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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: be done under your own eye. Explain where caution must be used,
and in what cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family
can be indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man;
her price is above that of rubies; she will prolong your life.
Books MUST now and then be taken clean out of their shelves,
but they should be tended lovingly and with judgment.
If the dusting can be done just outside the room so much the better.
The books removed, the shelf should be lifted quite out of its bearings,
cleansed and wiped, and then each volume should be taken separately,
and gently rubbed on back and sides with a soft cloth. In returning
the volumes to their places, notice should be taken of the binding,
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