Bookworms

Have you ever been called a bookworm?  Wondered where the term came from?  How it originated?  The Oxford English Dictionary gives the literal definition of bookworm as: A kind of maggot which destroys books by eating its way through the leaves.

You may have seen older books which have patterns of holes or trails through the pages and wondered how they got there.  Probably from a book worm.  Those older books used a kind of glue or paste on the books which was highly desirable as food for certain kinds of insect larvae.  They bored through book pages, leaving behind a visible and easily recognizable trail.  Here are some pages from one of the Bibles in our Rare Book Room which show evidence of past book worm nibbling!

Book worm trail.

Bookworm trail into front cover.

Another book worm trail.

The OED gives the figurative definition of bookworm as: One who seems to find his chief sustenance in reading, one who is always poring over books.

This particular Bible was evidently not only eaten by bookworms, but was apparently owned by one as well.

Donation letter

Donated to the library in 1975 by Mr. Lewis A White of Cornelius, the six volume set, with commentary, was originally owned by the Rev. Stephen Frontis, who was a local minister, and as Acting Professor of French at Davidson in 1858-1861 taught the first modern language course at Davidson….rare for any liberal arts college prior to the Civil War.  His notation at the end of the sixth volume indicates that he had read through the entire 6 volumes not once, not twice, but three times….certainly the feat of a bookworm!

Owner’s notation.

An inscription in volume one, dated 1867 (the year after he finished his third reading) indicates that he then gave the set to his daughter, Euphrasine.

Inscription to Euphrasine

Wonder if he expected her to follow his example?

So, if you “devour” books, you may consider yourself a bookworm!