The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-05-04
Hints For tha Library.

tempted to take them down for them
selves and have try at their contents.
These books within child's reach need
not be Juveniles and, indeed, had
better not be. They ought to he trav-
els and biographies, brightly written
and full of pictures. Especially should
the file of Harper'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 Rabel-
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 Pry, 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 chln re the air. Books are
no more benefited by. solitary coniinc-
mcnt 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.
The best buster for fine bindings is bit
Of soft chamois leather.
Every book should carry its own his
tory. Ii is well to note the price paid
for it, the place where it was bought,
and the date when il was purchased.
This can best be done with n hard pen
Gil in corner of the back fly leaf. If
bought at auction, note also the number
il bore in the sale catalogue When u
hundred books are gathered together.
then ought there to he catalogue.
The simplest form of catalogue is a
little pocket address book with 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. Ii is best, how
ever. To enter every book at least twice,
once under the title and again under the
authors name. II you have more than
2oJ or 800 books, don't attempt to cat
alogue 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 a book or
u " II but q DdDCl~
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 a thin slip of ivory.
Wood and bone are nearly rs good.
Metal is not.
Never dcfacc books in any way.
Never scribble on them needlessly.
Never dsiigure them with unnecessary
stamps, or with stamps in inappropriate
places. A good book is good friend,
and should bc treated with the respect
due to friend.
Never wet your fingers to turn over
n leaf. BE warned by the fate of the
King in the Arabian tale. Never turn
down corner of page to hold your
place. Never put in soiled playing
card, or n stained envelope, or bit Of
dirty string, or piece OF damp news
paper. Always use regular book
mark. The simplest, and one of the best.
is card as large rs small visiting
card. BY cutting this twice longitudn-
ally from one end almost to the other,
You will have a threc-lcgged book-mark
which rides a-straddle OF the page, ono
leg on the page below and two on the
page you wish the book to open at.
Never allow your books to get damp,
rs they may mildew. Never allow
them to get hot, as the boards may
warp and the leather may crack. Never
put them on shelf high up near the
ceiling of Il room lighted by gas, as the
results of gas combustion are highly in
furious. Never put books with metal
n *, n
buns ornamented with decorative nails,
on the shelves. by the side of other
books, for the delicate bindings of the
Other books will suffer. Put all such
hadgchogS Of books in drawers or trays
by themselves.
Never let books lean sideways for q
lonr time rs it racks the covers. If the
absence of one or more books from q
shelf make; It dniirult to keep the re-
manning volumes upright, insert
wooden block in the place of the mis-
sing books. 1t is well to have Il 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 silicated paper glued on one side
of this block would enable q 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.
If is best not to cover the books of q
library with paper. As MIR. William
/. Poole puts in, '.the covering is eX-
pensive. troublesome. and quite as
book. A book covered with paper is
likely to need reminding 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 disadvantages: it also reduces
the usefulness of the books, as they are
less easily handled and kept apart and
in order. However, il may be well to
cover children'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
err out of the margins of the books.
A Patient Wife.