Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1895-05-28
PULP PAPER IN BOOKS.
Wears Very Badly and Is UDsat-
isfactory to Librarians.
The Leaves become Brittle, and In .
Few Years the Volume Is Worth
less-American Pulp Paper IL
Superior to Others.


causing a great deal of trouble to
librarians, says the Cincinnati
Times-Star They find that books
printed on pulp paper have not as
long period of existence as those OF
former times. If the book is much
used it soon assumes a "dog-eared"
appearance and its ordinary life Is
but year or two. If it is but rarely
read the heat of the library seems to
act upon the leaves, rendering them
brittle, and in few years rendering
the volume worthless.
II find the most trouble with the
German books" said Librarian
Whelpley, of the public library, the
other day. Nearly all of the books
secured by US from Germany are
printed on pulp paper, and they
don't last as long as the books Of the
olden time. They first commence to
get brittle on the edges. The reader
uncousciously tears away part of
the broken edge of leaf and before
many months new volume looks as
II it had been in circulalation as
many years as 1t has months. The
German manufacturers of pulp paper
do not seem to be able to make as
good a grade of paper as the English
and American manufacturers. Prob
ably the American pulp paper is su-
perior to that manufactured in any
other country. Our manufacturers
seemed to have acquired a degree of
perfection in their articles that none
of the others approach in any de-
gree. They use more clay in the
manufacture of the paper than the
others do, and that renders their
heavier
but even at the best the life of a
pulp-paper book is not long one.
A man beginning as boy a collec-
ton of them would probably find,
when he reached three-score and
ten, that his earlier collection had
been seriously injured by age, and
that the pages were so brittle that
they could not be handled without
breaking. / can cite one case of
book printed on English pulp paper
in this respect. 1t was a copy of
Matthew Henry's commentary on
the Bible. 1t had been in the library
thirty years or so and but rarely
called for. At the end of that time,
while being examined, some thirty
pages broke off in the hand like
finder, so brittle had they become.
Librarians have great deal to
contend with in prolonging the ex-
istence of book" continued Mr.,
Whelpley, that the uninitiated do |
not dream of. There is always a
certain amount of heat In library,
which has a damaging influence on
the paper in books and their binding.
It is hard to believe, but 1t Is fact
that since the introduction of cleo
trio lighting in Che library we find
the life of our books prolonged. This
Is because the electric lights give out
out little heat and no gases. The
excessive heat of gas lights and the
gases they throw off after combus-
ion did sad damage to our books
and their bindings. Speaking of
they are source of anx-
ETY. to librarians. The best Of leath-
sr bindings will rot in time. Cloth
bindings are the best for private
Libraries, for they keep forever if the
book is not too much handled. But
hey have their disadvantages. They
ire of no use on bulky volumes and
n public Libraries they wear out too
quickly. All of the editions de luxe
ire printed on English linen paper,
because publishers know that they
would not have a life Of many years
printed on pulp paper"