A BOOK PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 104, 30 October 1933, Page 2

A BOOK PROBLEM

BORROWER AND LENDER

AVOIDING THE'UNWANTED

ADVICE TO OWNERS

The stream of books from the pub* Ushers has become a trickle, and thosa who have the habit of reading are sometimes compelled to borrow, if only to save themselves from haying to read a classic, writes Allan Monkhousa in the "Manchester Guardian." Polonius's advice was "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," but ho was not referring specifically -to books. The objection to such a rule is that it is unhuman; also it is impossible. Yet there exists the irresponsible borrower, and what is to be done about him? Recently I lent a book t,o a friend who has some good qualities. He would be kind to you i! you were ill, he would share his last five Shillings with you (I cannot Bay in what proportions); but he is unsound on this matter of returning books. On. the particular occasion a promise was extorted from him, but it has not been, fulfilled. One can sympathise with a natural infirmity, but the man who is conscious of it should flee from temptation. It may be arguable that when a book is forced upon a reluctant bor« rower it need not be returned,, but when the borrower insists against the misgivings of the lender the. obligation is clear. I recall that I was present when a lady tried to press a novel of -Gissing's upon George Moore:- I think he wanted to continue to say that he had never read any Gissing, but he declined tho book on the ground "of constitutional inability to return. He had.. not the qualities which would enable him to persist in a search for .brown -paper and string. BOLD TACTICS. If you do wish to make somebody read a book you admire it is well not -to be enthusiastic about • it. Do not proffer it with tears in your eyes or the assurance that it has made a new man of you. Bather, say that it is not so bad as some, that if you wish to ■kill time here it is; or, more artfully, "I wish you'd help to.clarify my ideas about this." Of course you should not offer books to a bookish man, any more than pictures to an artist. There are those who spend their lives unsuccessfully trying to avoid books thrust upon. them by the persistent. Who does not know what it is to steal from the room, leaving the book oii the chiffonier? Some may adopt a bolder policy, suck as that of G. H. Lewes . when HQnry, James's indiscreet hostess tried to interest Bewes and George Eliot mi James's books* The story is told—and exquisitely, told—in "The Middla Years," a sequel to "Notes of a Son. and Brother," jvhich, unhappily, was never finished. This Mrs. Greville, a lady who "knew no law but that of innocent and exquisite aberration," drov.» over with James to visit tho famous social rebels, and he tells us of the.mci-> dent which "left our adventure an approved ruin.". ■ "I see again our bland, benign, com* miserating hostess beside the fire ia a chill desert of a ■ room whero tho ■master of the house guarded the opposite- hearthstone, and I catch 'oneo more the impression of-no occurrenca of anything at all appreciable bufc their liking us to have come, with our terribly trivial contribution! .niainltf from a prevision of how; they should mbro devoutly liko it when ..we. departed. It is remarkablcy ibut th« occasion yields me no. single., echo of a remark on the part of auy.of 'Us-r—notln ,iiig, more than the sefise -that ■"our great ''author .herself peculiarly suffered from the. fury of the elements'," and that the> J had about them rather the mini'muni oi? the paraphernalia of reading and writing, not to speak of fchat of tea, a con* ceivable feature of the hour^ but whicli was not provided for." - HISOWNBOpKS. Must I apologise for transcribing a* such length? But I like it so much and it leads to the point, When leave was taken—gallantly, and "with considerable flourish" —the 'visitors wera "wafted" to the carriage by Lewes, who suddenly called a .halt, returned to the house, and reissued "shaking high, the pair of blue-bound volumes" of which the visiting lady wp.uld have mado an "importunate loan./ Ah, those books," cried Lewes; "taka them, away, please, away,., away! James was then enabled to assure him* self "of the..horrid ..truth that had squinted at mo"; they were works ofi his own, presented by him to his hostess^ who, "misguided votary," had tried td lend them to the Leweses. . Pew of us could face a difficult posn tion with such vigour and,' precision 4 we tamely submit to .imposition,: ami sometimes, doubtless,'we are' the; betted for it. You. might /initiate- a friendship by the lending and. borrowing ofl books, but it needs tact with a- good infusion of sympathy. . A bold expedient, which one.is compelled to admire, is to ask an author to lend you his recently published book. One-counter to this is to say, "Oh* didn't I send you one? What is your address now?" and to do nothing further. But this will not do for everyone. Happily, most people have access to some kind of library. Yet if we are to have a communistic world I hope that some exception will bo made for. books. I like to think that a few books are my own. Possibly the old fashion of private libraries may abate; most of then* are little better than obsolete encumbrances. FORCES ON THE WORLD. The autumn book season is upon us, and some important books already cast their shadow before.' Wireless and tha gramophone have not yet extinguished reading. Probably the habits of publishing and buying books will continus after the custom of reading is obsolete. An enormous number of books are published which I do not want to read and cannot conceive anyone wanting ;to read. They are forced upon the world, and they go through the routine of publication to pulp. An/eminent 'publisher told mo once that he made money only out of ono book in six. Why did ha publish the other five? The publisher is like a man who wants to win a lottery and buys as many tickets as ho caix afford. Also, to his infinite credit, he sometimes publishes a book "because ho thinks it a good one. And a man who has a good book sometimes has the inn pulse to lend it. Books have'been lent; successfully, but free and frequent Jending is a doubtful policy. People should be encouraged to buy books occasional" ly; it is good for trade. With the majority of mankind the purchase of a book is an extreme mea,suroj The abolition of Christmas and birthday presents would bring ruin to the bookselling trade. On what precarious foundations does our literature rest!