kept by · the keeper · in the small room behind the office
shelf — within reach
shelf — for cold mornings
the keeper keeps a working library. nothing here is sealed. the
spines are cracked at the right places; the household manual
lies open most of the time, because the household never quite
stops asking it questions.
most read: the handbook of returns
and the current diary, which is
not literature. least read: the volumes of hexture
and adundas, which the keeper bought
from the binder's overstock and
keeps out of obligation. they remain almost untouched.
a few books are missing from this shelf and listed in the keeper's
hand on the back of an envelope, with the names of those who
borrowed them, the dates they were taken, and a small dot beside
the ones who are not expected to return.
field note · inside the household manual a working book gets dirty. clean books are suspicious. if a manual is too clean, the house has not been kept; if a manual is too ruined, the keeper has been keeping the wrong things.
see also · on keepers · the library · the shelf · the binder's ledger · ritual