If I could afford it, I would fly back to Australia just for this. If anyone wants to attend as my proxy, please let me know.
From Thoughts on Freedom:
The private library of one of Australia’s most controversial and contrarian intellectuals, PP McGuinness, will be up for sale in Sydney on Saturday 21 November 2009.
The thousands of books in McGuinness’ collection describe the broad thinking and eclectic interests of a contrarian and often incendiary thinker. From Palgrave to poetry, politics to film, PP McGuinness’ private collection spanned all genres of literature and thought, and influenced McGuinness’s contribution to Australian intellectual history.
Paddy McGuinness’s daughter, Parnell, says “There are almost ten thousand books here — more than I can possibly keep. It’s time to distribute the books to people who want them and will appreciate them. There are some rare, out-of-print editions, as well as some which are almost too common. I think there are five copies of Madame Bovary in there.”
The Paddy McGuinness Last Drinks Book Fair will be held in McGuinness’ garden in Darling Street Balmain on Saturday 21 November. Books, BBQ and drinks will be available 10am-4pm.
Paddy McGuinness was one of this country’s most renowned and controversial commentators. His intellectual life traversed both sides of Australian political terrain, and his mischievous pleasure in playing devil’s advocate caused him to be alternately revered and reviled by ideologues in an intellectual arena dominated by partisan politics.
From his early years as a rabble raiser among the libertarian, anti-establishment movement known as the Sydney Push during the 1950s and 1960s, Paddy went on to work as an economist for the Moscow Narodny Bank and lectured at the University of London. After a period as film critic for The National Review, then adviser to the federal government during the mid-1970s, he became editor of the Australian Financial Review, and then columnist for The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1997 Paddy was appointed editor of Quadrant and continued in that role until his death last year.
November 14, 2009 at 9:21 am
I wasn’t aware that he died. Wow. He was awesome.