Evening star., 1932-10-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

as he regards some torn page, mutilated
title or scuffed binding.
One may doubt that any librarian
who ever lived sorrows quite so mutely
az the lone book lover who finds one Of
his priced volumes damaged by the
carelessneas Of another. The tragedy
lies in the fact that often this sort Of
damage Is done unwittingly. II the
careless person realized what he had
done and how much 1t injured the sus-
capabilities of his friend he might try
to redeem himself the next time.
The book lover cannot ease his feel
ings by o complaint, but the librarian
may take 1t up" with some one be-
meath him. Perhaps 1t won't do any
good but nevertheless he can vent his
feelings by sternly calling the damage
to somebody's attention and directing
active steps toward the apprehension OF
the culprit.
The home librarian cannot so move
against his friends. He must suffer in
silence. There is nothing he can dc
about II, except to smoothe out the
crumpled pages and attempt to erase
the marks
| Finicky?
Certainly.
A good book is worth being finicky
about, as every one knows who admires
them for something more than their
contents alone.
The book mutilators, the book ICON
oclasts, have no respect for books as
creations, for books as things, for books
as works of art.
The book lover, on the other hand
never picks up book, no matter how
cheaply printed, but what he finds some
feature worthy of admiration.
The slightest patent medicine alma
nae which he finds on his doorstep is
raised from the concrete with hand
which is able to detect the presence OF
neat edges.
This small production. crude in it.
way. yet dates back to the inception OF
printing.
There is a visible link which binds
1t to all the other booklets printed over
the years.
This Is an attitude unknown to the
honest grubber who thinks that the
words are all there is in a book
Perhaps he Is not to be blamed Sc
verely. He knows no better.
Along with pity for his state Of mind
the thinking book lover will realize the
necessity for keeping him as far away
from ones own books as possible.
The joy Of intelligent discussion oi
some treasure must be reserved fol
some one who deserves it.
II one unthinkingly speaks to the
book boor about q treasure. the fellow
will pop up with Say. let me have it
will You? will take good care Of it."
! He will not take good care Of it.
His good care" consists of prevent
ing it from falling into the river Oh
getting run over by lotion truck.
Accidents of a lesser nature he knows
nothing about. Hence he thinks moth
ing much of grabbing the front cover
with his left hand and the back cover
with his right and forcibly opening the
volume, causing an ugly split to appear
in the pages.
that one place. owing to the neat crack
which allows the glue to show through
from top to bottom OF the page.
One trait, and one only, this type OF
reader has in common with the book
lover, and that is the liking for food
stuffs as one reads.
The difference between them, how
ever. is large.
The mistreater of books never fails
to select chocolate and to smear il
down each and every page. Slightly
warm chocolate will leave a nice
smudge.
The book lover, if he eats, eats while
reading his own books, and even ther
he selects some article from the bill Of
fare which will not injure the fairest
page. He takes care to SO hold the
book and so turn the pages that he
does not use the hand with which he 1.
eating.
The amateur librarian knows, even as
the professional, the sac feeling which
comes from loaning book which is
never returned And there IS nothing
to be done about it. The professional
librarian may entice a few strayec
volumes back. but the amateur has M
such hope. All he can do is not to loar