Observed each year on August 9, (and sometimes on the first Saturday in November) bibliophiles get to celebrate on National Book Lovers Day! A day for all those who love to read, National Book Lovers Day encourages you to find your favorite reading place, a good book (whether it be fiction or non-fiction) and read the day away.
Bibliophile – a person who has a great appreciation for or collects books.
Let’s step back in time:
- The very first books used parchment or vellum (calf skin) for the book pages.
- The book covers were made of wood and often covered with leather.
- The books were fitted with clasps or straps.
- Public libraries appeared in the Middle Ages.
- Books in public libraries were often chained to a bookshelf or a desk to prevent theft.
Moving forward:
Book manufacturing’s recent development included digital printing. Book pages are printed using toner rather than ink. Digital printing opens up the possibility of print-on-demand, where no books are printed until after an order is received from a customer.
E-books are rapidly increasing in popularity. E-book (electronic book) refers to a book-length publication in digital form. They are usually available through the internet. However, can also be found on CD-ROM and other forms. E-books are read either by computer or via a portable book display device known as an e-book reader, such as a Reader, Nook or Kindle.
Fun Facts:
- SF writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) is the only author to have published a book in nine out of the ten Dewey library categories.
- Dickens’s house had a secret door in the form of a fake bookcase. The fake books included titles such as ‘The Life of a Cat’ in 9 volumes.
- Playwright Joe Orton went to prison in 1962 for defacing library books. One of the cartoons he drew shows an elderly tattooed man in trunks.
- The first book bought on Amazon was called Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.
- The smallest book in the Welsh National Library is Old King Cole. It measures 1mm x 1mm and the pages can only be turned with a needle.
- The first person Ray Bradbury asked out was a bookstore clerk; they married in 1947 and were together until her death in 2003.
- The word ‘shrine’ comes from the Latin scrinium meaning ‘chest for books’.
- The earliest known written instance of the word ‘book’ is in a book by Alfred the Great.
- ‘Bibliosmia‘ is the enjoyment of the smell of old books.
- In 2007, Stephen King was mistaken for a vandal when he started signing books during an unannounced visit to a bookshop in Australia.
- The most expensive printed book in the world is the 1640 Bay Psalm book from America. It sold in November 2013 for $14.2 million. It is also the first book printed in the North America.
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