Today, while touring the Palazzo Borromeo, on the Isola Bella near Stresa, Italy (see posts below), I took a picture of the spines of some old books in the library. One was entitled ‘Statues Antique and Modern’, though I couldn’t pull it out just to see how ‘modern’ modern got. I felt sad that hundreds of volumes sat on shelves, wired shut so tourists wouldn’t filch them. An unread book is a sad thing, but I suppose, in time, reading also destroys books. The one to the left of the statues book had lost the finish on its leather; more loved but more worn as well.