Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-04-24
Moving Books.

The breaking up of library is the taking to
pieces OF an organized thing, 1t is dissection,
almost vivisect1on. The library as library for
the time being ceases to exist and In place of il
we have nothing but heaps, bundles Or boxes
full OF books. The ordered and disciplined ar
ray OF a well bound literary army has been ex-
changed for confusion, disorder and almost mu-
tiny. The picked corps in russia and morocco,
the inferior forces in calf, have all been broken
up; their compact and SERTED ranks, regular and
imposing as the spears or Macedonian phalanX.
are dissolved into demoralized and crestfallen
mob OF scattered yolumeS-a rout sauve uui
peut OF the biblical host. The Owner of the host
sits amid ruins more penSive than MartuS amid
the runs OF Carthage for he has two reflections
which the great cohSul had not; he Is most likely
the cause OF the ruin himself, having brought it
about by change Of residence; secondly he knows
mat ne VIII have 10 re edtfy the building which
has Dt en- destroy ed, to evolve a new cosmos out
OF the chaos before him, and he must be very
buoyant or very inexperienced If he is not de-
pressed. But, before we come to the recOnstr,lc-
ton OF a library, its packing and TRANSPORT de-
serve a few words. We never get a fair idea of
the physical bulk OF books TIL we take them
from their shelves and begin TO pack them UP;
we then also realize their enormous weight.
How are they to be transferred when their num-
Der and the distance they have to 90 are both
considerable? Carpenters can, no doubt, make
packing cases; but this is not only somewhat
costly, but the article supplied is generally need
lesSly bulky and heavy, and the cases after the
removal are at once useless and intOiera BILE lum-
Der. The trade; which very likely knows the
pest thing TO be done, uses discharged tea
chests, and perhaps there is nothing better at
tainable. The tea chest has much TO recon-
mend 1t as means Tor carrying books. 1t is
made OF very thin but very tough wood such as
no native carpenter could turn out. On the
other hand. it is apt to present vicious nails.
which lacerate backs and bindings and inflict
CHASTITY wounds On margins and leaves and it
generally lacks cover, which has to oe sup
pied OF brittle and 1ltnsy deal. Still. the de
mand for Old tea chests proves that UP to the
present time they have no rival in the transport
mn 1rrDg iS n If
cure them.
But, painful as may be the dismantling OF a
library, 1t is nothing TO its reconstruction.
When books in large numbers have arrived ar
their new home, we realize the task before us or
putting them up. We may have brought book
cases from the old house; but ten to one they
they do, in what admired disorder are our
treasures presented to US! Folios and pocket
editions side by side, quartos and octavos in
adulterous and forbidden conjunction. How
ever, they must be got out and up somehow,
or the house is not habitable, and then you
are made aware Of the tyranny OF possession
which books can display, That Plautus, which
you put on shelf merely because he was an
octave and you happened to have come upon a
run Of OctavOS, and you must lind a lodging for
him somewhere, has no right to be there where
he Is he is cheek BY JoWl with Kant and
place among the Latin classics or the drama
lists, II you classify by subjects. Yet, unless
you are eo. one OF those oyernowerlngly ener
chances are he will maintain his position against
you for a long while. You can easily pull him
out, doubtless; but where is he to 90? Your
classical shelf Is chokefull, and as for the dra-
matte shelf, Dyce's Shakespeare and recent
curiosity about the Spanish drama have made
it hopeless to seek refuge there. Another trial
awaits the bibliophile who has yielded to the
too tempting attractions Of small chickering's.
IDIOTS, or even of the Bibliotheque Elzevir1enne
These gems OF Typography are the vermin OF
libraries The tiny, imp0nderable tones easily
vphi fhnir hoo -iar 81
leagues submit to. On an ordinary shelf they
are lost. And then where Is one to put them?
The natural impulse is to send them up to the
upper shelves, to the attics of the book mansion
Where books in daily use are lodged. And yet
up aloft there they are out OF sight, and their
minute beauties are wasted and disfigured by
dust and cobwGbs. Perhaps the best plan is to
have them, like any other curlosties, In a cabi-
Det or on the table, II the latter can be kept free
from new publica t1olS.-Fau Nal Gazette.