Historic books have a certain aura about them that struck me on Tuesdays class and that I notice in general. On Tuesday we saw a variety of books centuries of years old and every time I touched the pages it was different than touching a page form a modern book. These books are more revered than books that we use everyday because of their age. To me it was because these books were so important that they survived many centuries. They are also interesting to just see what the paper was like during the time period along with the print, binding and covers. For these reasons the old books just hold a different level of respect and interest. The article linked below talks about a book of Aesop’s Fables from 1485 along with other ancient children’s books. It describes the aura of old books the same as I felt. http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.libcat.lafayette.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c2499435-5f11-412d-addd-f202e95c017c%40sessionmgr114&vid=3&hid=109
This post made me think about the value of books in general. There mus have been something important about the books we saw in class, since they were chosen over others to be preserved in collections. I wonder what books from the modern age will find themselves carefully preserved and maintained in book collections in the future. More importantly, it would be interesting to know why these books are chosen to be saved.