Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-28

His favorite book clerk looking I'M
usually well and smiling brightly, held
the small volume up to her nose.
Il like it," she said because 1t smells
SO nice and leathery"
There spoke the mind and heart OF
! the true booklover.
Books are something other than just
to read
Books are things
They are creations of the mind and
hand of man, that is why the type Is
not all there is to any good book.
The far reaches of the liking for books
as Things belong to the collector OF
rare editions, but the average bookloVer
may know some part of it. He may
appreciate any book for what it Is.
Such appreciation is none too usual
among human beings in relation to
other human beings that is why there
is always need to point 1t out concern
ing books.
Too many persons fail to give the
Devil his due" because there is some
thing about the Devil they do not like.
Not liking, they brand him as total
loss. when possibly the Devil has some
very splendid traits in his makeup
Perseverance, for instance.
The Devil has been trying to wreck
hasn't given up trying yet according
to man we heard under a big tent
not so many years ago.
No doubt both are still at 1t.
X x
A book may be a fine book, as a book
without in any sense being either rare
or expensive The volume whose 'leath-
cry" smell pleased the book clerk was
done in two tones of notified blue, with
pale blue on the edges, printed on thin
but Opaque paper by an English press.
A book bound in leather ought to
smell like leather, so much almost any
one will admit. but every one knows that
often enough the genuine tang of the
calf is lacking In the book mentioned
it was very present, indeed--so much
so that the clerk. with an appreciation
tor books born long before she ever
sold one, liked it instinctively because
of its odor
Being a little poetry book, of the type
Sneered at upon occasion by those who
pride themselves upon being "he-men"
of the ultra-rough type, this particular
volume was distinctly we'll done in its
peculiar notified blue. Such cover,
for any other type, would be somewhat
out of keeping.
It is this eternal fitness of cover,
content and type, along with paper ana
the makeup of the book as a whole,
that constitutes one of the pleasures of
books. He who owns a book only for
what he can get out of 1t does not get
all he can out of 1t.
There are as many kinds of books as
men. There are big books for big
thoughts, and little books for little
thoughts; at the same time there are
small volumes for great thoughts and
huge tones for utter nonsense.
We saw a collection of Sentence-say
ings of a great writer that we'll might
have been printed in so pages, or not
more than 100 at the most. strung out
to 800 pages by the simple device OF
printing. one saying to one page.
And they were large pages. too. What
was done with the remainder OF the
page? This was solved in an equally
simple manner Above each sentence
was placed vignette, or conventional
design composed OF scrolled tracery;
below each was a tailpiece Of like
tracery.
Thus the saying appeared 10 the as
tute beholder as a sort of proverbial
sandwich. set between thick slabs of
design. You could not read the writing
for the scrolls. After one had turned