Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
The comments about the crayon markings have been interesting, and point
to a larger issue. We talk about "restoration" as though it were really
possible. We all have the urge to do things to our objects to return
them to their original condition, whether removing crayon, lifting
labels, or even erasing a few pencil marks. But if we call the original
condition of an object "A", and its present condition "B", then
whatever we do to it creates a new condition "C", which may in some
ways resemble "A", but can never be "A", because time doesn't go
backwards. I try to think of this whenever I have the urge to fool with
a book. If the new condition "C" will help the book last longer, I'll
do it, otherwise I'll try to resist the urge. Having said that, I'll
agree that crayon is certainly obnoxious, but perhaps in a hundred
years it will be viewed as "quaint".
========================================================================
Philip A. Metzger, Linderman Library 30, Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, PA 18018-3067
Special Collections: (215) 758-4506
Lehigh University Press: (215) 758-3933
fax (both): (215) 758-5605
bitnet: pam5@lehigh / internet: pam5@ns.cc.lehigh.edu
========================================================================