a felicidade no rosto dos mercados: 'more than a month old'

"In Covent Garden. Out of curiosity, I ask at a bookstore for The Island of Dr. Moreau. The clerk wants to know who the author is. I tell him. "Is it recent?" he asks. I explain that it isn't. "If it is more than a month old." he says, "we probably don't have it. But we can maybe order it for you." He looks the title up on the computer. "I can't find it," he says. "It's probably out of print.", Manguel em A Reading Diary.
já ouvi muito sobre respeito da boca de quem sabe menos sobre a palavra, quanto mais a prática. a falta dele pela história, pelos ausentes que na longa cadeia de coincidências permitiram que eu esteja aqui agora, aflige-me  profundamente.