A Dummy For Your Books
November 2nd, 2006 by Alan Chudnow
I was flipping through Margot Rosenberg and Bern Marcowitz’s The Care and Feeding of Books Old and New† (MJF Books 2002) this morning when I came across something I’d never been aware of before, the book dummy. I’m certain any number of bibliophiles who read this will be crying out, “How could you not know about book dummies!” Well, it may seem odd but I guess I just never ran across them.
A book dummy is a book-shaped replacement made of a sturdy, light-weight material that takes the place of a volume that has been removed from its place on the shelf. As most caretakers of books know, allowing a book to lean at an angle is a sure way to cock a spine, that is, cause it to warp out of alignment. Books should always stand upright on their bottom edges, in a straight vertical line.
Often, when you remove a book from the shelf, the two books on either side will have a tendency to lean over. Typically this happens with paperbacks or more slender hardcovers but I’ve know larger books to want to take a little rest given the opportunity. How do you avoid this? Enter the book dummy.
Now I have to say that over the years I’ve been using a variety of different objects slipped in as surrogate book fillers. A piece of decorative ceramic, a crystal bud vase, even on rare occasions one of my sons plastic action figures have all been pressed into service. I have come to learn that all these, however practical or decorative, place an uneven pressure on the adjoining books and, if left for any length of time, can cause damage. Far better to use a book dummy.
They are available quite cheaply from library suppliers in a variety of heights and widths. Some come with a plastic sleeve along the spine used to indicate the title of the book being replaced but for personal use a nice idea is to customize the dummy in some decorative way.
Rosenberg and Marcowitz suggest covering the dummy with a piece of fabric that matches your décor or attaching thumbnail-sized photos or artwork along the spine. Printing up clever or satirical book spines on your home color printer is another suggestion. Just be sure that whatever you use will not react with the books on either side.
And hey, with the holidays coming up, a set of personalized book dummies may be just the thing for that hard-to-buy-for bibliophile.
You can purchase book dummies online at the following:
www.brodart.com
www.gaylordmart.com
www.demco.com
