Again, if not supervised and instructed, she is very apt to rub the dust
into, instead of off, the edges. Each volume should be held tightly,
so as to prevent the leaves from gaping, and then wiped from the back
to the fore-edge. A soft brush will be found useful if there is much dust.
The whole exterior should also be rubbed with a soft cloth, and then
the covers should be opened and the hinges of the binding examined;
for mildew WILL assert itself both inside and outside certain books,
and that most pertinaciously. It has unaccountable likes and dislikes.
Some bindings seem positively to invite damp, and mildew will attack
these when no other books on the same shelf show any signs of it.
When discovered, carefully wipe it away, and then let the book remain
a few days standing open, in the driest and airiest spot you can select.
Great care should be taken not to let grit, such as blows in at the open
window from many a dusty road, be upon your duster, or you will
probably find fine scratches, like an outline map of Europe, all over
your smooth calf, by which your heart and eye, as well as your book,
will be wounded.
"Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
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