In Borneo, I finally found a proper place for my Encyclopedia Britannica, a gift from my mother. I was fifteen years old when I filled out one of those mail-in cards inserted inside magazines. One evening a knock came at the door and a salesman from Encyclopedia Britannica appeared, saying they had received a request. My mother and my stepfather were quite baffled until I meekly admitted that I was the guilty party.
I knew at the time that they couldn’t afford such a luxury item when no one, other than me (and occasionally a brother), read. They did know that I had good grades and that I planned to go far. They were not thinking in terms of geography so it never crossed their minds that I would travel to 36 countries and live in Malaysia for forty years (21 years in West Malaysia, Penang; 19 years in East Malaysia, Kuching). They also knew that I planned to go to college, not that they could afford that either.
They invited the salesman, who strategically didn’t call ahead of time, inside our house and sat with him at the dining table and listened to his sales pitch and how much this was going to cost them. Trying to keep a low prolife, I circled behind them now and then, wondering how all this was going to play (or pay) out. To my utter astonishment, my mother and stepfather agreed, and the entire set of Encyclopedia Britannica was mine.
Neither was I punished nor reprimanded, other than mildly—they did strongly advise me not to fill in any more of those cards inserted inside random magazines…
My mother, which I just rediscovered, had written inside the cover of Volume One:
The owner of all these books is Robert J. Raymer, June 1972
After attending Miami University and spending three months backpacking in Europe, I moved from Newark, Ohio to Boulder, Colorado, and the encyclopedias came with me. They also followed me to Madison, Wisconsin where I began to write using a typewriter. In those pre-computer, pre-Internet days, those encyclopedias did come in handy.
Then I moved to Penang, Malaysia, bringing my typewriter and encyclopedias with me. I consulted them regularly. It was part of my job as a writer—there was always something to investigate or research. One child (two actually) was born in Penang and the other in Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Future users of my encyclopedias, which they mostly ignored.
Over the years the encyclopedias resided (or took up space) in various boarding rooms, apartments, condos, and houses. If space was an issue, sometimes under my bed or in various offices upstairs and down, in storage boxes, and on a bookshelf nestled inside a storage closet for relatively easy access. As my Encyclopedia Britannica began to age, some of the numbers and letters on the spine became too faint to see, so I used white-out. I know, tacky.
Recently, our second child graduated from secondary school, so after removing various school-related boxes out of the way, voilà, a space became available that I thought would be just perfect—perfectly suitable for my Encyclopedia Britannica.
Now all I had to do was convince my wife that these fifty-year-old encyclopedias that I hardly touch these days deserve a fitting location in honor of my mother who passed away in 2019. Thankfully (perhaps reluctantly on her part), she agreed. For how long, I don’t know. For now, they are in place in time for Mother’s Day—for the mother who presented me that set of Encyclopedia Britannica when I was just a kid, obviously going places. Thank you for investing in my future as a writer.
—Borneo Expat Writer
