Thursday, August 6, 2009

"Future Corrected Edition in the Hands of a Higher Editor"

It's been days — DAYS! — since I posted a gravestone here. I'm entering panic mode because my exam is in exactly three weeks, so I haven't visited many graveyards lately.

This picture was taken by my parents on a recent trip to Washington, DC:
Thomas Mann, librarian, has a gravestone that looks like a Library of Congress catalogue card.
Mann, Thomas, 1948-
Librarian. Chicago: Charles H. and Margaret Mann, 1948.
Rev. ed. Baton Rouge, 1976; Washington, DC. 1980.
Future corrected edition in the hands of a Higher Editor.
1. Christian. 2.
Z710.M23
Library of Congress
025.5 24  0221-1948
AACR 2 MARC
The call number Z710.M23 is The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann.

Clever readers will recognize the reference to Benjamin Franklin's mock epitaph:
The Body of
B. Franklin
Printer;
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be whlly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By the Author.
He was born on January 6, 1706.
Died 17

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