Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-05

not a small consideration, but big
one. This consideration comes before
that of the jacket, or paper cover, which
mainly serves to keep the real cover
clean, and to call attention of the pub
lie to the book as it lies in the book
store. For this reason the paper cover
is best removed when one takes a book
home. The real cover is beneath.
Even very cheap books often have
surprisingly appropriate covers. with
cloth, type. color and printing in har-
mony. Red, blue and green are the
most popular colors for bindings, al
though practically every other color OF
the spectrum has been used. Here is a
work of reference in a serious medium
blue buckram, here thin volume OF
poetry in lighter shade of blue, here
a book on cats in cloth of greenish-
blue, resembling a cats eye; here a
book on Emerson In very dark green,
almost black, binding; here a work on
synonyms and antonymS in very dark
wine, here a garden book in a Spring
like green, here an abridgement OF the
oxford dictionary in bright red here
Pope in pea green and Shakespeare in
maroon.
These subtle differences in bindings
constitute one of the greatest charm Of
books as things. In the main they are
appropriate, and the combination Of
several. no matter what works they may
be, gives def touch Of color to the
home which can be secured in no other
way. Some ambitious home owners,
carried away by the advent of interior
decoration" are inclined to buy only
books in red bindings, to "go" with
some other motif of living room decora-
ton, but this is mistake which no
real interior decorator makes. She
usually 1t Is she-nay make use of
some dominating set of books, particu-
larly if in leather, but she knows that
nothing is quite so effective as the hap
hazard grouping of the books which one
may purchase in the course of everyday
reading. This presupposes, of course,
that one reads.
Beneath the ultra modernistic jackets
which publishers are putting upon their
books the booklover finds old-fashioned
moderation. The finest of the new biog-
raphies are bound in distinctive but
rich covers, and the same holds true Of
most fiction. When a binding is
"f1ashy" it generally Is colorful for a
purpose. These latter volumes supply
the 1ighlights, as it were, to the book
shelves. Mostly the quieter colors pre-
dominate, SO that the grand result is
one of genuine blending, a happy result
secured without thought simply through
selection and purchase.
A case of books is always pleasing
sight to one who loves books, not only
because he recognizes the hours of
pleasant recreation, interest and pos
Sible instruction which lie there, but
also partly because his booklover's
sense is appealed to. These are books!
These are books as they come from the
publisher, with all the romance of the
presses in them. Here is an old volume
bound many years ago in black leather
which yet holds its own against time
and weather and man. Here is snappy
little publication in light blue and white,
fit binding for the slight though en-
tertaining content. Here are some sub
scription books" of the post-Civil War
period, with their bright bindings and
steel engravings-turn to one OF the
latter and see the shells gracefully trac-
ing trajectories in the sky over Vicks-
burg. Put these books into leather and
something Is lost; something may be
gained, but we submit that a great deal
will be lost. Uniformity of binding
makes prisoners or orphans out OF books,
and books are neither one nor the other,
but free men, some dapper, some shah
by. but each and every one as its maker