Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-22

has always liked them, not only for
their price, but particularly for their
feel" their general bookiness and the
satisfaction of feeling that one is get
ting his moneys worth.
Readers here may remember several
articles printed in this column two or
three years ago in praise of cheap
books, with a consideration of some of
the individual volumes printed in sew
eral of the lists enumerated in the
opening paragraphs above.
Our liking Is based on the belief
that the average man or woman has
only limited budget to spend on
books, and that necessarily he must
adopt one of two attitudes, or modi-
f1cations of these attitudes.
Either he must buy the best, in re-
gard to price, and be satisfied with
fewer books, or he must buy the cheap
er, and have more. If he is true
booklover, one whose tastes roam the
centuries, he probably will prefer to
have 100 cheaper books to so more
lavish volumes.
The range of literature Is almost
limitless, he realizes; he cannot read
them ALL any more than he can house
them all, if he could buy them all
but he wants as many of them as he
can getl
The good cheap books permit him
not only to own more titles he has
always wanted, but they mostly are
smaller in bulk, and thus help solve
the bookkeeping question in the home.
The wise bookman will buy as many
Of the gorgeous editions as he can,
from time to time, but he will not
stress them, either for neWness or
rarity or any other matter.
He knows that these things for all
their appeal, are but the froth on the
eternal verities Of good writing. One
of Jane Austen's immortal novels is
just as good reading in the 50-cent
Nelson edition as in the finest illus
trated copy ever issued.
= 4
But the booklover need not give up
the artistic when he buys cheap books
The old publisher latitude of consider
ing these as schoolbooks has long
passed. The cheap book at last has
come into its own, and is appearing in
neat designs, good type, good paper
lover might be glad to own.
The publishers are seeing that these
cheaper editions in no way harm the
more expensive books, but that every
good book circulated is a "come-on" for
another one. Newspapers print hum
dreds OF thousands OF words each day,
but find the field of reader-interest un-
diminished the next. This great
country in which we live, and of which
we all form a part, seems to be able to
consume an unlimited quantity of any
thing. Words are thoughts, and this
is a thinking country. despite the fact
that much of the thinking may not be
of the grand variety. The world can
not write everything 1t writes supremacy
WE'LL any more than 1t can invariably
speak like Webster, or always fly across
the Atlantic as successfully as Lind
bergh.
America is prodigal Of words. We
revel in them, battle our eyes and minds
in them, and consume them along with
our breakfast, and perhaps even put
ourselves to sleep with them. In this
happy and beneficent process the cheap
book, at a dollar or less has its place.
We repeat that the reader who has not
made special investigation Of these
books will be surprised at how many
and how good books he can find at the
price. He will find not only practically
all of the admitted classics of all Ian
guageS, but scores of the worthy books,
fiction and non-fiction, which were first
published just a few years ago. The
world still wags, even If one hasn't read
Durant's STORY of Philosophy" But
now one can buy it in any drug store
for a dollar