Rock Island daily Argus., 1888-10-19
OARELESStH HANDLING.
SOME OF THE TRIALS TO WHICH
BOOKSELLERS ARE SUBJECTED.

Wares Ruined by the Customer Who Ex-
amines but Docs Not Buy-women More
Careless Than Men--Damage Done ON q
Rainy Day.
Hardly anything else offered at the stores
is so delicate as fine books, or shows so
quickly the effects of careless hand 1t
may be, but rarely is, the hand of true
book lover, who has an appreciation of the
substance but little feeling for the form. He
should choose the second hand book stores as
the field of his exertions, of the 'librariesn of
the cheap publishers More often, 1t must be
confessed, it is feminine touch which
rumples the thick leaves, blurs the engrav-
ings, or cracks open the back If there's no
help for it, why won't the dear creatures
coniine their caresses to the elegantly bound
checker boards, with History of England
on the back or the elaborate plush and gold
prayer books that won't opens Then the
bookseller would be left in far more spiri-
tual frame of mind, and the ladies would be
just as well off.
All this, of course, is on the suppositiop
that it is the booksellers books that are sub
jected to hard usage; if they are ones personal
property, he may abuse them with impunity
and no one may object, save on general
principles-one can't forever stand on the
formality of first acquaintance, says An
drew Lang in a recent Fortnightly Review
HELD OVER THE FIRE
81 remember, before the publication of a
novel now celebrated, seeing O privately
printed vellum bound copy of it on large pa
per In the hands of a literary lady She was
holding 1t over the fire, and had already
made the vellum covers curl wide open like
the shells of an afflicted oyster 1t is book
which a poor man has written, she ex-
planned, and he's had it printed to see
whether some one won't be kind enough to
publish it l ventured perhaps pedan-
tically, to point out that the poor man could
not be so very poor or he would not have
made so costly an experiment on Dutch pa
per. But the lady said she did not know
how that might be, and she went on toasting
the experiment. In all this there is fine
contempt for everything but the spiritual as
pect of literature: there is an aversion to the
mere coquetry and display of morocco and
red letters, and the toys which amuse the
minds of men,
A certain book seller who is noted for his
courtesy observes that there is no compari-
son between the way men treat his books and
the way of the women Few men, compare
lively, examine his stock, and for the most
part they are men who know. That the men
appreciate the value nj his books, while the
women depreciate ii, was his little mot
" bile such woman as Andrew Lang de-
scribes may be found now and then, her
class is small But who can number the host
of women who look on books in the light of
household furnishings, and adopt the same
means of ascertaining their value that they
would in examining silk draperiesl From
such standpoint, asked to guess the value
of fine book, she is morally sure to estimate
| il not more than half
on A RAINY DAY.
Our friend the bookseller said that about q
year ago he received over hundred fine
heliotypes from Boston publisher, which he
| exposed for sale. All day they stood there,
the admiration OF nearly every woman that
entered his store, and at night they looked
very little like the beautiful prints of a few
| hours before. They were crumpled and
soiied, and one or two We're torn, and, that
| nothing might be lacking TO complete their
ruin, each had mysterious, small purple
stains all along the margins. The day had
been rainy, and these tell tale marks were
the prints of the wet black kid gloves of his
customers He says also that it is not un-
common for women to come into his store
out OF snow storm, lay down their wet
uluffs and umbrellas on his beautiful and
nTSrly- lphl-c ruha go,
cient to take dollars cut of their value, and
sweetly turn their attention to something
| else. At such times the poor bookseller hur-
! rieS to the rescue with fear and trembling
| lest he shall displease his customer, and as
| politely as possible removes the wet articles
/ from his books.
''What do you do" he was asked, sswhen
| your customers succeed in suoiling q fine
book! Do you call their attention TO the
fact and tell them you expect them to make
good the lossT' Never he replied, as il
shocked at the suggestion. They would
never come into my store again. They very
rarely notice the damage they have done,
and if, as the extreme of good breeding, they
offered an apology, We have to tell them its
all right, When they 60 away we remove
the book; it can never be sold except as sec,
ond hand What Spartan self restraint
How any ordinary man would scream il
| agony; Dear madam, don't you see what
you have done7 Look at that!n and as the
wise man said, she would undoubtedly
straightway gather up her damp mittens and
damper muff and wet umbrella, and the
whole catalogue of her soppy bundles, anG
| march out in high dudgeon, never to return
He is right. 1t would never do.-SpringfelC
Republican.