Handling books
Patrick Reardon at the Chicago Tribune writes about the ethics of handling books and makes several very valid points. As far as I’m concerned, folding down corners of pages to bookmark your place and leaving a book open and face down are huge no-nos.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:14 am
In a nation such as the United States, people like to bring lawsuits. One may spill a cup of coffee on oneself in a MacDonalds or have ones one rental golf cart roll over the foot and resort to a lawsuit of the host company. Thus, we seem to have the belief that living can be done without leaving evidences of ourselves having touched or having been touched by anything. In that culture, one would not dare fold down the page of a book, no matter how lovingly it is done. I for one will fold the covers of my books. Even though I do pamper certain first editions, I see nothing wrong with lovingly touching my book pages and personalizing them so that i may return. I will not wear rubber gloves when I read. The searchers at airports are already doing that and they use the same glove all day long, and rub their noses after touching other people’s property. thanx