one repulsive store and repugnant practices

It is a nice day today, so I was meandering around Concord,
Massachusetts, mostly looking for old and antique books and
booklets. I wandered into a store I hadn't been in before and
almost everything was decorated with snipped up old books and
booklets. Indeed, the first thing I saw was what at first
appeared to be an old book--but upon further investigation, this
old book had been torn asunder apparently with the thought that
that would be decorative. It was sickening.

I was in other shops that reminded me of one of my least favorite
things: plates that have been taken out of books and maps that
have been taken out of atlases, because (I gather) folks can earn
more money selling the pieces that way. Yuck! Some of these were
illustrated pages from Little Black Sambo. I MIGHT have been
tempted, if the practice was not so sickening. I sure don't want
to encourage anyone by buying any such thing!
--
Jean B.

On Sun, 16 May 2010 15:35:38 -0400, "Jean B." wrote:

It is a nice day today, so I was meandering around Concord,
Massachusetts, mostly looking for old and antique books and
booklets. I wandered into a store I hadn't been in before and
almost everything was decorated with snipped up old books and
booklets. Indeed, the first thing I saw was what at first
appeared to be an old book--but upon further investigation, this
old book had been torn asunder apparently with the thought that
that would be decorative. It was sickening.

I was in other shops that reminded me of one of my least favorite
things: plates that have been taken out of books and maps that
have been taken out of atlases, because (I gather) folks can earn
more money selling the pieces that way. Yuck! Some of these were
illustrated pages from Little Black Sambo. I MIGHT have been
tempted, if the practice was not so sickening. I sure don't want
to encourage anyone by buying any such thing!


Maybe the pages were from books that were ready for the trash heap?
I think you are assuming that these deployable people took good books
and cut them up but maybe they were salvaging what the could.

wrote:
On Sun, 16 May 2010 15:35:38 -0400, "Jean B." wrote:

It is a nice day today, so I was meandering around Concord,
Massachusetts, mostly looking for old and antique books and
booklets. I wandered into a store I hadn't been in before and
almost everything was decorated with snipped up old books and
booklets. Indeed, the first thing I saw was what at first
appeared to be an old book--but upon further investigation, this
old book had been torn asunder apparently with the thought that
that would be decorative. It was sickening.

I was in other shops that reminded me of one of my least favorite
things: plates that have been taken out of books and maps that
have been taken out of atlases, because (I gather) folks can earn
more money selling the pieces that way. Yuck! Some of these were
illustrated pages from Little Black Sambo. I MIGHT have been
tempted, if the practice was not so sickening. I sure don't want
to encourage anyone by buying any such thing!


Maybe the pages were from books that were ready for the trash heap?
I think you are assuming that these deployable people took good books
and cut them up but maybe they were salvaging what the could.

Well, the book that had been torn asunder otherwise looked
good--based on the various parts I saw. And the plates etc. were
in very good condition. It would be rather odd for that to be the
case if the rest of the book was in bad condition. Maybe you and
others will put my mind at ease about that?

--
Jean B.

I believe many such books are, indeed, ripped up for their component
prints and maps. Some may be in such bad shape, though, that they're
hardly worth the trouble and expense of rebinding--in which case the
use or sale of the artwork enables more people to enjoy it.

In the same way, I took two dust jakcets that were damaged on the back
or spine, and trimmed the perfectly good front panels to put in small
frames as decorations.

J wrote:
I believe many such books are, indeed, ripped up for their component
prints and maps. Some may be in such bad shape, though, that they're
hardly worth the trouble and expense of rebinding--in which case the
use or sale of the artwork enables more people to enjoy it.

In the same way, I took two dust jakcets that were damaged on the back
or spine, and trimmed the perfectly good front panels to put in small
frames as decorations.

But there are also people who go to libraries with exacto
knives with the purpose of extracting maps and plates.
There was that guy who got caught a few years back after he
had partially denuded the Beinecke of such treasures.

--
Francis A. Miniter

In dem Lande der Pygmäen
gibt es keine Uniformen,
weder Abzeichen, noch irgend welche Normen,
Und Soldaten sind dort nicht zu sehen.

Siegfried von Vegesack, "Es gibt keine Uniformen"
from In dem Lande der Pygmäen

J wrote:
I believe many such books are, indeed, ripped up for their component
prints and maps. Some may be in such bad shape, though, that they're
hardly worth the trouble and expense of rebinding--in which case the
use or sale of the artwork enables more people to enjoy it.

In the same way, I took two dust jakcets that were damaged on the back
or spine, and trimmed the perfectly good front panels to put in small
frames as decorations.

Sure. I can understand (perhaps) doing things with damaged books
and "paper", but otherwise?

Also, how does one judge the damage? Reminder: I mainly collect
cookbooks, recipe booklets, and other material that contains
recipes or information pertinent to cookery. As you might
imagine, cookbooks are more prone to stains, etc. than other
material is. Some people might consider such items to be not
worth saving. I think that could be a dangerous mistake!

--
Jean B.

Francis A. Miniter wrote:
J wrote:
I believe many such books are, indeed, ripped up for their component
prints and maps. Some may be in such bad shape, though, that they're
hardly worth the trouble and expense of rebinding--in which case the
use or sale of the artwork enables more people to enjoy it.

In the same way, I took two dust jakcets that were damaged on the back
or spine, and trimmed the perfectly good front panels to put in small
frames as decorations.

But there are also people who go to libraries with exacto knives with
the purpose of extracting maps and plates. There was that guy who got
caught a few years back after he had partially denuded the Beinecke of
such treasures.


Ah yes. I probably shouldn't write what the current method is.
Email me if you want to know. I just heard/read this within the
last month.

--
Jean B.

On May 17, 8:49*am, "Jean B." wrote:

Sure. *I can understand (perhaps) doing things with damaged books
and "paper", but otherwise?

Also, how does one judge the damage? *


I suspect, in many cases, the equation is quite simple: will the time
and expense of repairing this damaged book render it more saleable
than its loose pages are?

J wrote:
On May 17, 8:49 am, "Jean B." wrote:
Sure. I can understand (perhaps) doing things with damaged books
and "paper", but otherwise?

Also, how does one judge the damage?


I suspect, in many cases, the equation is quite simple: will the time
and expense of repairing this damaged book render it more saleable
than its loose pages are?

Somehow I can't envision people who make their livings by selling
prints, maps, etc. making such calculations.

--
Jean B.

On Wed, 19 May 2010 10:04:03 -0400, "Jean B." wrote:

J wrote:
On May 17, 8:49 am, "Jean B." wrote:
Sure. I can understand (perhaps) doing things with damaged books
and "paper", but otherwise?

Also, how does one judge the damage?


I suspect, in many cases, the equation is quite simple: will the time
and expense of repairing this damaged book render it more saleable
than its loose pages are?

Somehow I can't envision people who make their livings by selling
prints, maps, etc. making such calculations.

Such decisions usually involve liking to eat on a semi-regular basis.