Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-21

The futility of trying to keep UP
! with new books" Is best shown, we be-
lieve, by a consideration Of the plain
| fact that every book Is a new book-if
| you haven't read 1t.
It makes no difference to a reader
whether a book was printed yesterday
or today, so long as it is new to him.
The personal equation thus takes an
| important place-indeed, the foremost
poSition-in book discussions.
Writers, publishers, editions, all fall
behind the reader, for whom books are
written, for whom they are published
for whom editions are manufactured.
Without the so-called gentle reader
| there would be no writer's, no need for
publishers, no necessity for presses turn
ing out their beautifully printed sheets
All the ardor of men and women who
design covers and end papers, who labor
for fetching Jacket" who sweat
blood trying to write appealing "blurbs'
for the aforementioned Jackets, al
would be wasted on worse than the
desert air If there were not thousands
and hundreds of thousands of dear
readers in the ofing
For the reader, composite, erudite
the writer brings forth in the light OF
manuscript his brain children. For the
reader, gentle and otherwise, he makes
a neat, fair copy to send to the pub
Usher, with high hopes. For the reader
the publisher calls many conferences
listens to the advice of his professional
readers" suggests the changing of the
title, maybe, or demands the elimination
of certain paragraphs. or whole chap
tiers, even.
The dear reader seldom stops to think
of all this work which has been put
forth for his amusement and edifica-
ton. He pays his money and he takes
his choice, not exactly in the same
fashion as he orders a ton of coal, but
something along the same order. Just
as he seldom stops to think of the
grimy men in the mines, so he often
fails to picture in his minds eye the
author toiling into the night.
Trying to keep up with the new books
ought to give way to determination on
the part of those who love them to keer
up with books.
To keep up with books" would bt
all-embracing, giving much better
idea of what the average man or woman
| who loves books is trying to do with his
time and money.
Time and money are what the book
lover spends, after all; 1t Is up to him
in the best sense. to see to 1t that his
It is significant that the phrase "try-
ing to keep up with the new books
signifies the almost utter impoSsibility
of doing it.
There have been all sorts of Clubs
| and leagues" and guilds" formed tt
assist him in his task, but the striking
thing, apparent to any one who stops tc
consider the matter, is that every such
organization selects different book.
To secure the benefit which such
clubs may bring it would be necessary
for the ambitious reader to join then
ali. and even then there would remain
scores of volumes every month which
he had not considered at all.
Futile is the word for it. Happily,
however, there is master hand whose
touch is never failing-it is none other
than Time itself.
While it is almost impossible to keer
up with the new books, it Is easier tt
keep up with books. because time plays
no favorites. High pressure sales
methods may secure wonderful edition
for some one new book, but in S years
the matter is different. Vogues come
and go; there are styles in reading a:
/ in everything else, and only the foolish
| try to keep up with them.