Evening star., 1949-12-14
This and That
By Charles E. TraceweU

"One of the nice things about books as
Christmas presents is that can read them
first!" said the lady in the cartoon in the
New York Times Book Review.
Well, if one does. there are certain things
one should keep in mind. and they are not
always easy, because SO many readers are
not careful persons.
to present a spotless book, at least as spot
less as the book store gave 1t to the pur-
chaser.
First, put plain wrapper on the volume
Even careful handling will muss the dust
jacket, dog-ear it, tear 1t in places
So If you want to "test" the book you
want to give to some one, be sure to place
paper wrapper over it first.
clean sheet of paper Is to be selected.
cut to proper size. with edges exactly match
ing those Of the regular dust cover. If this
is not done, the paper slips and slides and
finally falls off. The ends that are creased
and folded back inside the book covers must
be long enough to hold Too skimpy. they
are worse than none at all.
This is the preliminary treatment Hold
ing and lingering book until it is read will
soil any book. Even the careful person,
one who values book as thing in itself,
cannot read one without putting just a
bit of wear on it. And it Is this bit of wear.
LIldt lakes OIL tIlc
The first step against it is the extra jacket.
Now that the extra covering is on, let us
see what one must do next
The next thing Is to determine even
before starting to read, Is that one will not
suddenly press the book open.
That way, the back bone is broken, in
most cases, so that the receiver can have
no doubt at all that some one has been
there before him.
Determine, then, to avoid breaking the
back bone of the helpless volume. This can
be done simply by refraining from doing 1t.
Handle lightly, in other words, let the covers
never be pressed back so that they form q
straight line, one with the other. Hold the
book at all times so that the covers form
a triangle.
Then be sure not to dog-ear the pages, or
to turn one down to keep ones place.
II there are uncut pages, cut them, OF
course, but do so carefully, with knife
that is sharp enough, but not too sharp.
The very sharp cutter often tears into page
and the very dull one often tears out jagged
pieces.
Above all, neither eat nor drink while
reading the book destined as a Christmas
present.
Nothing ruins a fair book more than
traces Of food drink or cigarettes.
Cosmetics, too, should be used with cau-
ton, when handling the Christmas gift
book.
All these things are oily, and oils of all
kinds do. indeed. blot the fair page, and
make even the newest book look old.
What would you think, yourself, If you
received a book which dribbled cracker
crumbs as it was opened?
X X X
Especial care should be given the title
page.
It is an odd fact that many true book
lovers think nothing at all of denting the
title page by pressing finger nail into It,
Even book sellers do It'll
It may be thing of no moment to the
careless person to whom book Is just
something to get information FROM That
is one of the uses of books, undoubtedly, but
it is not the only right use. The careful
person, call him finicky If you choose, wants
the title page, at least, to be fair and clean.
undented, unmarked. Persons who write
their names across title pages commit book
sacrilege, often without knowing it.
Keep your Christmas gift book clean, and
read it carefully, and thus share the book
with the person to whom you intend 10
give it. In this way. something Is added, at
the same time nothing is ,subtracted.
The person for whom q book seems just
the one right present is likely to be book
lover who wants to keep his books nice at
all times. He cannot do 1t If they are messed
up before he gets them. Give thought to
him, then, as well as q book. and his Christ
mas gift will mean 4omsthins extra 70 him.