The Progress. [volume] (White Earth, Minn.) 1886-1889, 1889-03-16
RTH AGENCY, MINNESOTA, SATURDAY. MARCH l6 1889
MRS. sHoDDY.s LIBRARY. 4.
Sho Wants Gorgeous Findings and Volumes
Made to Fit Her shelves. IS

5ho Wants Gorgeous Bindings and Volumes
Made to Fit Her Shelves.
The shoddy family, says the Boston Herald,
purchase books because !" it is the thing TO-
o. Mr. Shoddy accosts the salesman With::s
g want some books - d
Well, sir; what books.' r. n 81
20, dunno. Give me some handsome
ones. / don't care what they cost. That's q.
fine lot over there; let's have dozen Of
'em.'' 81
Mrs, Shoddy's requirements are more ex-
acting. With her it is 6 a matter Of size d
above all things. Her book shelves are only
seven inches apart and immovable; she
must have something that fits = She buys
many books, but she never buys one that is
more than seven inches tall. She has no
use for a volume that exceeds that meas
surement. Hcr shelves contain half d dozen
sets each of Browning Ecunysens IS colt. aittss
put there to sill up, and to impress her
literary friends. It has never occurred to
her to change her bookcases for Others
having adjustable shelves, or If the thought
has come to her, she feels that it is not
worth putting into execution; therefore,.
though she has books IN plenty, they are
all OF size, and the assortment is limited.
The Ornate family buy books for the
splendor thereof. The poets, philosophers,
wits, novellsts OF the ages have no charms
for them if not dcclled out in brilliant leather
or cloth OF gold. The paper must be the
heaviest, the type the clearest, the illustra-
lions abundant, the characterization exceed
ing that Of the golden fligree work of
Zamara. Expense is the only considera-
ton, and the greater the expense the quick
no. To-
look between the covers Of their many
volumes nobody has yet caught them in the
act. They are the targets for the publisher
who is getting out IN edition de luxe. They
never buy book if it is cheap. Literature
IS to them thing with name, and nothing
more. They are Of no assistance to authors
the harvests they leave are cleaned by the
publishers alone. Rare books delight them
not, however expensive, unless It can be
said OF them: " Solomon, in all his glory,
was not arrayed like one OF these.'' They
are in high feather at holiday time, for cost.
~ volumes then abound Ignorant of chap
ter and verse, the Ornate family seek only
the tonnes that come in gorgeous dress.
It's one of the most difficult undertak-
ings to attempt to convince the ignorant
buyer that there is any virtue in the {. gilt
top' OF book. He will have it gilded top,
bottom and front, or not at all He regards
a"gilt top" as an imposition, a sham or "a
sly design for cheating his purse. s You
must think me greeny,'' he says, '.if
you suppose I'm to be taken in by any thing
OF that sort A little gliding won't deceive
me, sir. | don't buy book for that.'' Nor
for rough and uncut edges in the English
style can others be induced to part with
their dollars. Those jagged, uneven
things betray to them book half made.
They want their !" moneys WORTH Some
there are who deem wide margins waste
OF space and good paper, while others will
have nothing else.