Dorian Gray and Books as Talismans

Lecture no. 10

Dear Heart,

Which book would you swear upon if you had the choice? And more to the point, which copy?

These questions were suggested in January 2013, when Barack Obama took the oath for his second term as US president. During the ceremony, he placed his hand on not one but two copies of the Bible, stacked together. One was part of tradition: the Bible use…