Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-12
Gossip from the World ct
nooks-Rsvisw Of Now
Books Authors Plans
for The season-Notss.

xnect much of him. She wOuid no.
take anv" on the maid of Astoiat'
he fair Elaine, who spent her time III
,olishing the Shield of Lancelot' anu
Who finally died of love for that mos.
immortal but fascinating knignt
he Round Table. No, she wouiun
,oiish a. shield, you bet! she wou'"
make Lancelot polish it himself LOT an
10 WAS worth, and polish her own "e".
title boots and shoes for her INTO l"o
That is one Of her secre's"
ma sterfulness-Or, let us say, queeii
ISIS. which sounds better. Inc LII"
Creation can do nothing In the wa!
ladyering her about,-because, as inc
him ancreation she expects TO ofoci
and she does!
1t Is aEwa,
Tx. Chestertor,easant to hear Mr.. G.
He performs SO cracking comments
we forget to ask ourly that sometimes
The says is truth or mes whether "iia.
lis a mixture of both. as 'pse-perhaps II
concerning a book whose Raese remarks
ter of Indifference. Is ni"'
The public does not like
cause it is bad; neither. strictly !. po
ing. does it like a book because it
good. 1t likes a book first of all fol
the same reason that children like book
because it is book; which is very pro
found and sensible reason. 1t is in thcil
own excellent language, something t.
Tread" grand and awful idea. Long be
fore we regard a printed book as the We
hicle of truth or falsehoOd, of art or its
opposite, we ought to regard it as a mi
lraculous human invention. like a plough
or pedometer Secondly, people demand
as the mood takes them books of particu
lar type or class, and. having demanded
these, quite rightly will have no other
If they are wanting war songs. it is nc
good offering them triolets. Why should
it be: If people go into shop and ask
for umbrellas, they are not expected tC
be satisfied with parasOlS. People in d
warlike mood refer bad war songs tC
| good triolets and no war songs, and
quite right, too; similarly. people who
| have to go out in the rain prefer bad
| umbrellas to none. But they would pre-
fer good umbrellas if they could get them
In the same way the public, demanding
optimism, for example. prefer the bad op-
timism of the penny novelette, to the good
pessimism of Mr. w. B. Yeats. But they
preferred Dickens to either.
| New York Times: 1t is pleasant to no.
| tice that one of our readers has compiled
| a long list of objections to books with
| deckcl edges and uncut leaves. Every
| charge he made against them was fully
| supported by fact. and we who have often
presented every count in his indictment,
would be the last to find fault with it
any fault but one. that is.
| The fault we do find is that he did not
consider his collected facts long enough
and therefore was obliged to ask for an
| explanation of the continued production
| of expensive books which inf1ict constant
annoyance upon everybody who really
tries to read them-books that cannot
even be allowed to remain quietly on their
shelves, without falling into premature
ruin. There is no mystery about it. The
publishers. quite properly, make books in
. the way they think most likely to please
| a majority of the buyers to whom the
books are most likely to appeal.
Among the majority there is vague
knowledge that booklovers prefer books
| with wide margins. and therefore, they,
too. affect a preference for such books
| ana are Wiling 10 pay an extra price LOT
| them. The curious feature of the case
| is the fact that the preference of the
| boolSlovers is well founded. while that of
| their imtators is an absurdity, not to say
a vulgarty. The collector wants his
margins wider than margins should be
simply because he values the privilege
of putting his books in new binding
| according to his own taste. and this can
| be more conveniently and better done
when the edges have never been cut.
But it is very different thing to leave
| uncut or deckel-it is usually an arti-
fetal. deliberately produced deckel-the
| leaves of book that has not one chance
| in thousand of ever getting another
| binding. The rule should be: Unbound
sheets or temporarily bound books. let
| the leaves alone; books that are not to
| be bound again, cut the leaves to proper
proportion with the type. Observance of
| that rule would conduce both to the con-
| venicnce and the profit of all. while the
violation of it is the cause of endless
| bother. Its enforcement. however, must
come from the purchasing public, and it
| is an utter waste of time to address sar-
castle questions to the publishers They
dear men, are in business and know their
| business, and as long as Il lot of people
| think that a book is the better for deckel
edges the demand will be fully supplied.