Lengthy for online reading, but worth the eyestrain:
“The Book Mechanic: A modern sensibility binds Terry Belanger to old, rare volumes”
by Andrew Witmer
Some years ago, Terry Belanger found a striking way to reveal the reverence that many citizens of the digital age continue to feel for old books. . . . [He] brings an old volume to class, speaks about its binding and typography, and then, still discussing the book, rips it in half and tears it into pieces. As his horrified students watch in disbelief, Belanger tosses the shards into a nearby trash can and murmurs, “Bibliography isn’t for sissies.”
. . .
Eschewing the false opposition between technology and the book, Belanger has brilliantly made the rapid development of new digital technologies one of his leading arguments for the preservation of rare books. . . . He believes that books do certain things well and digital technologies do other things well. The two should coexist without trying to eliminate each other.
I want that job.
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