As a follow-up to my blog entry from earlier in the month, here are some more examples of innocent library books that have been defiled and scarred by cruel slashes from various implements of writing. This first example is particularly remarkable: it’s a defaced library book with the very tool used to deface it still inside! Yes, indeed, this blood-red, rather chewed-up pencil was stuck between the pages of the hapless book when I checked it out. Most bizarrely, the inscription on the pencil reads: USE YOUR FAMILY PENCIL TO GET YOUR MONEY. How cryptic. If I could track down the owner of the pencil, I would ask what the strange saying means - right before I employed the pencil for a little death by scribbling.

Further reading…