People who mark books by folding the corner of a page

[In Bloom]

I roach mine when there's no other material at hand

Little corners of the cover GONE FOREVER

Makes me smile

You freaks would probably shit yerselves

Okay, that's just fucking wrong.

 

[In Bloom]

Good instincts are good.

Beg pardon

 

[onemonkey]

I prefer a 'lived-in' book, and i'll happily fold down corners, make notes, mark my place with a bogey etc etc. Wanna fight?

Anyway, I love buying a second-hand book that looks like it's seen a bit of action - cryptic pencil notes, wine-glass crescents, bizarre food stains and what have you. You have the text itself but also the story the person who read it before you. The humblest work of fiction can be transformed into a rich, meta-textual detective story in this way.

saying what i was trying to say but much more elegantly and diplomatically

 

[bluestreak]

i'm even worse i'm afraid.
i have plenty of bookmarks, tube tickets, bus passes, plane tickets that i use whenever i am reading and need to stop but i still fold down the corners quite a lot. i do it when i read something that i want to come back to or something that stands out / means something to me.

so... i always use a bookmark to keep my place but a lot of my books have many of the corners folded down nonetheless.

edit to add: i do agree w/ the op though. if you are just doing it to mark your place that seems like unnecessary vandalism.. you could just shove a tube ticket in or something. my reason is different.

this is almost identical to my take on it. i akso have a bad habit of underlining or otherwise making notes and then folding a bottom corner down so that i can find it again if i find a bit that appeals to me in some way.

but people who crack the spines must be destroyed for they are evil and foolish and do not respect the book.

 

[onemonkey]

i akso have a bad habit of underlining or otherwise making notes and then folding a bottom corner down so that i can find it again if i find a bit that appeals to me in some way.

that is not a bad habit. quite the opposite.

 

[bluestreak]

that is not a bad habit. quite the opposite.

thank you sir.

i have to add myself to the list of people who loves to find other people's notes and ideas and dedications and bookmarks in second hand books. the mystery of their lives is wonderful.

 

[Mation]

I've seen several on public transport recently. It make me weep.

It's just so wrong. I think I may have done it a couple of times, but not since I was 10 or so. Even then I felt bad for ruining pages.

I seldom remember to put a bookmark in and mostly just remember which page I'm on.

But I don't particularly mind when my books get worn and cracked from general use.

 

[onemonkey]

'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds'

 

[onemonkey]

or to put it another way my love affair with books is Platonic not materialistic.

 

[maomao]

Books don't feel read unless thre's visible damage. Always always always fold the corners down. Only use bookmarks for library books.

 

[rich!]

... 1st edition hardbacks should be kept immaculate ...

I've always wondered why the Chinese pirates don't flood the world with pristine reproductions of 1st edition hardbacks.

Perhaps it would eliminate the bizarre cult once and for all...

 

[Mation]

Books don't feel read unless thre's visible damage..

From thumbing and propping open, yes... Cracks along the spine are lovely.

But folding the corner down just looks so..... angular and ugly!

 

[maomao]

From thumbing and propping open, yes... Cracks along the spine are lovely.

But folding the corner down just looks so..... angular and ugly!

But folding the corners achieves the 'fanning' effect so that it needs to be pinched when returned to the bookshelf and allowing for the tightest possible fit. (as well as allowing for more flexibility in the space the actual book takes up so you never end up in the nightmare situation where there's only room for half a book at the end of the shelf)

 

[Zinedine*]

I fold pages when i'm on the tube or something, If im at work or at home I will highlight certain bits and make notes in the book. If it gives me inspiration (I'm writing my first novel ) I will do it. I think ts good to see a book thats been lived in, It gives it some sort of social history in my opinion.

 

[Louloubelle]

I've always wondered why the Chinese pirates don't flood the world with pristine reproductions of 1st edition hardbacks.

Perhaps it would eliminate the bizarre cult once and for all...

you do come across reprodcutions and forgeries, mostly of course of very valuable / rare books but more common are reproduction dust jackets married to the original book.


A dust jacket in mint condition adds a lot to the value of a valuable book, for example a 1st edition of Tropic of Cancer, in fine condition with fine DJ, retails for about £3,000 as the DJs were discarded for the 2nd print run. Without a dust jacket you're looking at £250 - £300 so you can see how it could be tempting for an unscrupulous person to make a high quality lazer copy of the DJ

 

[flimsier]

I am a bit obsessive about books - to the point where I will spend half an hour in a bookshop going through the pile of shiny new copies of the one I want just to make sure that the one I'm buying doesn't have even the slightest mark or wrinkle.

I like to keep them pristine.

This is exactly like me!

 

[butchersapron]

I write all over mine, tear pieces off them and generally treat them very bad, esp really rare one's i've spent years looking for and paid out £50+ for (a practical critique of specialisation see, probably). You should see how i treat my records as well...

 

[dormouse]

No-one's yet convinced me of a good reason to fold the corners down, I stand by my early-in-the-thread-vote so far ... also, I've just thought of another reason why bookmarks are best. Postcards. I love unusual postcards and usually buy a couple wherever I go. Then I use them as bookmarks. I've a pile of postcards (with scribblings) by my books. Whenever I reach for a book, I reach for a postcard. Quite often I'll go to reread a book and it already has a postcard inside it - sometimes from years ago. A voyage of nostalgia. Bookmarks rule

I do that! Postcards, tickets (travel, concert, museum, gallery), restaurant bills, you name it... fascinating when you come across them again.

 

[kyser_soze]

If it's my book, or it's already clear that the owner doesn't have a folding corner issue I'll fold the corner down (mainly cos I loose unattached marks!!) but if I'm borrowing a book from anyone, even it's already tatterdemalion I'll use a bookmark and make sure it's kept away from moisture, make sure the ends of the spine don't get damaged etc.

My copies of E and E Before Xmas are currently doing the rounds of the office and after only 2 people the spine's all fucked and I'll need to replace it. And I've gone through about 4 copies each of Diamond Age and American Psycho cos they're both holdiay standbys for me.

I'm equally anal with CDs and DVDs tho - and for me they're as sacred an object as books and I get equally pissed off when I get them back to find scratches, broken jewel cases etc.

 

[Belushi]

My copies of E and E Before Xmas are currently doing the rounds of the office and after only 2 people the spine's all fucked and I'll need to replace it. And I've gone through about 4 copies each of Diamond Age and American Psycho cos they're both holdiay standbys for me.

I fucking hate it when you buy a book and the spines completely cracked after one read

 

[fishfingerer]

Shortly before he died Bill Hicks copied his brother's reading style and tore out each page after he was done with it.

 

[Leica]

For bookmarks, as I read I usually keep a list of page numbers on the title page. I write the numbers in pencil; they are erasable.

Some years ago I took part in a group assignment that involved reading every book written by a certain author and compiling an index of every occurence of a number of words and phrases. With a pencil, I marked a little bullet point on the margin next to the words as I found them. Bullet points were easy to spot and to erase afterwards.