Wichita eagle., 1888-10-06
CARELESS HANDLING.
SOME OF TIE TRIALS TO WHICH
BOOKSELLERS ARE SUBJECTED.

SOME OF TIE TRIALS TO WHICH
BOOKSELLERS ARE SUBJECTED.
Wares Ruined 10y the Customer THO f.
arnines but Does Rot Isuy-Woss.ea More
Careless THIN sIsn-Damage Done or a
Rainy Day.
Hardly anything else offered at the stores
is SO delicate as fine books, or shows so
quickly the effects Of q careless hand 1t
may be, but rarely is, the hand of a true
book lover, who has al appreciation of the
substance but little feeling for the form. He
should choose the second hand book stores as
the ield of his exerIions, Of the libraries of
sac cheap publishers More often, it must DO
confessed, it is a feminine touch which
rumples the thick leaves, blurs the engrav-
iags, or cracks open the back. If there's no
help for it, why won't the dear creatures
confinc their caresses to tine elegantly bound
checker boards, with History Of England"
on the back, OF the elaborate plush and gold
prayer books that won't open2 Then the
bookseller would be left in far more spiri-
tuaI frame of mind, and the ladies would be
just as wei OF.
All this, of course, is on the superstition
that it Is the booksellers books that are sub
jected 10 hard usage; if they are ones personal
property, he may abuse them with IMMUNITY
and 10 one may object, save on general
principles-one can't forever stand on tho
forTaality of first acq iaintance, says An
drew Lang in recent Fortnightly Review
HELD OVER THE FIRE.
q remember. before The publication of
novel now celebrated, seeing privately
printed vellum bound COPY Of it on large pa
per in the hands of . literary lady. She was
holding 1t over the f-e. and had already
made the velUn covers curl wide open like
the shells of an afflicted oyster 1t is Il book
which a poor man has written, sho ex-
planned, and mes haG i printed TO see
whether some one won't he kind enough to
publish it | venIUred, perhaps pedan-
ticallyi to point out that the poor man could
Lot DO so very poor or be would not have
made 80 costly an experiment. on Dutch pa
Der. But the lady said she did not know
how that might be, and sac went On toasting
the experiment. III all this there is fine
contempt for everything but the spiritual as
pect of literature: ehere IS an aversion 70 the
mere coquetry and display Of morocco and
red letters, and the toys which alnuSe the
minds of men"
A certain book seIiel' who is noted for his
courtesy observes taaJ there IS 10 compari-
s,n between the way men treat his books and
TIE way Of the women Few men, compare
lively, examine his stock, and for the most
part they are men who know. hat the men
appreciate the value OF his books, while the
women deprecate 1t, was his little mot
While such q woman is Andrew Lang de-
scribes y ay be fond 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 ascerta.n ming their value that they
would in examining SIX draperles: From
such a standpoint, asked to guess the value
OF a fine book, she IS morally sure to estimate
il not more th2n af.
OK ! RAINY DAY.
Our friend the bookseller said that about
year ego he recei we'd over hundred fine
heliotvpes from a E;oston publisher, which be
exposed for sale. All day they stood there,
the admiration of 1iaarly every woman that
entered his store, nd at night they looked
very little ike the 1eantiful prints of a few
hours before Tho were crun4pled and
soiled, and one or NO were torn, and, that
nothing might be Ia cking to complete their
ruin, each had my -sterious, small purple
i
been rainy, and the. e tell tale marks were
tue prints of the wet, black Ind gloves Of his
customers. He SAYS also that IL Is not I'M
common for women 10 como into his store
out Of snow stcrpl, lay down their wet
,7uTs and umbrellas on his beautiful and
costly books, where a few seconds are sufF-
Gent to take dollars olty OF their value, and
sueotIy turn their attention to something
else At such times The poor bookseller hur-
ries to the rescue W Ia fear and trembling
lest he shall displease his customer, and as
roltteIv as possible removes the wet articles
from his books
..IVhat do YOU do.n he vas asked, "when
your customers succeed in spelling q fine
book! Do YOU call their attention to Che
fact and tell them yea expect them to make
good the loss;7 ~ ever" he replied, as #
shocked at the suE gosoion- They would
never come into my tore again. They very
rarely notice the ca mage they have done,
and il, as the extreme OF e9od breeding, they
offered an apology, we have TO tell them it's
all right VI hen they 50 away we remove
the booS; it can new er be sold except as seq
ond hand" What Spartan self restraint
How any ordinary man would scream III
agony: Dear madam, don't you see what
Won have donel Look at that!" and as the
wise man said, she would undoubtedly
straighsway gather up her damp nnittens and
dampsr muff and yet umbrella. and uha
whole catalogue of her soppy bundles. AMI
march out in high dUIigeon, never to rerurni
He is right 1t would never do.-Spring1 ield
Republican.