Vignettes on the Value of Failure

Early in my career I was encouraged to spend trust funds on rare books—never large amounts, but significant in those days, and enough to allow me to attend occasional auctions. On one occasion, under the usual time pressure, I consulted a few bibliographical resources I had to hand, including the 19th-century catalog of a nearby library, and wrongly concluded that we had just acquired at auction the only publicly accessible copy in the city of one particular printed item. I proudly reported as much to the trust. However, the head of that nearby library was one of the trust’s board members. He had a suspicion, checked, and found his library did have the book after all. He telephoned me to point out my mistake and to warn me he would have to report it to the trust. He was being kind but I was mortified. Thankfully the other board members forgave my blunder. I learned not to take research lightly. Take the time. Do it properly. Report it accurately.