stories, “The Campaign’s of Wellington”, or the 10 volumes that go by the title, "Very Interesting People”; market value, £79.99”. Oh dear! Where in this august list, will the pleasure best outweigh the pain, when it come to purchasing three, as yet unidentified titles, in 2008?

Well a clue, perhaps, lies in what I have already: “A History of Chinese Civilization”, in two volumes. “The Domesday Book” in three. “The Greek Myths” in two. “The Great Fire Of London” in two. “Peyps Diary” in three, and last among the volumes, three in a series by Steven Runciman, on the era of The Crusades. While from the stand-alones there is: “Cities and Civilizations”. “The Silk Road”. “Daily Life In Ancient Rome”. “The Rise & Fall of the House of Medici”. And moving closer to home, to Norfolk in fact, “The Pastons: A family in the Wars of the Roses”. And lastly, for reasons of space, “The Diary of A Country Parson”, by the Rev. James Woodforde. All of them are in hardback, beautifully bound and illustrated, and each in their own hardbox dustcover. As the brochure puts it, (and without exaggeration):

“...we know you’re well aware of the superior craftsmanship that goes into every book we publish. From exquisite cloth bindings and sewn spines to beautiful typography, acid free paper and handsome gold blocking, our volumes are designed to last for generations and warm the heart of every bibliophile”.

So you see, I have always known that it was only a matter of time before I would fall. The only question was, when? And how?

And perhaps I should have been more respectful of the Folio Society’s computer systems. Maybe they do actually know about me, and know that I have just finished reading Paul Johnson’s “British Cathedrals”, the backdrop to the building of which, was a complex and intriguing social history. In the penultimate chapter, he deals at length with the work of Sir Christopher Wren, whose life as an architect, is encapsulated in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He began work on it when he was 29 and finished when he was 83, and he died in his nineties.

I knew none of this, when years ago, my walk to work in Fleet Steet, took me past St. Paul's. Nor, when, on more than one occasion, I felt moved to photograph it on my approach from London Bridge; but sadly, in those days, with a mediocre camera.

So, in the circumstances, how could I not want the “exclusive hard-back edition in 10 volumes”, entitled, “Very Interesting People”, when one of them is, Sir Christopher Wren. As for the pain, it shall be minimal. For even if in the New Year, the books on offer are not of special interest to me, they will make a handsome gift for someone.

__________

© Cormac McCloskey

Note: This blog, "Temptation", was first published on Windows Live Spaces, by me, on 29th November 2008