Trip's personal library

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Aside from the titles listed here, can anyone make out what the other books are? https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/File:Trips_books.jpg

Left to right: Gulliver's Travels, The Gorilla Hunters, Twelve Months That Changed the World, and A Pictorial History of the American Indian (bottom).

The one next to Twelve Months is the only one with visible writing on the spine - Gattasus something. The blue one between Gorilla and Twelve Months has a publishing logo visible on the bottom of the spine.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Your link took me to the Memory Alpha page "American Indian."

Do you mean this picture?


Also found a small picture of 2 of the books on this page.

These may just be random books grabbed out of the prop warehouse by the set dresser, just sayin. The Gorilla Hunters was written in 1861, the American Indian book in 1956.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Also found a small picture of 2 of the books on this page.

Yes, the one on the right is the unknown, left is Gulliver's Travels.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Gattasus something

It might be Cattaneo instead of Gattasus. Below is Tom H.

 

[Victoria]

The Gulliver's Travels seems to be the 1965 Folio Society edition.

The publisher's mark is driving me crazy. It looks familiar but I've had a walk round my books and can't find it

 

[Tango]

It might be Cattaneo instead of Gattasus. Below is Tom H.

Yes, I think it is indeed “Cattaneo”. Next line I think is “Opere”, which means “works" (as in a body of writings) in Italian. Next line maybe starts with “Tom” (abbreviation for “Tomo”, Italian for “Volume”) followed by the Roman numeral “II”.

Carlo Cattaneo was a prominent Italian during the first half of the 19th century. I think this is the second volume of his collected works. They are available as ebooks!

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Opere_Volume_1?id=jD1RAAAAcAAJ&gl=US&pli=1

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Yes, I think it is indeed “Cattaneo”. Next line I think is “Opere”, which means “works" (as in a body of writings) in Italian. Next line maybe starts with “Tom” (abbreviation for “Tomo”, Italian for “Volume”) followed by the Roman numeral “II”.

Carlo Cattaneo was a prominent Italian during the first half of the 19th century. I think this is the second volume of his collected works. They are available as ebooks!

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Opere_Volume_1?id=jD1RAAAAcAAJ&gl=US&pli=1

@Tango, thank you so much for this info! When Laura Cynthia Chambers first started the thread, I stared at that book spine (both pictures) for hours trying to figure it! I don't know Italian or opera, so I was just stumped. Now I can sleep tonight

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I wonder what the story behind his eclectic collection is (in universe, I know outside of it they're just random props, mostly) Does he collect old books? Did he once have an Italian girlfriend?

 

[Victoria]

In universe, I'd be surprised to see any of these books except for Gulliver's Travels. Ballantyne was a very popular writer but his books are very much of their time (indiscriminate killing of animals, "manliness", hurrah for Christianity!). He isn't as good a writer as Stevenson, isn't really read today and I can't see him coming back into fashion. Likewise the book about the American Indians which tends to express things in a way with which we'd feel uncomfortable now never mind in the future. The war book might be considered an interesting historical record but wasn't considered particularly important when it was written. The Cattaneo is plain bizarre. It might be of interest to a student of nineteenth century Italy when he was an important figure but he's disregarded these days and can't think that he's really going to come back into relevance.

If Trip's collecting old books, then he's a pretty indiscrimate collector. Perhaps he was just looking for something to personalise his quarters and bought his books from one of those ebay sellers who sell the unreadable as "decor"...

Edit to correct spelling.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Oh, so it's a prop in-universe, too?

 

[Victoria]

There doesn't seem to be any unifying theme behind the books. Even as decor.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Could the first book on the right of the bowl/urn be a Bible?

 

[Victoria]

Certainly possible. Also books of sermons and poetry are found in those kinds of binding.

 

[Sumire]

When I lived in Japan, (long ago, when we still worried about things like the cost of long-distance calls), I ended up reading some pretty random stuff just because someone had left it behind and I was desperate for new English books to read. I even read my student’s school books if spares happened to be lying around the teacher’s room.

If they aren’t props in universe (solid reasoning and one has to wonder what the effect of World War Three was on quotidian things like physical books), perhaps their randomness can be attributed to Trip hanging onto whatever books he has stumbled across?

 

[Victoria]

If Trip just wants something to read, surely he would have access to some form of ereading? He wouldn't need to rely on random volumes he comes across.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Need and want are two different things. There's just something about the feel and smell of real books.

They could also be heirlooms, or gifts.

 

[Victoria]

I prefer real books to an ereader but...a book written by a 19c Italian politician in Italian?

I had considered that he was simply carting around the remains of his family library but Trip still has family on Earth which would seem a much more sensible place for the family heirlooms. If Trip had a particular attachment to the books for whatever reason then, yes, he might have them instead of his family but that comes back to why on earth he'd have an attachment to those books.

And no matter how you think about it, it's really hard to get round that Cattaneo except as decor.

 

[Sumire]

There's just something about the feel and smell of real books.

Effusive agreement

I freely admit that I could be projecting but…

Trip, with his love of old movies, might just be someone who likes old things. Maybe when he found each of these overlooked books, he didn’t want to leave them to be forgotten. Keeping things around due to some form of sentiment is rather sappy but I think I could buy it from Trip — especially if physical books have become more rare. Weight and space do need to be factored in to whatever one brings onto a starship (I imagine) but if one views them as uncommon artifacts of an earlier time? I’d understand the impulse.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

He might also keep a log of where in space he found each book, marveling at how far they've traveled. Earth knowledge/artifacts making their way to the stars (not as a data file).

 

[Sumire]

I love how we’ve made this sweet little backstory in our hearts @Laura Cynthia Chambers for a bunch of randomly grabbed books from the prop room!