Book of Books

"This book on rare books, holographs, and historical artifacts in a single collection is a treasure in itself. With generous portions of passages paired with pictures and tastefully spiced with comments, this book is a feast to the intellect. I commend this book as an aperitivo for starters and a digestivo for the sated. Bon Appetit to all guests!" —Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India, Writer & Filmmaker, Recipient of India’s highest film honour: Dadasaheb Phalke Award; Winner: British Film Institute Award; French honour: Commander of the Order of Arts & Letters

Book of Books is a box of literary delights. Illustrated throughout, it provides a guided tour of rare books, manuscripts, and historical artifacts in a single collection. The reader is invited to explore and enjoy carefully chosen pearls that dangle from the strands of Time. The theme runs across cultures and centuries from both East and West with excerpts from the works of many great authors including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Omar Khayyam, Rabindranath Tagore, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and such notable figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi.

James Mathew, MD, is a Cardiologist. Besides research papers in scientific journals, he has published articles in literature and humanities. He has presented papers at the Annual Gathering of the Thoreau Society in Concord, MA. He wrote and directed the dramatic reading performance, Life and Legacy of Henry David Thoreau [DVD, US Library of Congress Registration Number PAU 3-897-476]. He lives in Milwaukee, WI. Dr. Mathew is the first author of this book and the curator of the museum of rare books which form the basis of this book. Kent Bicknell, Ed. D, is an educator. In 1973, he became the founding head of Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH. He is a scholarly collector with special interest in the Transcendentalists and their inspiration from the East. Kent Bicknell and Professor Todd Lewis published “The Asian Soul of Transcendentalism.” [ Published online by the Association for Asian Studies, 2011] In 1995, he acquired the manuscript of a Gothic thriller by Louisa May Alcott, A Long Fatal Love Chase, which he transcribed, edited, and published. This book became a New York Times best-seller. He lives in New Hampshire.