Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-07-15
OLD Books LAuNpEREp.

GuD1C ll1O1aIY rus 4nOu9AnO8 OK
Volumes In New Dress Yearly.
A large room on the first floor Of the
Chicago Public Library building re-
minds one Of a laundry with soiled
clothes at one end and washed and
ironed ones at the other. Two or three
long. wide tables are covered with
books, torn, frayed and dirty. Other
tables and rows of shelves are filed
with volumes just from the bindery, in
spick, span. new clothes. with black.
blue, green, purple, maroon, or red
backs; not as gaudy or as gilty as In
their original array, but far more
solid and substantial.
Last year 5000 volumes were re-
claimed and reclad, and this year 5000
will be. Most Of them are novels, an
occasional history or work on practical
arts feeling as lost in the tattered rank
Of fiction as pedigreed dog among
ours Of the pound. The original bind
ing seldom lasts more than six months.
But stout boards in place of cloth Is
substituted, and the leather backs in
stead Of cloth ones. The thread is
much stronger, and each token" or
cluster Of pages is sewed separately,
SO that the renovated book of this
grade and sort lasts four or five times
as long as it did in its original COW
ers. Each new book costs an average
OF IS cents, and its new suit 35 cents,
or, taking into account its longer en-
durance, about 9 cents.
The chief damage done is the tear
ing Of the leaves, the tearing of the
covers from the leaves, the soil, and.
the writing in them. The writing
mainly consists of comment upon the
book, either in praise or blame. Love
ly book" Fine story" "Be sure and
read it." isn't she just lovely?" Il
think Reginald is a splendid fellow"
"Just too fine for anything" Adverse
judgments are briefer and less ex-
plicit. Bum" and mo good" sums
it up.
These comments have all to be eras-
ed, which Is sometimes made impossi-
BILE by their being written in indeli-
BILE ink. Occasionally the character Of
the book provokes controversial in
scriptons. Books in favor of secession
excite emphatic protests from Union
readers. The history of Belle Boyd"
the spy, has been fearfully marked up
with frank opinions Of her secession
procliv1ies. Protestants and Catholics
also give vent to their sentiments in
regard to each others creed and con-
duct. So do those Of socialisdc or
anarchist1c beliefs, when the rare
chance Of their presence In fiction
offers. Frequently these voluntary
commentators are satisfied to draw a
line under the obnoxious text and set
question or Interrogation mark in
the margin. These expositions are gen.
orally in poor writing, bad spelling.
and bad English. Occasionally they
are bitter, and even profane.
Two or three damaged books are
kept as curiosities. One is a history,
by Senator Lodge of Massachusetts,.
1t was run over by the wheel Of a
street car and a hundred odd pages cut
sheer across diagonally. Another is
copy Of the United States Official
Register, from which some one while
in the library was able undetected to
cut over 400 pages containing the list
of postoflces and postmasters in the
United States, probably for a mailing
list. Many Of the books are badly
stained with the compound Of mud
and SCOT that overlays Chicago streets.
When a book has been defaced or
damaged, but Is not yet far gone
enough for rebinding, the one who
draws it from the library after the de-
fects have been seen, is protected by
stamped line reading: pages 145 to
153 of this book were cut out previous
to June Is, 1904" or whatever the date
may have been.
OF Dickens works David Copper
field" is most frequently rebought and
rebound; "Ivanhoe' of Scott's. OF the
more modern books Mark Twain's "In-
nocents Abroad" "Roughing IT," and
TON Sawyer; Churchill's Richard
Carver' and 1.-The Crisis" though ben
Hur" beats them all in the length Of
time during which it has been replaced
on the shelves. Sometimes the public
fools the library officials as it does the
publishers. OF the seventy-five copies
Of Kiplings kim" thirty five are on
the shelves as good as new, and there
are forty such Of Weir Mitchelrs
Hugh Wynne." The supply Of James
Lane Aliens Reign Of Law" likewise
exceeds the demand. The last supply
of David Harum"" is not yet exhaust
ed-Chicago Tribune.
Yankee Ideas in the East.