Evening star., 1932-01-01

The New Year sees the so-called dol
lar book triumphant.
Perhaps no movement toward price
ever created quite so much interest as
this one.
Five years ago there were compare
lively few books which sold at the
modest price of dollar, with the eX-
ception of certain standard classics in
various libraries or collections.
Today the ambitious reader may
select from literally hundreds of good
books, works which sold for several
times the price few years ago.
The best thing we see about this
movement is that it replaces the ques-
ton of price with that of interest. 1t
ends the worse Snobbery of bookdom,
and that was of something new"
Many readers for a time came to
take an interest only in the --latest
thing" The fine old books of the cen
turies were forgotten by scores of read
ers, who profeSsed to find only the new
book worth reading.
This was a natural reaction in an
era of sophistication. But it was not
so good 1t failed to take into ac-
count the simple fact that time has
very little, if anything, to do with
greatness.
The works of art of the ancient
Greeks are quite as great today as they
were when carved. The writings of
Plato, the thoughts Of SocrateS-time
has only added certain luster to
them.
Every one, in relation to such things,
sees at once that newness is not es-
sential; it is genius which counts with
them.
1t is not quite SO easy to see it with
contemporary things. Something new
means a great deal to many. With
the discriminating. however, newness
becomes only one of many facets.
NewnesS has its pace. In books or
furniture, in radio sets or in the style
of engag ment rings, tie fact that a
thing is new must mean something
1t should not, and often does not mean
everything, except with q certain type
Of human being.
This type of man or woman is q
study. She-let us take her for con-
venience-fnds an utterly unexplain-
able pleasure from the contempla ton
of the brand-neW dress Or the book
fresh from the press. The --latest
thing" in games thrills her, even If it
Is a rehash Of an old game-backgam
mon, for instance.
IL Will De uSCOVeTeO, on analysis, tDaJ
the basis of this regard for the new is
allied strictly with the idea of .bcing
up to date" And being up to the
minute, as it were, means mostly being
SO in the eyes of some one else.
With books, all this must be looked
at from another standpoint. While un-
doubtedly there will remain certain
number Of persons who insist on bring
ing into the realms of the mind the
modes and qualities which properly be-
long in other spheres, the great bulk of
what one prefers to think of as more
or less normal people will insist on re-
garding books as things apart.
A book is an intellectual expression.
1t may or it may not respond to the
moment. If it does-and it often does
it does, that is all If it does not,
but holds to universal principles, the
fact that it does not respond will not
detract one whit from its appeal to the
intelligent.
Good books, therefore, may be held
to be beyond the petty appeal of the
modes of the moment. While there are
fashions in them, as in other things,
basically they are things of the cen
turtles. 1t is an appealing thought, and
at the same time a thrilling one to
booklover, to realize that Julius Caesar
would be pleased to know that his Com
mentarisS are still read by thousands
of human beings of an alien tongue.
Books thus diveSted Of time (being,
in truth perfectly timeless) are able