Odd Find

I found a newspaper clipping in one of my old dictionaries while working on this show. I know I picked it up used but I don't remember where. I had something similar happen to me in university, which was part of the inspiration for BY THE BOOK. I found a book in the library that was at least 50 years old, and then discovered a letter inside that was 20 years old. It started me wondering what the receiver was like, why they were interested in the same book as I and if anyone else had even cracked open that book in the years between! The hidden relationship of readers.

One of the participating artists mentioned to me that she remembered the old checkout cards from school libraries - she said she had about a 70% common reading interest with another girl.

Anyways - this one has really got me wondering - who clipped it and why would they want to remember such an event. Maybe they were an author hunting for an extreme event - stranger than fiction. Also why was it tucked between these two pages. Anyway it's sad and gross and here it is, right between informal and inmost in a copy of "The Merriam-Webster Dictionary" published 1977: