ALBANY, N.Y. - My Inbox had several new messages this morning, but none opened as provocatively as the one from the Hong Kong University library:What is the best way to honour a wonderful person in your life on Valentine's Day?
Flowers? Chocolates? A surprise trip to Mexico? Not even close. The next paragraph of the e-mail explains more:Honour with Books on Valentine's Day
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You can honour your beloved ones with a lasting tribute: a bookplate bearing your name and the name of the honouree. The bookplate will be placed in a newly purchased book in the HKU Libraries' collection, and we will send a facsimile of the bookplate and a card to the honouree or to the family. You can now request a bookplate for the discounted price of $200. Your gift will enhance the HKUL collections in support of teaching and research. To ensure that cards are delivered in time for Valentine's Day, please submit your order before 6:00 p.m., 9 February 2007.
Two-hundred Hong Kong dollars is around $30, or enough to purchase most new hard covers. I'd hope the library would use the money towards a seasonally appropriate title. Perhaps a new translation of "Lolita" or "A Farewell to Arms." But knowing the staid collection found at the university library, a better bet would be a book of gastrointestinal diagrams.
How romantic.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Love, Honor & Bookmarks
