When books stop loving you back
Posted June 2, 2011
on:Talk about a May December romance. All of these printings are older than I am, and most of these titles are older than my parents. To say they are less than shiny would be the understatement of the year. They are battered, they are beautiful, they are still eminently readable.
I’m only the most recent person to love these books, and from the looks of them, they haven’t got much love left in them to give back:
This poor copy of Brave New World is missing it’s back cover. But once upon a time someone thought it would make a great gift to their “Dear Peter”, and inscribed it appropriately.
My best guess for the damage to this copy of Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters is coffee? Brackish water of some other sort, perhaps? You can’t tell from the photo, but the edges of the covers have been reinforced with tape:
And let’s not forget my beloved copy of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. I’m pretty sure I swiped this from my parents bookshelves when I moved out of their house. Despite the laws of physics and the free market, the covers are holding on for dear life.
I looked all morning, unsuccessfully, for my copy of Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold. That baby is held together with rubberbands and luck.
It does the beg the question of why don’t I just throw these out and buy clean copies? They are all available at local bookstores, typically for $10 or less.
when should a book that’s got little love left to give simply be thrown out?
on the other hand, I kind of feel like these books are only on loan to me. Who knows how many hands they passed through before they got to me, how many lives were influenced by the words on their vellum-like pages? One day, if these books can survive another reading or two, I hope they will make their way to someone else’s hands, someone who will wonder where the greasy fingerprints came from, the coffee stains, how the cover got that particular crease in it, why that page is dog ear’ed. And no doubt that person too, with flirt with the idea of flinging them into the bin, knowing brand new copies are easily available.
In the digital age, I fear all this bibliophile romanticism will die a lonely death.
19 Responses to "When books stop loving you back"
“In the digital age, I fear all this bibliophile romanticism will die a lonely death. ”
I am afraid it will die to. I’m not sure it will die a lonely death because I think there will be many of us lamenting its passing, but it is hard to see how it will last.
You’ve touched on an interesting topic which I’ve written about within specific book reviews before, and that is the joy of the well loved book. On of my eccentricities (nice way of saying it) is that I by mostly new hardback and trade paperback books and I keep them in pristine condition. I love them both for their stories and as physical objects. And yet I also collect old classic books and old, well loved science fiction and mystery paperbacks (the mystery for the cover artists). I love those books for their used condition and the idea of other people getting lost in their pages as much as I do the new ones for their shiny newness.
The first time I read I, Robot was from a very well loved copy that a friend gave me, not intending for it to be a reading copy. He just knew I’d love the cover. But it was such a special treasure that I read it anyway, carefully holding the pages as they came even more unbound in my hands. I felt the book deserved at least one last shot at giving someone a sense of wonder. And it did just that. I had a similar experience when I read Heinlein’s, The Green Hills of Earth. It fell apart in my hands while reading it but I kept it together as best I could and enjoyed reading it so very much.
I still have both of those books and many others in similar states of well worn use. I generally don’t keep the heavily stained or stinky copies…but I don’t usually pick those up in the first place. But I do have several that have that nice musty smell…not stinky, just old. And I love them.
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I’m a definite keeper of heavily worn/loved books.
I’ve got several copies of the Lord of the Rings, Edgar Rice Burroughts, Gormenghast trilogy and others that basically have ALL of the pages falling out. And, I’ve purchased other copies in marginally better condition but kept the old familiar faces with their pulp covers.
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The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one that I am slowly building up a collection of multiples copies. I almost went home from BN with a boxed set the other day but decided to wait until I got a good coupon as it is a $50 set.
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Well put. I used to tell my students that the best books were the “well-loved” ones. For example, the Harry Potter books were always on their last leg at the elementary school library (I know that Harry Potter isn’t that old, but I couldn’t think of another example). That was because so many kids checked them out. So the shiny new book might be a bummer and the one that looks worn might be the gem.
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Never. Surrendering. Printed. Books. Ever! I guess I was frightened by Fahrenheit 451 as a child. As long as there’s duct tape, I’ll keep printed pages together!
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“And of course as they get fewer and fewer they should be in the hands of someone who really loves them”
That couldn’t be a more perfect reason to collect books, especially older books.
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1 | JohnAdcox
June 2, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Oh, I hear you. I’ve never had the heart to let my books go, which is why my wife and I are now having to either move or add a story to our house (it could go either way). If you get a chance, visit Hay-on-Wye. Trust me.
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