Evening star., 1932-11-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

ers to resist the bowing powers Of dry
ing.
Modern homes usually are as dry as
the Sahara Desert, and this tends to
cause a wonderful and unsightly bow
to take place in the average binding.
Sometimes an apparently well bound
book will take on all the appearance OF
pair of springs, as the moisture Is
extracted from the boards and the in
evitable bending occurs.
Few failings of the physical book are
more distressing to their human friends.
And here Is the way 1t may be pre-
vented:
Place some heavy volume on top of
the book, which one does not want to
be sprung.
It thus comes about that the top
book of the pair is always an old book,
we'll sec oned by time, and that the
under |" Jg' in the case is later work,
which as yet has not become acclimated.
In the home of the dyed-in-th wool
booklover the latest books may be found
thus reposing, kept from bowling up by
older end mostly heavier books of pre-
Yious Gays.
Despite the fact that perhaps the
majority of our present-day issues will
bow If left unprotected, there are some
volumes Issued which are sturdy enough
to Withstand the most extreme pull.
These are the ones called in, perhaps
from solemn repose in the cases, to hold
down the new books, to prevent Ahem
from bowling up in that distressing
manner, to hold them true to that per-
feet f1atness which the bindery gave
them.
X X
There should be certain artistry
used In the arrangement of books on
end tables and the like. Merely to
heap them is to spoil the effect, or,
rather, not to secure it in the rrst place.
Since books are rectangular in con-
struction, their proper placement on a
table is square to the edges. In this
all booklovers will not agree, any more
| than all desk users ON the best ar
rangement for the effects usually found
on desks.
| It is common observation in offices
| that users may be divided into two
great camps, those who keep neat
desks, and those who keep untidy ones;
and that of these classes the former
may in turn be divided into two camps,
| those who prefer the rectangular ar
rangement, and those who like best the
angular.
Members Of the former school use
! the customary blotter or desk pad as
their guide Since its edges are set
true to the four sides of the desk itself,
all the other effects must follow suit.
Hence books, if any, are placed at right
| angles knives laid down straight, either
one way or the other, papers kept
neatly in piles with every edge just SO,
and pencils placed exactly north and
south or east and west.
X 4
There can be little question that this
parallel formation, as 1t might be
| called, is best for the placement of
books on home tables, or even on win
dow sills.
Not only does it please the eye but
! it prevents a book being caught by a
passing hand and knocked of on the
| floor.
Nothing quite mars the appearance
! of book to a real booklover like a
+ dog -eared cover. The loppy ears of
our canine friends belong to them, but
| they do not look well on our books, and
the same effect in them is distressing.
Like a bent-over page corner, the
dog -eared cover strikes woe to the
mind and heart of him who prizes
books as things.
Hence If good specimens are to be
left, carelesS-like, distributed around
| the house, they should be protected, as
far as they may, by the prior thought
! fulness of the booklover.