This is a perfect companion volume to Starrett's Memorable Meals. It may also be Starrett's last book (ever) of literary essays. The Starrett archives were sadly depleted in the decade after his death in 1974, and many tear-sheets and original manuscripts were sold to private collectors.

It was Starrett's intention in the early 1940s to produce a book called More Books Alive. However, problems in his private life prevented the successful completion of this and several other key books that he planned to write. The tragic story that affected this great bookman is finally told by editor Peter Ruber with much sensitivity and compassion.

Although More Books Alive is more than 50 years late in arriving, the results are worth it. Ruber has collected a fascinating collection of nearly two dozen literary essays on the joys of reading and book collecting dating from 1927-69, including the rare Introductions that he wrote for the Limited Editions Club editions of Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and The Moonstone, Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.