The library copy of Moby Dick with all the margin notes

I was rebinding a beat up 1960s library edition of Moby Dick last week for a customer in Portland, and someone had written all over the margins in pencil. Tiny little thoughts like 'this is about whaling but also about obsession' and 'why does he keep listing stuff'. I almost erased them to give it a clean start, but I stopped. Those notes are part of the book's history now, and they tell a story about who read it before. Do you guys ever leave the previous owner's scribbles in a rebind, or do you always clean them out?

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patricia_king2316d ago

Always leave them in. Those pencil marks are like a map of someone's reading journey, and they add character to the book. Just make sure the lead won't stain the new pages if it gets pressed, and if it's too smudgy, a soft eraser on the really messy parts works fine.