Mister Brundish lived alone in the oldest housein Hardborough. He didn't particularly...

NARRATOR:
Mister Brundish lived alone in the oldest house
in Hardborough. He didn't particularly like
his own company, but after long years of battle he had reached
a lasting truce with himself. He adored books
with the same passion with which he detested
his fellow men. He often cherished the fantasy that the volumes he devoured
from morning to night hadn't been written by
human beings, but had appeared
through spontaneous generation. There was nothing
that bothered him more than the portraits of writers often included
in certain editions