Ex Libris, an essay about books

      More Letters From Paradise
   Ex Libris, an essay about books

I like books. Books have played a large role in my life. I have bought, collected, and sold books. It used to be that when you visited a person's home, the books on view told you a lot about its owner. If you were to pull a book from the shelf you would sometimes find a slip of paper pasted inside the cover with the words "Ex Libris" and the name of the owner. ( From the library of..)  There was often a complete set of " World Book" encyclopedia somewhere on the shelves. Alas, this is seldom the case anymore. Giant televisions have taken over the former space which once housed books.

Books have been around for a very long time.The earliest books were written on clay tablets by the Sumerians, an ancient people who lived in the Near East. A wedge-shaped stylus was pressed into the soft clay, and then baked until hard. The vast number of these clay tablets are business records, but there are stories too. One example tells of a time when a great flood covered the earth. Sound familiar? It should, it tells the same story found in the book of Genesis in the Bible.

As history continues, we find the Ancient Egyptians writing on papyrus, a reed found growing in the Nile. These reeds were split and pressed together to form a sheet to write upon. The Greeks and Romans wrote upon the dried hides of animals scraped clean of hair. So also did the Hebrews. The the Dead Sea Scrolls is an excellent example. These documents are for us to read and enjoy today.

The fall of the Roman empire led us into the Middle Ages where monks labored long hours copying books by hand. Books were so valuable, that they were often chained to desks in order to prevent theft.

The event that changed  books forever was the invention of moveable type by J. Gutenberg, not the printing press which is so often mentioned. Now, with letters which could be arranged in words and sentences, and covered with ink and paper and  placed under pressure of a press, books could be mass produced. The first book to be printed by Gutenberg was the Bible. The Bible continues today as the number one best-seller.

Although books could be printed, they continued to be costly and valuable. Remember reading how Lincoln trudged through the snow to barrow a book to read by firelight? Pioneer Americans had at least a copy of the Bible. And often a copy of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It was Ben Franklin who is credited for creating the first lending library. And during the 19th century the "Robber Baron" Andrew Carnage, endowed libraries all across America. Your town probably has one. Mine Does. Teddy Roosevelt took a trunk full of books on his trip to Africa. I would bet that you once read a book by flashlight under a blanket when told to go to bed.

But not everyone has cared for books. Books often contain ideas that are opposed to a present political climate. A well-known theme concerning the ban of books is the  Sci-Fi "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. The story set in the future is where firemen are called upon to burn books. But you cannot kill an idea by simply burning books.The people in the book memorized books until such time when they could again be put into print. The title of the book is taken from the temperature at which paper burns.

But that was fiction. The real threat was during WWII under the Nazi regime. The first great burning of books took place in Berlin in 1933. President FDR said "Books cannot be killed by fire." But even so, the Nazi's tried. On My 10,1933,in Berlin thousands of students heaped books into a burning pyre. Then all across Germany ninety-three additional book burnings were held. "Time" magazine," New York Times," and countless others condemned these violent and  senseless acts. Education was now to bring glory to Germany alone.

Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and America entering the war, a new chapter was written concerning books. First, there was a nation-wide book drive to provide books for our servicemen. Named the  Victory Book Campaign, Americans now donated books in addition to scrap metal,rubber, and bacon fat. By the end of April 1942, nearly nine million books had been donated.When F.D.R. was asked what types of books should be donated he replied : "Anything but algebra." But there was one big problem. Many of the books were too large and heavy for a soldier's backpack. This led to a revolution in book printing and publication. The Armed Services Editions was born. Paperback books small size, light- weight pages, which could easily fit into a pocket. The sizes ranged from the large six and a half by flour inches. The smaller size five and a half by three and three-eighths inches. The largest  was only three-quarters of an inch thick. The smallest was less than an eighth of an inch thick. The books were an instant hit, and were sent world-wide. War weary and bored servicemen eagerly awaited each shipment. Over one hundred million ASE books were printed.

After the war Americans had become used to   paperback books, and publishers never looked back. Wire racks of pocket books became a common sight.

And now there yet another revolution concerning books,and that is electronic books. hand-held devices containing books which turn pages with the touch of a finger. Portable,light weight, easy to carry. Excellent for long trips, as long as the battery is charged. But as for me, I still prefer a book held in my hand. Like I said before, I like books.

P.S. Much of what I have written about ASE paperbacks, I stole from the new excellent book "When Books Went to War," by Molly Nuptial Manning.

     Aloha
     Grant