A mixture of indignation and horror overtook me upon reading that a London library threw a mound of books into the garbage. It was "How dare they!" and "Get the smelling salts! I have the vapors!" in one. I repeat: a LIBRARY threw away books! An institution that is almost by definition supposed to collect and preserve old texts just dumps them in the skip (or "dumpster" to us Yanks). Thankfully, my spiritual brethren and sistren did a little diving and salvaged a lot of it. One book was worth eighty pounds, which with the weakness of the dollar is like $1,200,000 or something. *sigh* What hope is there for Western civilization when even the Brits are becoming throw-away-ers?
(Via Bookninja)
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