One of the earliest and strictest lessons to the children of the house being how to turn the pages of their own literary possessions lightly and deliberately, with no chance of tearing or dog’s ears.
Ruskin, preface to Sesames and Lilies
And my ambition now is (is it a vain one?) to be read by Children aged from Nought to Five. To be read? Nay, not so! Say rather to be thumbed, to be cooed over, to be dogs’-eared, to be rumpled, to be kissed, by the illiterate, ungrammatical, dimpled Darlings, that fill your Nursery with merry uproar, and your inmost heart of hearts with a restful gladness!
Lewis Carroll, preface to The Nursery Alice
Child! do not throw this book about;
Hilaire Belloc, dedication of A Bad Child’s Book of Beasts
Refrain from the unholy pleasure
of cutting all the pictures out!
Preserve it as your chiefest treasure.
The first two quotes are from this article. The last I found in my copy of Barlett’s Familiar Quotations.
Until recently, I’ve sided with Ruskin and Belloc, but I’m starting to see the wisdom of Carroll’s ambition.
