State

Л Beginner's North Caroliniana — By — ICK IIAItl» WALSER FiflecMi hooks every \or 1 Ii С а г о I i n i a n should read — and own. "I want to begin a collection of North Carolina books." he said. "I want them right in my house where I can refer to them all the time. I al¬ ready have a small personal library of which I’m very proud: and I want to add to it the very finest books about North Carolina, books which are fore¬ most in the permanent literature of this state." He knit his brow thoughtfully. "Right now I can start buying them gradually." he continued. "Let’s say I can buy about fifteen. Which ones would you suggest" He was a young man who had been in North Carolina only about two years. His reading habits leaned toward the literary and historical; and since he had come to love the state, he wanted to read more about it. His question was an honest one, and it had to be pondered carefully. There are hun¬ dreds of good books having to do with North Carolina. To list only fifteen for him — fifteen still on publishers' lists and thus obtainable — and to leave un¬ mentioned many favorites, was diffi¬ cult. Nevertheless, there had to be an answer. "You'll want to make your own se¬ lections," he was told. "But until you know the field a bit better, here arc three groupings of five books each. Start with the first list; then move on to the second and third; and soon, by adding to your library periodically, in accordance with your taste, you’ll be¬ gin to have a good home collection of North Caroliniana." First Purchase There arc five books which ought to be on every North Carolina shelf. Indispensable, of course, is North Caro¬ lina: a Guide to the Old North State (UNC Press: Chapel Hill. $4.50), one of the American Guide Series. De¬ tailed. fully illustrated, and minutely indexed, it takes the reader up and down the state to almost every interest¬ ing spot conceivable. Next, the collector would want John Lawson’S History of North Carolina (Garrett & Massic: Richmond. $4), mistakenly titled because it is more a contemporary tour of the state in the early 1700's than a history. Actually, this is probably the most time-honored North Carolina book. With its descrip¬ tions of the Indians, a very intriguing and delightful tale of the very early days it is. Thomas Wolfe’s / ook Homeward, Angel (Scribner’s, S2.75) is indis¬ putably this state’s foremost contribu¬ tion to World Literature, and this novel of Asheville and Chapel I lill is as powerful today as when it was pub¬ lished in 1929. In poetry a first pur¬ chase is Lyrics from Colton Land (UNC Press, $2) by John Charles Mc¬ Neill, who caught in this small volume the very quintessence of the North ТИК STATE, Vol. XXI; No. 1?. Knlored at tecond-clatt mailer. June I. 1933. at Ihe PoMonice al Katelch. North Carolina, under Ihe acl ©Г March 1. 15.9. Publlthed by Sharpe Publishing Co., Inc., Lawyer* Bid*.. Kaleljh. N. C. Copyrljhl, 1953. by Ihe Sharpe Publlthloe Co., Inc.