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| The Passport, Saul Steinberg, 1954 (1st ed.) |
Saturday, November 16, 2013
To Jane with Love
It wasn't until I brought the book in from the car, a day or two after I'd checked it out from the college library that I noticed blue ink bleeding through the verso to the title page. When I flipped it over, I found this illustrated inscription on the half title:
Saul Steinberg and likely Jane, too, are no longer with us. How did this lovely little tribute come to sit on the shelves of a college library on Staten Island, where it has probably not been opened for decades? Who was Jane? (The only famous Jane from the 50's I can think of is Jane Russell.) Are the musicians a clue? And what Ariadne's thread of Romanian exile reading and musing brought me to it in the first place? Who cares? But nice, no?
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Jane Bowles?
ReplyDeleteNice idea. The musicians maybe a nod to Paul B.'s compositions?
ReplyDeleteWell it's a long shot of course, but it would be perfect if her copy ended up in Staten Island, given that S.I. features prominently in Two Serious Ladies.
ReplyDeleteIt would be perfect. Plus a little digging turns out that Jane and Paul lived on SI in the late 30s-early 40s. But a more likely candidate, perhaps less interesting, Jane Doe has emerged. Will blog about it soon. (Just read Two Serious Ladies this summer by coincidence.)
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