Genius Fan

It’s a trivial pleasure, but discovering that a book you just bought has ‘next level’ heft is very satisfying…Look, I’ll keep this short. This post has been sitting in my drafts for weeks. I’ve rewritten the intro more than a dozen times. Why? Because: Who cares about the heft of a book? If no-one cares, why would I bother writing about it? I still have no answer that rolls of my tongue. In the introduction to her book Portable Magic, Emma Smith includes heft among a wide range of characteristics embodied by what she calls bookhood: “Our reading is always conditioned by our consciousness of the book itself and its inalienable bookhood.” She says we have to learn to handle and manipulate the book as if it’s a device. And the act of hefting a book is part of that. (In the same way I dithered over writing this post, so I dithered over illustrating it. Let me be clear, however, there is only one way to heft a book and that’s in the palm of your hand. Anything other that just ‘ain’t hefting’.)

I say the heft of a book is its density. Book collectors and ordinary readers will be at least subconsciously aware of the heft of any book they handle. We handle them from the youngest age and develop a sense of how heavy a book object of a certain size should be. A book in heft deficit is barely remarkable, but one in heft surplus, well that stands out. I own one volume that has undeniable ‘heft’ and when I take it off the shelf it’s a pleasure to hold. Our Journey to the Hebrides, Joseph and Elizabeth Pennell’s late Victorian account of Boswell and Johnson’s Eighteenth century tour of Scotland, is unusually dense for its size. Maybe it’s to do with the paper and the cover boards. It also feels a little cooler (lower in temperature) than any other book of the same size. The Pennell’s book has ‘next level’ heft. You can hold any book in your hand to feel the weight. Jog the book up and down in the palm of your hand. Do that and you are hefting the book. I’ve said way too much on this subject.

Right, remind me never to attempt a post like this again. On book hefting, I defer to Emma Smith and her excellent book.

Notes
Portable Magic, Emma Smith (2022)
Our Journey to the Hebrides, Joseph and Elizabeth Pennell (1889)