I was going to call Cordwainer Smith a master of the prettiest science fiction wordcraft after Bradbury and Wyndham, but I see another commenter already got part of the way there ahead of me :-) Still, it's true!

Some years ago, an olde-tyme sci-fi editor-publisher sent me a hardcover of The Rediscovery of Man collection as a thankyou for favours rendered. Back in '07 I was railroaded into lending it to the slimy cellardweller brother of a Necessity Friend. Guess who has never given it back and claims to have lost it? Graaah.