After I wrote on 2/6/11 about lending/rental libraries in Austen's day and now on Bookswim, my friend B. e-mailed with a memory from her childhood in Detroit. I thought it was a great follow-up to that post, and upon my request, she agreed for me to post her comments here, below. Thanks, B.!
"After reading your blog about rental libraries, I thought that you'd like to hear from one (not quite as old as Jane Austen) who remembers rental libraries. When I was a kid in the late 30's and early 40's, my local drugstore had a rack of paperbacks (they were the latest thing) as well as some hard-cover books that could be rented for a period of days -- not sure of the precise period -- and the cost was perhaps 5 cents a day. Ancient history! Something I hadn't thought of for ages. Publication of books was restricted because of the shortage of paper during the war years (don't know the cause of this shortage) and paper quality was poor, so perhaps this rental business at that time was the result of short supplies. Young readers loved the idea because it was cheaper than buying a book and faster than waiting on the library list for the latest hot item. Thanks for the jog to my memory...."
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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