While you're there, you'll also read about a man named Reverend James Granger: the 18th century English dude who infamously put extra stuff into books. When you've finished reading, come back here.
...All done then? Right. So, it was while researching Rev. Granger that I came across this quote:
"There is one member of the Fraternity of Book Collectors who has of late years rather fallen in the estimation of his brother Bibliophiles. This knight of the shears and paste jar...is known in bookman's parlance as the Grangerite. The title never has been understood to indicate exalted bibliophilic rank, and now, alas! the individual who bears it appears to be upon point of losing all honorary distinction whatever in the little world of the book collector."
- W.L. Andrews, from Of the Extra-Illustration of Books
Source: With Deft Knife and Paste: The Extra-Illustrated Books of John M. Wing, by Jill Gage
(Well. Tell us how you really feel, Mr. Andrews.)
Anyhow, when I read that quote, what stuck in my brain and refused to leave was the phrase "knight of the shears and paste jar." Seeing as this little phrase seemed determined to take up such stubborn residence in my head, I decided to get out my art supplies and breathe a little life into it:
Perhaps if I go a bit further and fashion Sir Cutandpaste his very own noble steed, he'll finally decamp from my brain and ride off into the sunset, searching for books to Grangerize.
Or, maybe he's come to like living in my head, and intends to hang out a while longer, steed or no steed, cutting and pasting new stuff into the other thoughts living in there.
I'm cool with either.
