BOOKWORM 



Papyrus and parchment books, however, were 

 usually written on a long strip of the material 

 and rolled up just as modern maps are rolled, 

 to preserve them. Gradually the binding of 

 books became a craft that equaled the making 

 of rare jewelry, and books were cherished for 

 their beauty and not for their contents. Enor- 

 mous books bound in bright-colored leathers 

 were sometimes carried in public processions. 

 Marvels of beauty and workmanship adorned 

 the altars of cathedrals, books with vellum 

 leaves, bound between plates of silver studded 

 with precious stones. Some of the old books 

 had covers of enamel, some had carved ivory 

 covers, others had covers studded with crys- 

 tals, gems and cameos. The book of Gospels 

 on which the English kings took their corona- 

 tion oath was bound between boards an inch 

 thick with leather thongs for fastening them 

 together, with ornaments of hammered brass on 

 the corners and a huge brazen crucifix on the 

 side. 



Chinese and Japanese Bookbinding. The art 

 of making paper was invented by the Chinese, 

 probably in the first century A. D., although it 

 did not reach Europe until nearly a thousand 

 years later. The Chinese, too, were using 

 block printing long before it was invented in 

 the West. But whereas we have to-day count- 

 less machines for printing and binding, the 

 Chinese and Japanese are still printing and 

 binding as they did a thousand years ago. 

 They print their books on very thin paper, so 

 thin that only one side can be used. All the 

 sheets are double, with a fold at the edge of 

 a leaf instead of a cut edge, and sometimes, 

 if the paper is very thin, there is an interlining 

 of paper as well, making three thicknesses in 

 all. The books are put between covers of 

 pasteboard covered with cloth, and the leaves 

 are sewed together and the covers sewed on at 

 the same time. Even the latest Japanese Who's 

 Who (although that is not what it is called in 

 Japan) is bound in this primitive way. A. c. 



834 BOONE 



prefer old books; at one time a cigarette beetle 

 was found breeding in a copy of Dante's Divine 

 Comedy which had been printed in 1536. The 

 best preventive is frequent overhauling of 

 books; the grubs Can be eradicated by exposing 

 books in a tight box to the fumes of carbon 

 bisulphide. 



A person, who spends more time with books 

 than with people is called a "bookworm." 



BOOMERANG, boom' erang, the famous 

 missile of the Australian aborigines, the best 

 known form of which, when thrown, returns to 

 its owner. The return boomerang is shaped 

 like a sickle or a rude and very open V, and 



Subject*. Under the following head- 

 ings will be found material of interest to the 

 reader of this article: 



Bookplate 

 Caxton. William 

 Faust. Johann 

 Gutenberg, John 



Manuscript 

 Morris. William 

 Palimpsest 

 Printing 



BOOKWORM, a book-ruining insect or grub, 

 which feeds on the leather and paste of book 

 bindings, and sometimes even eats holes in 

 the paper. A very common form of bookw<5rm 

 is the grub of a kind of beetle. All bookworms 



FORMS OF BOOMERANGS 



it is a deadly weapon in the hands of experts. 

 It is about three feet in length and weighs 

 from eight ounces upward. It can be thrown 

 accurately at least a hundred yards. The non- 

 return boomerang is straighter and is thrown 

 as nearly as possible in a straight line. The 

 use of the boomerang has much decreased with 

 the introduction of more effective weapons, and 

 it has become largely a somewhat dangerous 

 toy, though the Australians sometimes use it 

 to kill birds. Some of the natives of India 

 also make boomerangs. 



A false statement made by a person, coming 

 back to embarrass him, is called a boomerang. 



BOONE, boon, DANIEL (1734-1820), the most 

 famous pioneer and backwoodsman of early 

 American history, was born in Pennsylvania, 

 near the present city of Reading, on Novem- 

 ber 2, 1734. In 1751 the family settled at the 

 forks of the Yadkin in Davie County, then on 

 the North Carolina frontier. Daniel learned 

 to read and write and acquired enough knowl- 

 edge of arithmetic to enable him to become 

 a surveyor, but in the lore of the woods and 

 in sagacity and fearlessness not even the craft- 

 iest Indian could outdo him, and he became a 

 great hunter and trapper. 



From the time he was twenty his life was 

 full of adventure. He took part in the dis- 

 astrous Braddock expedition against Fort 

 Duquesne in 1755 (see BRADDOCK, EDWARD), was 

 a leader in protecting the frontier against In- 



