Up in another thread, the topic was books and marking. I'm starting a new topic because that one's getting long and unwieldy and a whole lot of people I like are poking at each other.
Peace, man.
Okay, so anyway, this is the way I look at it:
To my eye, there is almost nothing more beautiful than a book (hardbound or paperback) that's been marked on, written in, highlighted, stickied, beat to death, dog-eared and generally loved to within an inch of its life.
I love LOVE that image!!! Somebody chart it..
mag
Beaten, broken spines, yes Dog eared - maybe. Written in - no thanks. I've tried to read a book that someone else annotated and it destroyed the line of thought every time - the only place I appreciated it was in a text I had to translate (from Latin to English) and the "correct" meaning would not have been found in your average Latin to English dictionary. Then the translation made sense.
Oh, I understand that. I keep my books and I don't lend them out, so I wasn't thinking of having to read someone else's chickenscratch.
Since the Only thing i inherited from my Mother `s family , was a book printed 250 years ago , i very glad nobody treated it the way you describe ,, there are of course finger marks on the corners ,,, but it lived to reach us ,,, mirjam
I would have liked to know what my ancestors thought of what they'd read. I would have liked to see their handwriting, watch as their thought processes worked, get some insight into their philosophies.
A clean book has little character on its own except what time provides to its cover. The handwriting of people who spawned me would have been extraordinarily precious to me.
I feel very connected to my great grandmother, though I never met her. I can't tell you how much I wish I had a book handed down from her that she'd written in.
But that's just me.
I have a book my great great grandfather brought with him from Germany in
1868. He's written in all the margins and I cherish this example of his handwriting, even if I can't read it!
I would have loved to know how my mother kept or got again this book after her flight. i know it belonged to her family because the book was rebound 150 after it was published, and probably because lack of paper they used a pge of an old ledger bearing a date ... on the inside of the cover is Signed name that is part of my mother`s family and he claims that book is his,,, I didn`t know my Great Grandparents at all ,, and not much about all of them , thus i enjoy this .. mirjam
That's right and it is part of the reason I write in my cookery books. I have a wonderful recipe for Apple Chutney that was my grandmothers and I love her note (she had 8 sons) "I increase the ginger and garlic so the boys won't take quite so much" lol
Cheryl wrote
I think Lizard has the right idea, if you can manage it--don't lend your books. Then they will be marked/not marked as suits you. I am in a book group with a dozen women, and there is one for whom buying the book is a hardship, so she wants to borrow my copy. And she underlines. Not a word or two, to remember or look up, but sentence after sentence. And in ink or highlighter, so I can't clean it up. I have suggested she take notes, which is what I do if there is more than a word or two, but she says that is "too distracting."
sigh.
Dawne
One word: Library.
That would make my head explode. Not only would I not lend her my books, but I'd demand she buy me a new copy of each book she's written in.
Borrowing is one thing. Borrowing and destroying and expecting the owner not to take offense is downright trashy.
Dawne, in those circumstances I think it would be fair to say to her that if she marks them you will have to stop lending them because it is too distracting already for you.
You're far kinder than I, Dawne. I'd not lend her another book unless she agreed not to write in it.
Elizabeth
Not the one where I work! Please! If someone can't respect a book that is privately owned, I cannot even begin to imagine what they might do to a book that belongs to everybody and nobody. We have enough books that have been drawn in and almost ripped completely to shreads, and that's obviously by someone who has been enjoying them at a very fundamental level! Which I can live with. But we still have to replace/patch them up. And don't get me started on the ones that are returned smelling so strongly of sigarette smoke they make me gag...
Arnhild
Oh, I understand completely, but she said that buying a book was a hardship, which I took to mean she didn't have the money.
One time when I was griping to my mother about my lack of finances, she pointed out that I spent a lot of money on books. She said, "Did you know...there's this place you can go and you can get books for FREE? But you have to take them back in three weeks. It's called a library."
My DH could help --- can you make copies? He also has a source that would help "translate" some of the handwriting. C
Oph - I've gotten out books that smell of a wet dogs (they are always mysteries too) and had beach sand in them.
C
Mom and I also read old German handwriting.
When i worked in the Library , i got back a book with an ENORMOUS fruit stain , when the girl came in next time i gave her an apricot, telling her she forgot her book mark in the book. ..... after that all her returned books were CLEAN ,, mirjam
It's called "If I Can You Can Decipher Germanic Records"
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