ETYMOLOGY
(SUPPLIED BY A LATE CONSUMPTIVE USHER
TO A GRAMMAR SCHOOL)
The pale Usher-threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I
see him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars,
with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay
flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old
grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.
Melville, Herman. (1930). Moby Dick, or, The whale. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. The Modern Library. R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company.
Rockwell Kent was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_Kent
#Etymology. Usually appears at the end of Moby Dick, before #Extracts (supplied by a sub-sub-Librarian). In a 1930 Modern Library ed. (illustrated by Rockwell Kent) it appears at the start inc. an illustration.
"He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality."