A few greasy looking smears
and next to them, written in soft pencil-
by a beautiful girl, I could tell,
whom I would never meet-
“Pardon the egg salad stains, but I’m in love.”

– Billy Collins “Marginalia“

The New York Times had a great story recently about those who scribble in the margins of books. I hear a chorus of librarians groaning and lamenting the sanctity of bound material – but wait! You see, the idea of virginal pages is a new concept that came to power in the 20th century. Mark Twain, Charles Darwin and Studs Terkel all were proponents of the dirty deed.

There’s a fear among scholars that these valuable historical insights might be less preserved with the rise of e-books. But forget doodles; handwriting itself seems to be in grave danger. I can’t remember how to make a cursive Q.

My books are clean, I swear, but I’m tempted to rough them up a bit.