The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1894-08-03


.sBookvorms- and Their Ravases-
.To be strong backed and neat
bound. . says Charles Lamb, is the de-
sideratum Of d volume. Magnifcence
comes after. In spite, however, OF this
axiom Of the gentle Ella not a few Of
this well thumbed, torn and dogs cared
fgyorises turned their backs to the spec
tatoy, coverless. Upon a goodly row OF
encyclopedias and books which are no
books the Jealous essayist burst forth:
81 confess that it moves my spleen 70
see these things in books clothing
perched upon shelves. like false saints,
usurpers of true shrines, intruders into
the sanctuary, = = set out IN an ar
ray Of Russia or Marocco, when tithe
Of that good leather would comfortably
reclothe my shivering folios, would
renOyate Paracelsus himself and en-
able old Raymund Lully 70 look like
himself in the world. ! never see these
impostors but ] long to strip them to
warm my ragged veterans in their
spoils. /"
OF cnrics in the way Of binding there
exist in England several examples. In
the Exeter museum there is to be found
volume bound in the skin Of George
CudmUre, who was executed In 1880 for
poisoning his wife In the libraTy Of
Bury ut. Edmunds there is life Of
Cordar, 2 a murderer, bound in piece
Of his own skin. In the library Of Mex
borough House there were formerly two
books bound in the skin Of Mary Bate
man, the Yorkshire witch who was
hanged early in this century
In 1891 man named Norwood SUI
fered the extreme penalty for the muir
der Of girl, and the following trades
mans account Of q book in the infrmaEy
library explains itself:
Bristol, june, 1898 Richard
Smith, Esq, DE-. to Il. r. Essex To
binding in the skin of John Norwood a
variety Of papers relating to him, 81
los, the same being lattered in Latin on
each side Of the book The True Skin Of
John Norwood n"
Whether the skins Of hardened Grim
inals are more easily curried and dressed
than those Of ordinary mortals must
confess am unable to Judge.
1t was at q dinner party that Thomas
Carlyle gave vent to his opinion as to
binding books with human skins The
dyspeptic sage had so far sat in morost
silence An unpleasant feeling hung
over the party, many Of whom had hsen
specially invited to hear his erratiC
views A genial old gentleman was EN-
deavoring to infuse q little warmth into
the assemblage by playfully ramarkinG
to q young political enthusiast who sal
beside him. 1.-The British people can af
ford to laugh at theories "
This remark woke up Carlyle, anl
speaking for the first and only time
during the evening he observed in hi
usual III bred way: ''Sir, the Frenci
nobility Of 100 years ago said they conit
afford to laugh at theories Then cam
man who wrote book called .Thi
Social Contract. The man was callei
Jean jacques Rousseau, and his bOol
was theory and nothing but a theory
The mobiles could laugh at this theory
but their skins went to bind the seeonl
edition Of this book. =
It's q matter Of fact that during Til
horrors Of the French revolution tanner
les were established in various parts Q
France where the skins Of tine victims Q
the guill0tine were tanned, and many c
these were used to bind books on accoun
Of the fine grained surface exhibited aft
er being curried
At the Chicago exhibition one Of tn
curious exhibits was pack Of playinI
cards which had been manufacture
from the skin Of some captured Indians
Iremember to have seen ct an old curl
osity shop on New Oxford street Only
few years ago a piece Of hard, dry
t0ngh, leathery skin, which, ! was as
Bnred, was the tanned hide Of a Maori
The tattoo marks were plainly visibl
on its surface, and onexamining it wit
a powerful glass the grain Of the huma
skin was clearly shown
In speaking of the binding Of book
one cannot refrain from alluding in pass
ing to the enemies Of books-enemie
that usually make their depreciation
upon bindings These insects, popularl
known as bo0kworins, are found in pa
per, leather and parchment The larvs
Of Crambus pinguinalis will establis
themselves upon the binding Of bOol
and spinning robe will do il little il
jury. A mite-Acarus eruditus-ea
the paste that fastens the paper over ID
edges Of the binding and 50 loosens i
The caterpillar Of another little mot
takes its station in damp, old books b.
tween the leaves and there commit
great ravages. Burns has addressed
these bOokworms an epigam which b
trays the cynical humor Of the poet:
Through and through the inspired leaves
Fe magg0is make your windings;
But, Oh. respect his iordship's taste
And spare bis golden bindings
The little boring wood beetle will al!
attack books and has been known
penetrate through several volumes. 4
instance is mentioned Of 81 folio volnm'
being perforated in straight line |
- - ;..nn..A 4, c-r,..L ! .a,r,,,t,,. fh.