Sunday, Sep 21, 2025

The Joy of the REAL Book

 

I’m often asked how I became a bookseller.  It probably goes back to my childhood, when my family went to an old barn in Connecticut that was chock-a-block with old books.  I fell in love.

That love of old books followed me through life, although it showed itself by my visiting used bookstores in any city where I happened to be and visiting the ABAA Book Fairs as a novice shopper.

Which brings us to 2012, when I’d had enough of the corporate world and decided that life was too short, and I’d rather be doing something I love with my remaining years.

Thus was born Swan’s Fine Books.

However, this is not a tramp down memory lane (although I appreciate your walking beside me for these few moments).  It’s about the physical book.

The book as we know it is the “codex” form (sheets being bound, rather than words being carved into stone or written on a rolled papyrus).  According to Wiki, the term “codex” was first used around 100 CE, and “achieved numerical parity with the scroll” by around 300 CE.

And that is how we all read our books.  Our Shakespeares, our Bukowskis, our Jane Austens.

Until the advent of the digital age, and lo and behold, now so many are reading on tablets and phones.

Well, why not?  Why lug around a heavy book when the tablet or phone is so convenient, and (let’s face it), it is always (ALWAYS – have you tried to unplug lately?) with us.

First, the science:  studies have shown that both our comprehension and our retention are better when we read from a physical document rather than scrolling through words on a digital device.  This ought not surprise us:  we are corporal beings and we learn through our five senses, our bodies’ means of absorbing the information in the physical world.

Second, the permanence:  digital forms can be so easily manipulated.  Anything that anyone writes, regardless of whether one is Mark Twain or Roald Dahl or whomever, can be changed by anyone who chooses to “reprint” such work.  And who knows how long those e-books one has “bought” will remain accessible?

Third, the beauty:  most books are thoughtfully designed.  The makers of the books I love so much, the fine press books, focused on making each book as beautiful they could, whether it’s the stark simplicity of the Doves Press or the riotous beauty of the Kelmscott Press.

I can go on, but have perhaps tried your patience long enough.  I’ll close with one rather humorous anecdote that illustrates the magnetic draw of the physical book.

In August of last year, a thief entered an apartment in Rome via a balcony.  Instead of commencing with the thievery, he “became distracted after picking up a book about Homer’s Iliad” and was so engrossed in the mythology that he was caught by the homeowner. *

May we all become so distracted, so entranced and so enthralled by the beauty, permanence, and love of the real book.

 

* Story and quote from the web site of the BBC, story dated 24 August, 2024.