Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-19

l1ills) Is that the real booklover finds
as much pleasure in his paper covered
books as in his cloth ones. And, for
a time they have the charm of novelty.
He will no more throw away one of
them than he would a bound one. A
cloth covers. The lure lies In the
printed page, as assembled into book
form.
The publishers quoted, probably for
business reasons, assume that MANY
readers will maltreat their books, dog
ear the covers, fold them, bend them,
be willing to toss them away with the
indifference with which they treat a
magazine handled by children with
sticky fingers.
True booklovers, on the other hand.
will keep their paper-backs in such
prime condition that they could be put
on the store counters tomorrow and
sold as new.
Real booklovers have an amazingly
tender way Of treating their books. We
do not mean that they are finicky, or
that they are afraid to use them.
They simply are careful with them,
whether in vellum, silk, linen--or pa
per. The cover makes no real differ
ence. The first years row of Charles
Boni's Paper Books makes as good an
appearance on our shelves as any dozen
books
We would no more think of pitching
them into the trash heap than our an
notated set of Emerson, or our much
worn and thumbed set of Gibbon.
The fact that they have paper backs
| is an added inducement to treasure
them. Why should we pay dollar
apiece to have cloth covers put on
them? There is no magic in cloth.
X X ~
Nor can we set too much store by the
argument that people nowadays have
no room for their books. Again we go
back to the booklover. He always has
room for his books. He may keep
them on the floor, and in the bed
rooms, and even in the bath room, but
he keeps them.
That is the big thing, and publishers
should thank God for it, for without
the booklovers there would be no books.
Such a man or woman treasures his
books not only because he likes them,
but partly because they are books. He
recalls the paper-backs of his child
hood. In them he read many of Alex
andre Dumas romances, Rostand's
"Cyrano de Bergerac." He believes
that such a series of good books were
put out by Street g. Smith many years
ago, but is not sure of the publishers.
IF you do not wish to keep it, lend
| it to friend" That, surely, Is wise
suggestion. The man who penned that
had his tongue in his cheek. The best
way Of getting rid of any book, better
than throwing it out with the maya
zines" is to lend it to friend.
A book loaned" to q friend, disap-
pears completely. The bottomlesS pit
is no deeper than the home of friend,
when it comes to the complete absorp-
ton of loaned books. The first thing a
friend does with borrowed book is to
| loan it to Aunt Matte Aunt Matte
loans it to Friend Hattie. Friend Hat
tie loans 1t to Lover Fred, and Lover
Fred takes 1t with him to Europe.
While abroad. he loans it to Fiji, and
Heaven knows what Fiji does with it.
The book you fondly suppose is re-
siding in an honored place on the Ii
brary table OF your friend has thus
gone on uncharted journeys and
never will be seen any more. Well,
perhaps it is just as we'll especially for
the publishers. But we hope they
won't worry too much about their pa
per books not being permanent" Felix
Salten's Fifteen Rabbits" in paper,
will last as long as his "Bambi," in
| cloth. Beauty, in books, is more than
skin deep.