markk

After finishing Gordon Wood's Empire of Liberty a couple of days ago, I was intrigued enough by some of the topics he covered to explore them a little more deeply. One of them is the War of 1812, which I've read about before but am growing interested in exploring in greater depth. The problem is that what the book that I most want to read about it ⁠— a good history of the war from the British perspective ⁠— doesn't really exist. So I'm considering writing my own.

Admittedly this is a pretty arrogant thing to declare, considering that it's been months since I put any work into the book I'm currently writing. But the subject is one the more I read about it the more fascinating I find it. It's also one that I can use my background reading for my courses to explore further, so what I'm contemplating would for now involve more of a redirection of my existing reading efforts rather than a further diffusion of my limited time. So right now I'm identifying which titles I want to read and working out when I can read them.

One of the works that stands out most in this respect is Irving Brant's six-volume biography of James Madison. Though it's far from the newest biography of Madison available it's regarded as the most comprehensive, as Brant covers Madison's long life and many achievements in considerable detail. HIs labors receive a lot of credit for reviving Madison's historical standing, and nearly every book I have on the era still uses them as a foundation for understanding his role in events. All these reasons make reading the volumes a high priority if I want to deepen my understanding of Madison and the early republic.

There's only one problem, though: the books aren't cheap. Copies of the volumes in good condition usually go for over $100 each. And buying them individually is by far the more economical route: the lowest price I've found online for a complete set is $750 ⁠— and the prices escalate rapidly from there. Based on the description, this is probably the best-condition set currently available for sale.

If you're interested these can be yours . . . for $2,500.

I may be a book addict, but I'm not insane; that is far more than anyone should reasonably spend for a set of these books, especially when the individual volumes can be had for a quarter of the price with some internet sleuthing and a little patience. So I'm going to spend the next few months fettering out the books and seeing what I can acquire. Already I found two of the volumes online for a little over $50 each, and while they might constitute the low-hanging fruit of my quest I'm confident that over time I can acquire all of the volumes for half of what is the going price of a full set. And when I do, they're going to look great on my shelves.