An edition of The Enemies of Books (1869)

The enemies of books

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Last edited by Tom Morris
January 3, 2022 | History
An edition of The Enemies of Books (1869)

The enemies of books

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Note: There is a lovely fold-out illustration of a bookworm around page 63.

Publish Date
Publisher
Trübner & Co.
Language
English
Pages
110

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The enemies of books.
Cover of: The Enemies of Books
The Enemies of Books
1888, E. Elliot Stock
in English
Cover of: The  enemies of books
The enemies of books
1880, Trübner & Co.
in English

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Book Details


Published in

London

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. FIRE.
Libraries destroyed by Fire.--Alexandrian.--St. Paul's destruction of MSS., Value of.--Christian books destroyed by Heathens.--Heathen books destroyed by Christians.--Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.--Arabic books at Grenada.--Monastic libraries.--Colton library.--Birmingham riots.--Dr. Priestley's library.--Lord Mansfield's books.--Cowper.--Strasbourg library bombarded.--Offor Collection burnt.--Dutch Church library damaged.--Library of Corporation of London.
CHAPTER II. WATER.
Heer Hudde's library lost at sea.--Pinelli's library captured by Corsairs.--MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II--Books damaged by rain.--Woffenbuttel.--Vapour and Mould.--Brown stains.--Dr. Dibdin.--Hot water pipes.--Asbestos fire.--Glass doors to bookcases.
CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT.
Effects of Gas on leather.--Necessitates re-binding.--Bookbinders.--Electric light.--British Museum.--Treatment of books.--Legend of Friars and their books.
CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT.
Books should have gilt tops.--Old libraries were neglected.--Instance of a College library.--Clothes brushed in it.--Abuses in French libraries.--Derome's account of them.--Boccaccio's story of library at the Convent of Mount Cassin.
CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
Destruction of Books at the Reformation.--Mazarin library.--Caxton used to light the fire.--Library at French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand.--Books stolen.--Story of books from Thonock Hall.--Boke of St. Albans.--Recollet Monks of Antwerp.--Shakespearian "find."--Black-letter books used in W.C.--Gesta Romanorum.--Lansdowne collection.--Warburton.--Tradesman and rare book.--Parish Register.--Story of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy books.--Patent Office sell books for waste.
CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM.
Doraston.--Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat parchment.--Pierre Petit's poem.--Hooke's account and image.--Its natural history neglected.--Various sorts--Attempts to breed Bookworms.--Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and Dr. Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--America comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN.
Black-beetle in American libraries.--germanica.--Bug Bible.--Lepisma.--Codfish.--Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library, Westminster.--Niptus
hololeucos.--Tomicus Typographicus.--House flies injure books.
CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS.
A good binding gives pleasure.--Deadly effects of the "plough" as used by binders.--Not confined to bye-gone times.--Instances of injury.--De Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.--Books "hacked."--Bad lettering--Treasures in book-covers.--Books washed, sized, and mended.--"Cases" often Preferable to re-binding.
CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.
Bagford the biblioclast.--Illustrations torn from MSS.--Title-pages torn from books.--Rubens, his engraved titles.--Colophons torn out of books.--Lincoln Cathedral--Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.--Theurdanck.--Fragments of MSS.-Some libraries almost useless.--Pepysian.--Teylerian.--Sir Thomas Phillipps.
CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.--Spring clean.---Dust to be got rid of.--Ways of doing so.--Carefulness praised.--Bad nature of certain books--Metal clasps and rivets.--How to dust.--Children often injure books.--Examples.--Story of boys in a country library.
POSTSCRIPTUM.
Anecdote of book-sale in Derbyshire.
CONCLUSION.
The care that should be taken of books.--Enjoyment derived from them.

Edition Notes

"The nucleus of the ... essay appeared in the August, September and October numbers of 'The Printers' register' for 1879."
"The plates are intended to show some of the various ways in which books can be illustrated."

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
025.84
Library of Congress
Z701 .B63 1880

The Physical Object

Pagination
xiii, 110 p., [8] p. of plates (some fold.) :
Number of pages
110

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL6921381M
Internet Archive
enemiesofbooks00blad
LCCN
02025784
OCLC/WorldCat
546201

Excerpts

It is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at work for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be allowed to work out their sad end. Looked at rightly, the possession of any old book is a sacred trust, which a conscientious owner or guardian would as soon think of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his child. An old book, whatever its subjects or merits, is truly a portion of [inter]national history; we may imitate it and print it in facsimile, but we can never exactly reproduce it; and as an historical document it should be carefully preserved.

I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some people careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whoc blood can be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops. To them solitude means ennui and anybody’s company is preferable to their own. What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental renovation do such men miss. Even a millionaire will add a hundred per cent to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile; while the man of business with a taste for books, who through the day has struggled in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and anxieties, what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome, and every book is a personal friend.
added by George. "Blades' conclusion, a reverence for old books."
THERE is a sort of busy worm
That will the fairest books deform,
By gnawing holes throughout them;
Alike, through every leaf they go,
Yet of its merits naught they know,
Nor care they aught about them.

Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
Not sparing wit nor learning.
Now, if you'd know the reason why,
The best of reasons I'll supply;
'Tis bread to the poor vermin.

Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
And Russia-calf they make a joke.
Yet, why should sons of science
These puny rankling reptiles dread?
'Tis but to let their books be read,
And bid the worms defiance."
Page 57, added by George. "Because it's an ode to bookworms!"

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History

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January 3, 2022 Edited by Tom Morris merge authors
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April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record.