Reading Matter

Citation

Gerard, D. (2001), "Reading Matter", Library Review, Vol. 50 No. 4, pp. 208-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2001.50.4.208.9

“A rabid bibliophile’s adventures among old and rare books” – the subtitle of this work might well discourage further perusal. It suggests Charles Lamb or, since the author is American, perhaps Washington Irving. It rings oddly in a world which vibrates to the Web site, the dot com and the electronic superhighway. Who would seek to buy such a “choice” creation, the product of an age of lavender and old lace? Book collecting and bibliophily are presumably alive and well as passionate recreations, and certainly this author betrays no reservations about his obsession. The essays range from the metaphysical (“The binding of books and the matter of spirit”) to the solidly physical (“A cabinet of facts and fancies”); it is not a thematic collection – how could it be when his topics blossom from whatever random volume his eye fell upon? It is, in short, a discursive ramble through the shelves of a vast chamber echoing with the testimonies, ideas and aspirations of – yes, largely – a bygone age. And doesn’t “bygone” have an aura of sentiment about it?

Nevertheless there is much wisdom in these pages, a sagacity bred from a lifetime of intercourse with the best minds of the past, expressed most cogently, I think, in his attention to detail which manifests itself in essays like “The philosophy of the comma” and “Dust jackets and the art of memory” – titles which may convey something of the texture. The two features in question are intrinsic to the printed book – two of many such components – but the author by devoting scrupulous attention to them draws from them conclusions which have wide implications for the serious reader. It’s the kind of investigation which illuminates its subject and stirs one’s interest again in what is so casually overlooked, taken for granted. Or inscriptions scrawled on fly leaves and what they can tell us about the author, book and recipient – not a subject much considered, but Matthews squeezes some surprising results from his analysis, “Inscribed copies, or ‘What the hell can I say?’.”

Only the true bookman could uncover the potential, the richness of cultural suggestion that lies within the covers of any book, whether rare or mass produced. So, let us register thanks for this excursion, perhaps recherché, but vividly illustrative of the wealth of inspiration which on closer examination we find latent in the printed book.