But I am keen on viewing reproductions in art albums. Everybody of our family handled the books very carefully. My parents soon explained to me that I could only borrow books with clean hands. My textbooks were always protected and provided with covers, bookmarks, for did not have to flip through the book once again. My father told me that a lot of people involved in making a book. The work of these people is highly valued, so a book is always worth a lot of money. Not every family could afford to have a large library at home. But if parents wanted to give children a good education, they spend part of family's income to supplement their home library and to add some publications of their favorite subjects. Long ago, my father told me that books were a real gem, because in the old days making books was incredibly difficult. As I was a well-bred child, I took note of these words, and saturated with extra-mural respect to ancient books. I could not imagine what it was, because there were only new and just recently the publication of the book required for the job at home. But once we visited a colleague of my father. There was, of course, a great library. When adults are engaged in books, children also take part in this process. And here I first saw what I had been talked my father about. For the first time I picked up a heavy volume bound in leather with gilt-edged pages. I saw antiquarian editions in some incomprehensible language. It was a shock. It was a miracle, and there was even a little scary, like if I found myself in the tale of Hoffmann, or become Alice in Wonderland. But I can say it now. That time I could not find the words for describing my own feeling. I was surprised with the paper which was not like that of our familiar books. I was also surprised with the pictures. They did not look like the ones I used to see in the new books. They seemed to be children’s drawings, but it was clear that an adult had drawn them. And I also remember the smell of those books. It is impossible to describe it and impossible to forget.
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