Last Thursday, May 5, the three day book fair organized by the local hurch on the corner of Pierremont and Monroe Place opened. As a bibliophil I obviously went to look and search for a few interesting buys. In the foreign books section I found a book by Rolf Roeingh with the title ‘Ein Schwert hieb ueber den Kanal’ from 1941. The book was a study on the Bayern Tapistry, a tapistry which depicts the victorious invasion by William the Conqueror of England.
It was immedious clear that the book was a great historic artefact, but this became even more so apparent when on the first text page I discovered a small yellowed slip of paper with in caps on top and written in old typewriting ‘C E R T I F I C A T E.’ Empty sublines were filled out by pencil dated August 8, 1944. The slip of paper is an official notification referencing the very book in my hands and stating that it was sent by pfc. Alfred Kreech, and was part of a shipment of captured enemy military equipment. The little slip of paper was evidence of the historicity of the book and I couldn’t suppress a small surge of adrenaline rushing through my chest caused by this historical sensation as Simon Schama calls it.