Evening star., 1932-04-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES +. TRACEEELL.

pair. These include torn pages, dog
cared covers, covers which pull away
from the back, backs which split or are
split, pages which come loose, etc.
One Goes not have to be q booklover
to remedy these defects, although there
are several books available which wih
help him 60 at such problems intelii-
gently Common sense often achieves
That which more specific knowledge
stance, may be fixed by the applica-
tion Of cut sheet Of transparent paper
to the tear. The booklover will have to
try various papers and CLUES before he
hits upon the exact combination which
will suit his temper. Often the best
remedy for torn page Is to let 1t alone.
The application Of the wrong sort OF
adhesive or paper makes bulky place
which is always in sight. This tends
to spoil the enjoyment Of the owner In
his book In many cases his eye VIII not
be attracted to the tear unless he hap
pens to open the book at that exact
page. So the best remedy will be to let
the place remain torn and to forget
about it.
The dog-ear cover, as 1t Is called,
is another bad task. Here, too. discre-
ton is the better part of valor. The
remedyinE of this fault often comes
within the province OF the professional
kookbinder and maker, and wise Is the
booklover who let's his dog -eared covers
alone. The bunting OF corners Is, after
all not such terrible fault in q book;
often it takes on q homely, almost SYM
pathetic look and causes no one any
particular worry. II the blow has dam
aged the corner so that it is in two
parts. the application of good. quick
drying glue will remedy the matter.
Covers which pull away from the back
may result from poor manufacture, old
age or careless handling, especially by
juniors. In any event they cause a book
to become unsightly and unsatisfactory
to handle This situation may be
remedied with surprising ease by no
more arduous work than giving the open
back q good coat of glue-on the in
side, OF course-and then clamping the
covers shut tightly and permitting them
to remain that way for at least "a
hours. A good way to keep the covers
shut tightly Is to twine soft cord
around them. This cord must be rather
large. else 1t will cut into the binding.
1t should be wrapped around carefully
and tightly, the aim being to bold the
book as in a wise If the gme one uses
is first class, when the book Is finally
OpclcO us CONclo uild DdSh VIII Dc az
solutely integral. and the owner will
never know that there was anything
wrong with his book. Care must be
exercised, however, in first opening 1t,
in order not to split the back.
This brings us to one OF the ugliest
of book faultS-the split back, usually
caused by some careless reader who
grabs books as if they were made of
iron and makes a practice, though un-
conscious, of forcibly bending back the
covers Ito make the pages lie nat"
Such handling will make the pages lie
fiat, all right but at the same time II
will cause an ugly crack to appear from
the top to the bottom of the page where
the sheets are sewed together and then
glued to the backbone.
Nothing causes SO much wee to the
booklover rs to watch some enthusiastic
person forcibly seize one OF his prize
volumes and thoughtlessly break its
back for no purpose at all or without
any real interest In the book This
wight is also the one who insists on
shutting through the pages with fingers
periodically moistened with saliva.
And nothing can be done about It," as
Webster says.
The best way to handle a split back,
as it is called. is to carefully bend back
the pages, beginning at either side of
the split. first pressing down one page
to the left, then another to the right,
and SO on. first one way and then the
other Sometimes this will tend to
make the split less noticeable TO at
tempt to glue the pages together In
order 10 hide the crack Is futile. In
the matter Of split books the best prac-
tice is to hide the book when one sees
a careless person approaching If 1t
cannot be done, send up a silent prayer
to the god OF books and hope for the
best. 1t is always well to keep a SNOWY
book of some sort nearby where it will
be easily seen. one with plenty Of pic
lures. to attract the attention of the
aek-breakef.