Collins French-English English-French Dictionary. First published 1952. Latest reprint 1968.
Printed in Great Britain by Collins Clear-Type Press.

I spent a chunk of the afternoon trying to look up  a quote by Guillaume Apollinaire (see below) in its original French version. It took quite a while, but I found it. I used this dictionary to look up the word monotony. Barely visible in the image.

“Sans les poètes, sans les artistes les hommes s’ennuieraient vite de la monotonie naturelle. L’idée sublime qu’ils ont de l’univers retomberait avec une vitesse vertigineuse. L’ordre qui paraît dans la nature et qui n’est qu’un effet de l’art s’évanouirait aussitôt. Tout se déferait dans le chaos. Plus de saison, plus de vie même et l’impuissante obscurité règnerait à jamais.”

“Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature’s monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way and the impotent void would reign everywhere.”

– Guillaume Apollinaire , Les Soirées de Paris, 1912

Status: It’s pocket size. Keep.

Kill-ratio: 16: 3/ ~5:1

Alt-title: Untitled Object No. 265 For Keeping Monotony At Bay.

What’s this alt-title/kill-ratio stuff all about and who is to blame? Read all about it.