In the Margins

Since we hoard books in our house, it is often likely that when a particular classic is called for in a high school English class, we already have it. Of course it is not a pristine copy; it is usually adorned with such "English majorisms" as "illustrates dichotomy between life in city and life in country" or "example of bildungsroman." While our children initially balked at taking such tomes to school, they began to see their advantage. There were answers in those margins!

Turns out that other people appreciate marginalia, too. I learned this several years ago when I wrote an article about the rare old books in the Georgetown Law library. And a new exhibit at Chicago's Newberry Library celebrates "Other People's Books" with marginal notes by the likes of Mark Twain and Thomas Jefferson.

A recent article about the exhibit in the New York Times points out that while it's possible to annotate electronically, it is not so easy to preserve those digital annotations. So add marginalia to the list of What We Have Lost with E-Books (along with, perhaps, paper cuts and Borders?).

Life on the margins: It may be better than we think.