proselytizing

i spent a good chunk of this morning explaining the methods of book history to a 13-year-old. after a quick run-through touching upon folio/quarto/octavo formes with chainlines and watermarks, leather/paper/cloth bindings, laid and wove paper, marginalia, printing dates written in roman numerals, letterpress, papermaking, signatures, textual editing, and the ability to a series of approaches and tools to discover details and solve bibliographical problems, she said she wanted to study history, or english, or something, herself; because “everyone knows what crocin [paracetamol] is, but not many people know all this stuff!”

#win