Rejuvenated Books

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 849, 18 December 1929, Page 10

Rejuvenated Books

Publisher to Prison Cell PUTTING new life into worn-out books is one of the duties of the Auckland Public Library staff. After rejuvenation a book often returns to the shelves more durable than when it first left the publisher. Even when discarded from the library, the volume begins a third, and presumably a last, round of circulation through hospitals, charitable institutions, and even to prisons.

'' There is a fascination about new I books. The bright attractive cover “ appeals to the imagination and conveys the impression that there is something good inside. No matter i. what may be the contents, the latest s book to be catalogued is soon res moved from the shelf into circulas tion. For recent additions the library prou vides a special rack. It helps the l, regular subscriber to choose his literature without searching the whole of “ the shelves, with the contents of which he is usually already acc quainted. Around this rack some contributors hover like kittens round a saucer of milk, many of them rer fusing even to look at the main shelves where about 20,000 volumes of 1 various authors are displayed. But popular books do not remain long in circulation before they are worn out—worn out, that is, so far as their first life is concerned. About 30 trips from the library reduce them e to a state whereat they either must • have attention by the re-binder or be 3 cast aside to make room for new I books. 1 CANDLE-GREASE AND COFFEE (_ The first duty of the attendant j when a new book reaches the library j is to collate its consecutive sections, ensuring herself that it is a comL plete book and not a freak copy minus : a few pages. The volume is then given a number—a number which identifies it throughout the whole if its library life. ’ If it is a popular novel or a work upon a subject greatly in demand, it 1_ never rests on the shelf. As soon e as it is returned, someone is W'aiting 1 to pick it up; and frequently there is a long waiting list for specific titles. 3 By the end of four or five months, ■ when the book has been out about 1 thirty times, it manifests signs of t wear. If the demand is still great, 1 it is sent to the binder; if its popu--3 larity has waned, it might be put into 2 passable condition and retained for a i further few months. 1 Not only is the volume completely r stripped at the binder’s hands, but I it is perused * with reasonable care 3 for obvious thumb marks and other . disfigurements, which are erased ber fore it is brought again to the library. > Candle-grease and coffee—two com-

| mon contributions to despoiled books —are removed, and the rejuvenated product is as fresh and attractive as ever. Strangely enough, a book which has been re-bound usually lasts three times as long as it does during the first phase of its life. The binding is more carefully executed for library use, and this fact helps to prolong its existence. The first life of a widely-sought novel is approximately three or four months. Its second life might be for three, five, or even ten years, according to its place among the people’s fancy. Ultimately a book falls into such disrepair that its banishment from the library shelves becomes essential. It is then withdrawn from circulation, and, if there is still a meagre demand for it, is replaced by a new copy. But even then the life of the book is not complete. LAST JOURNEY OF KNOWLEDGE For years it might have travelled from the library through the suburbs in tramcars, buses and mo-tor-cars. It might have been in the homes of workers and business magnates; in flats and in bungalows; In garrets and in mansions. Chance will decide its future. Perhaps it will be handled next by a convalescent patient at the Auckland Hospital. It might find its way into the hands of a prisoner at Mount Eden. Perchance it will travel the Seven Seas with members of the Seamen’s Institute, and be transferred from ship to ship. It could entertain the lighthousekeeper on the remote New Zealand coastline; inmates of the Old People’s Home might find in it a ray of sunshine in their declining years. Many books are renovated and rebound in the hands of the Mayoress's War Memorial Committee before being sent out on their final journey to spread knowledge and entertainment among the Dominion’s vast community of book-readers. In England alone something like 14,000 or 15,000 books are published every year. In other countries the output is proportionately large. Many of them come to New Zealand, are read, and are passed on. Who can tell where they ultimately lie? L.J.C.