The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-26
H;nt4 For tha library.

/
| tempted to take them down for them
selves and have try at their contents.
/ These books within child 5 reach need
not be Juveniles, and, indeed, h;td
better not be. They ought to be tray
els and biographies, brightly written
and full of pictures. Especially should
the file of Hagper's Magazine or. the
| Century stand where the young ones
may readily get at it. On the other
| hand, books which children should not
| handle should not be within reach OF
| their hands. Lead not the little ones
| into temptation. Lock up your Rlbel-
ais, and perhaps even your Fielding.
| where little fingers may not happen on
| them Put the Elizabethan dramatists
and the comic writers of the Restoration
where no Paul Psy, Jr., or his sister,
| may chance to spy them. Out OF sight
out of mind
All books need, air The doors of all
closed bookcases should be opened now
and then, every few days, to let in
light, and to change thea air. Books are
no more benefited by solitary confine-
ment than are men. All books get
dusty. Every shelf should be cleaned
out once in six months, every book
being busted and returned to its place.
HC 0CSb utiStCl III Hin - a Oib
of soft channels leather.
Every book should carry its own his
tory. 1t is well to note the price paid
for it, the place where it was bought,
and the date when it was purchased.
This can best be done with a hard pen
ell in a corner of the back fly leaf If
bought ut auction, note also the number
it bore in the sale catalogue. When a
hundred books are gathered together.
then ought there to be catalogue.
The simplest form of catalogue IS a
little pocket address book with a mar
ginal alphabetical index, in which are
put down the titles of the books under
the name of the author. For small col
lections this will serve. 1t is best, how
ever. to enter every book at least twice,
once under the title and again under the
authors name. If you have more than
200 or 800 books, don't attempt to cat
alogua them before you have learned
how to do it. ! Challenging is not as
easy as it looks at first sight.
Never cut open the pages of book or
a magazine with anything but a paper
cutter, A finger is too blunt, and tears
/ the edges A knife is too sharp, and
may cut the edges unequally. The best
paper-cutter is n thin slip of ivory
Wood and bone are nearly as good.
Metal is not
Never deface books in any way.
Never scribble on them needlessly.
Never disfigufe them with unnecessary
stamps, or with stamps in inappropriate
places. A good book is a good friend,
and should be treated with the respect
due to a friend.
Never wet your fingers to turn over
leaf. Be warned by the fate of the
King in4the Arabian tale. Never turn
down corner of n page to hold your
place. Never put in a soiled playing
card or a stained envelope, or a bit of
dirtF string. o. piece OF damp news
paper. Always use Il regular book
mark. The simplest and one OF the best,
IS card as large as n small visiting
card By cutting this twice lcngitudin-
ally from one emf almost TO the other,
Won will have a thrcc-Icgged book-mark
which rides a-straddle OF the page, one
lee on the page below and two on the
page YOU wish the book to open at.
Never allow your books to get damp,
As they may mildew. Never allow
them 10 get hot, as the boards may
warp and the leather may crack. Never
put them on shelf high up near the
ceiling OF room lighted by gas, as the
results of Gas combustion are highly in
furious Never put books with metal
clasps or with embossed sides, or al
buns ornamanted with decorative nails,
on the shelves, by the side of other
books, for the delicate bindings of the
other books viii suffer. Put all such
hedye.tog5 qf books IN drawers or trays
by t1fegsa E..iges.
Never let books lean sideways for
lonr ira "a it racks the covers. If the
Alison - nf one ~ more books from a
shelf maze ii d,fi.ult to keep the re-
naming volumes upright, insert
wooden block in the place of the mis-
sing books. Ii is well toshave a supply
of ash or walnut blocks resembling in
size and shape an octave volume. Ii
these are at hand, one of them can be
substituted for any book taken down,
whether for study or TO lend, A little
slip of silieated paper glued on one side
of this block would enable record to
be kept of the date when the book was
taken away, and of the purpose. When
there are only few books on a shelf,
the best block to cause these to stand
upright is made by saving diagonally
in half cube of wood six inches every
way.
II ia best not to cover the books of a
library with paper. As Mr.. William
F. Poole puts in. ''the covering is ex-
pensive, troublesome, and quite as
much an injury as a protection to a
book. A book covered with paper is
likely to need rebinding sooner than if
it be not covered. A room full of books
covered with paper is dull and monot-
onous; and no one who has ever glanc-
ed into such room will be inclined to
disagree with Mr.. Pool when he says
that ''books lose their individuality by
being covered" This is not only an
esthetic disadvantage: it also reduces
the usefulness of the books, as they are
less easily handled and kept apart and
in order However, it may be well to
cover ehildren's school-books, but with
muslin not with paper.
Never attempt to classify books on
your shelves by colors of the bindings
or by the sizes of the books themselves.
Put the works of an author together, as
far as possible, however incongrous
their sizes may be. And try to keep
books on the same and kindred subjects
as close together as may be convenient.
Never leave books or pamphlets out
of sight in drawers for long time,
without examination to see that the
mice have not made nest in the draw
er out of the margins of the books.
Enpland,S wealthiest barOnet is said |