My wonderful brother John Arthur Taylor, is a bibliophile! As a small boy, I remember him always reading, reading, reading! In his early life, he subscribed to Popular Mechanics. Early on, he voraciously read science fiction. During his young life he had some trouble with his eye-sight. Yet, his eye weakness led to becoming his great strength.
During other periods of his life, he turned to reading British novels, like Dickens, but particularly by the Victorian novelists Anthony Trollope and statesman, Benjamin Disraeli. John is a devotee of Trollope and has contributed a major and substantial collection of Trollope’s prodigious number of books to the BYU Library Special Collections. I wonder if it may be the most complete Trollope collection existent.
John gave a most intriguing lecture on Anthony Trollope, his family and his novels at the BYU Library a few years ago. John has gathered probably the finest collection of books and documents assembled relating to the British author, H. Rider Haggard (King Soloman’s Mines, and others). I don’t know all of the many other projects John has done relating to the world of books. He has an enormous and impressive personal library in his home.
In his younger life, when in the army and stationed in Paris, France as a cryptographer, John kept a little book in his back pocket—always ready to read, read, read. He reads from a wide variety—books of every good genre (he avoids self-help and self-esteem books), magazines, newspapers—the scriptures. He has read the New English Bible several times! (I don’t think he has completely finished reading everything on the internet yet!) Is the “book” becoming a thing of the past—or is just morphing into another medium—a Kindle or I-pad?
He has a small hard-bound pocket collection of books, one of which he takes wherever he goes. On the dashboard of his car, is another compact or other book ready to be read during the briefest of delays in his other errands. He now listens to many audible books. Every spare moment is an opportunity for him to read. John and I love old classic movie DVD’s. But I have heard him say, “Well, I wanted to watch it, but I had a chance to read instead!”
As a stake president holding many evening meetings and in his busy life working long hours for the Proctor and Gamble Corporation as an executive, he would often work until late at night—but the hours between 10 or 11 pm and 1 am was sacrosanct time to climb under the covers of his bed with his little flashlight and to read his books, knowing he had to get up early for another long day. I think in his next life, his ambition might be to not be a successful business executive but to be a bibliopole!
John often reads up to 100 books or more in a year. My brother was recognized a few years ago by the Provo Library as the Library Patron of the Year. He makes a careful notation of his reading impressions for each book in a little bibliographic journal he keeps, listing the enormous number of books he has read and reread.
Only yesterday, I received a special envelope in the Philippines mail post-marked in Salt Lake City, December 31, 2011 addressed to me and in my brother John’s distinctive chirographic (just learned the word today!) handwriting with blue ink. It cost him 3 first-class stamps to send it.
I noticed it was postmarked in the Philippines on January 20th. A rubber stamp mark on the back of the envelope seemed to me a facsimile of John, carrying an enormous load of books out of a huge library bin, stating, “So many books; so little time.”
Inside the envelope was a letter-note with a colored flower and oak acorn ensemble with the words, “HAPPY NEW YEAR”.
The written salutation and message from my brother follows:
“Here is a little bookmark to start off your new year. Learn some new words, or refresh your memory about words you haven’t used lately! Words interpret the past, support the present, open windows on the future.”
With love and best wishes,
John.
It is interesting to me to realize that 26 small symbols open up such a world of truth and knowledge to each of us. The Lord would add,
“And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come…And verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should…obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion. Amen.”
(Doctrine and Covenants 93:24, 53)
I do not know of anyone who is more knowledgeable or aware of things today and of many things in the past, than is my brother John.
Among his other LDS missions performed so far in his life, I think you might guess where he is loving and serving his current mission---Yep!--working as a missionary in the BYU Family History Library! Our words, names, relationships--our knowledge becomes our salvation!
George Terry Taylor
January 28, 2012
