Thursday 19 June 2014

Format

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

All other things being equal, what is your favorite format for reading? Hardcover? Paperback? New book? Old book? Leather-bound first edition? E-book?

For me, it has to be hardback, the older the better. I'd prefer a well-preserved copy as it makes me feel guilty for moving it if all the pages are trying to fall out.There's something so lovely about the scent of a really old book, and the yellowing of the pages, and the beautiful gilt detail you find on a lot of old hardbacks. You can tell that books really meant something back then, when they took so much effort to make them - nothing like nowadays where you can buy the same identical paperbacks in every other chain bookshop.

With old books you also get that wonderful sense of continuity and of heritage that comes from turning the same pages that have been turned by other hands for over a century, reading the same words and experiencing the same feelings. Also, there's just the sheer sense of amazement that the delicate, fragile object in your hands is so very old, and that it's yours, it belongs to you to keep safe for future hands and eyes.

2 comments:

La Coccinelle said...

I'm the opposite... though that may be due to the fact that I have allergies. I can't stand the smell of old books (though I do like the idea of them and all they represent).

Dithers said...

I'm with you on the allergies - flowers should be a great part of spring coming but my hayfever means I resent them a little bit instead :D