I have this copy of John Milton's Complete Poems on my shelf. It's been sitting there, unread, since I was in college (a long time ago!), and I tried just now to read it. But I quickly realized why I haven't wanted to go near it all these years: I can't stand John Milton. So I looked on eBay, thinking some poor student might want to buy it. I did an Advanced Search for recently sold items to see what kind of market exists for books by John Milton. Ha ha! No market exists, apparently! Of the five Milton books on sale recently, there were NO bids for any of them.

So that leaves me with my current dilemma. What do I do with this Milton book? I have many others that are in the same situation as my Milton book: unread and unloved but using up valuable space on my shelves. I have a personal rule for stuff in my house: use it or lose it. I don't use this Milton book, and others as well, but I obviously can't sell it.

So should I do the unthinkable and throw it away? I doubt even the local library would want it.

 :-\

bonfire?

Do you know how ironic that would be for a book of work by Milton?

yeppers

I think he would have gotten a giggle out of it.

Dear Jay

Guess this book was printed before there were these on-demand publishing houses.

Is John Milton's mother still alive....most moms want their kids things
if they do not already have a basement full.

I used to put my very very first paintings on wood in the fireplace 'fire wood pile'
on the back porch and my mother kept pulling them out behind my back
and put them in the closet.

Bonfires need fuel

No bonfire no marshmallows !!!

summer smiles
silent lotus

>>Bonfires need fuel<<

Funny.

Hard to believe, though, that I'd have to trash this. I'm sure at colleges they're paying $150 for a book like this these days.

Has anyone seen the price of college textbooks today?

Egads.

Hey, what if you took it to one of those stores that buys back textbooks? I think there's one in Fairfax...

Maybe. The problem is that in colleges they're always needing a particular edition so that everyone can follow along.

I know a grad student who walked around last year with Paradise Lost on his Ipod.  I could ask him if he'd like a copy.  Collected works, is it?

Rick

Seen them? **Sigh** - I have to go to campus in a week and a half & PAY for about $500.00 worth.....lol

this after having to go out school clothes shopping for both kids - did I *sigh* already....oh yeah....I did....

xo M

$500.00 ? I'd say you're getting off cheap, lol.  My daughter's books never run less than $800.00 with a few hundred here and there between.  I do, however, have the consolation this will be her last year - her Master's is covered thank God!

but enough of that,
what I do with books that gather more dust than page turning, is donate them to Goodwill or another like charity.  You could also check with local highschools and such, they often have bazaars for fund raising and the same goes for some churches.  When we lived in the Seattle area, once a year one of the local malls would donate space for the sale of used books (donated by members of the community) and then the profits would go to local shelters.  I'd look for something like that.

Jay,

Take some scissors and cut Milton's book up into bunches of pieces and toss them like a salad. pick up the pieces in random and glue them onto plain paper and see if something comes up worth saving in your notebooks. That way, when you are done, you can throw away the scraps of a literary project rather than a sacred book. You'll sleep better.

larry

Oh, boy. Great idea.

:)

I'm afraid this is going to be a lifelong project. I have a lot of books that never get read.

Jay, write a poem about the humble situation of this book and see if any change...

Vasile