Sounds like a great bargain. A bunch of people I don’t know and can’t even imagine, who no doubt will have other things on their minds, will find an ancient book on matters that have long been forgotten, written in a language nobody any more knows how to read ­ if anybody knows how to read at all in the year 3000.

In a doorstoop on Sarphatistraat, beyond the curve of the Prinsengracht and two short blocks from the Amstel, a young man bellows.