Second-Hand Notes/Annotations

Does anyone ever look for these when buying their 2nd hand books?

Or is it more of an (un)pleasant surprise?

Sometimes they can be pretty interesting. I always wonder what sort of people write these things, and to whom - if anyone. Perhaps they add them specifically for the purpose of selling/donating them to 2nd hand bookshops, for future readers; I've never done it, personally.

>2016
>Being poor

Sorry, I buy all my books brand new.

Nice handwriting, shame it was used to write platitudes.

>paying 3 or 4 times the price for an object that is identical in function and serves no aesthetic purpose that you probably won't read and throw away/sell at the end of the year anyway

You're more likely to be poor, rich people don't throw away money and stay rich

That's what poor people tell themselves.

Us rich people have money to burn.

>rich people don't throw away money

is that what poor people think? dude, go out and meet people. you have no idea.

I liked "Fateful originality."

Reminded me of what Schopenhauer had to say.

It's the greatest thing.

They might be vaguely interesting as a curiosity, but they get in the way of actual reading.

What a fucking mess.

basically just a window into psychosis

Nah, it's Finnegans Wake.

That's the amount of notes you'd need on average to dissect that piece of shit.

Yeah, and isn't it glorious.
The mentally ill are the most untapped source of genius.

if that's what Joyce intended why didn't he include more space in the margins and maybe space the lines a little more generously

Yeah I love it, its cool seeing other peoples interpretations of things.

Last time I was at the bookstore I picked up a copy of something, the first page has so writing. Its a dedication, a gift, from a guy to who i assumed was his gf/wife something.
General gist was how he loved her and wanted to give her this book so she gains some knowledge of whatever. Pretty cute. Then i realize that she sold it to this place. :(

>Walter Kaufmann translation.

You poor little lamb.

He's the best for all of Nietzsche's stuff, pleb.

Good for Goethe too, save for abridging Part II like an idiot.

>He's the best for all of Nietzsche's stuff

I will tell you now not to reply to this because I don't want you to dig yourself a hole you can't escape from, but he's objectively the worst translator of Nietzsche's works. See Mencken, Ludovici (disregarding the minor typographic mistakes) or even Hollingdale for a better translator.

Kaufmann was a professional sanitiser of Neetch.

are you blind, there's an obscene amount of space on that page for notes.

[Citation Needed]

Kaufmann is constantly cited as the go-to German translator on Veeky Forums, and with good reason.

I love it. I love snapshots of other people's lives. Annotations, photos, even a birth certificate I found. I don't find them often though...

Old money has old books, and doesn't buy much.

I live for the annotations of strangers. Especially when you can tell that they weren't for a class, and were just the notes of someone reading it. There's something really interesting and comforting about reading the personal thoughts of a person that I'll never know, it's like a time capsule or a mystery or something. I love it