marking your place with memories

Buying a new book is like purchasing something new and fresh, but buying an old book is acquiring a treasure. And like so many treasures, with old books there is much more than meets the eye. \nA buyer of an old book gets to experience that shiver of excitement as they open their purchase, "Well, what do we have here?"\nWhat reader hasn't used an odd bit of paper, a useless receipt, a letter or a photograph when a more suitable bookmark wasn't available? The forgetfulness of human nature mixed with the transient nature of these temporary bookmarks has created a minor phenomenon -- "finding."\nThe obvious place to find old books, and the treasures left pressed between their pages, is a used bookstore. Caveat Emptor, located at 112 N. Walnut St., is a cramped space filled to the ceiling with books. \nJanis Starcs, co-owner and manager, usually manages to return lost items back to people. If Starcs finds something as a customer is selling it to him, he gives it back to them. \n"I've found love letters, thank-you notes, birthday cards -- things from someone who meant something (to the owner)," Starcs said. \nBut the occasional treasure slips through. \nHe remembers a specific item found as especially entertaining. He doesn't remember the book, and he doesn't remember what year, only that the book was sold right before spring break. The found item? A spring break packing list -- including a towel, suntan lotion, swim trunks and condoms.\n"He was planning his fun in a really systematic way," Starcs said with a laugh. \nStarcs also finds a lot of photos -- photos of family, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends and babies.\n"We get a lot of shots of people whooping it up at Nick's," he said.\nBut while packing lists and photos are interesting, the most common thing found is bits of paper.\n"People use things that are convenient, things they can reach for when they need to mark their place," Starcs said. "Little random pieces of paper."\nAnd as with every niche and interest, there's a magazine. \nFOUND Magazine is a journal dedicated to the beauty of all things found. Representatives from FOUND are visiting Bloomington at 7 p.m. Oct. 5 at Boxcar Books, 310A S. Washington St. \nDavy Rothbart, one of the founders of the Michigan-based magazine, believes Bloomington to be a finding hot spot.\n"I've noticed that Bloomington is fertile territory for found stuff, we get a lot of stuff from Indiana," he said. "I know there's already a great community of finders."\nThe trick to finding something cool, Rothbart said, is simply an issue of persistence. \n"It's just a matter of reading a lot and checking books out or buying them from garage sales and used bookstores," he said.\nA found object from Boxcar Books is featured on the first page of FOUND's new book, "The Best, Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World."\nThe letter reads: "From one citizen to another. This book I quite seriously believe all people should read. It is not very hard to read, so I think you'll enjoy it. Lance DiBella." \nCorinna Manion, a volunteer at Boxcar Books, found the letter featured in the book. While the letter featured in FOUND's book was a neat find, Manion has another favorite. \n"I've always loved shopping lists." \nBut the ultimate find wasn't made by her. Boxcar Books participates in Midwest Pages to Prisoners, a program that gets used books to inmates. One man found a pressed leaf in the middle of a book and wrote Manion a letter of thanks. \n"He described opening the book and having the leaf fall down onto his chest. It was the best letter," Manion said. "He went on to write that he hadn't seen a tree in more than 10 years." \nBara Swinson, circulation manager at the Monroe County Public Library, said of the two million books circulated at the MCPL this year, about one-fourth have something left behind between pages.\nThe library has a routine with how to deal with these lost items. If they can identify who it belongs to, they call them and let them know. If they can't identify the owner or it sits unclaimed too long, it is shredded or thrown out. \nThe most common items the library finds are photographs: studio photographs, snapshots of the family, pictures of friends out at the bars. Often the things that weren't intended for the general public to see. \nOh, really?\n"No, we've never found anything pornographic," Swinson said. "Mainly, it's stuff a sibling might harass you about, but no, we've never found anything risqué." \nBut Swinson has also found another type of photo -- a sonogram -- that she was happily able to return to the owner. \nSwinson's happiest story of a lost item involves returning a packet of pictures to a woman. The pictures depicted a recently deceased relative.\n"It makes me very happy to be able to match someone back up with things they've lost," Swinson said.\nBut just like Starcs' spring break packing list, not all lost items are so innocuous. \n"We also sometimes get icky stuff, things that damage the books -- dead bugs, Swiss cheese," she said.\nSwiss cheese?\n"Yep. I think when you use cheese as a bookmark, you pretty much decide to buy the book."\nWhile the found items range from personal to perishable, they all tell a little about the person who left them behind.\n"Sometimes people just forget things," Starcs said.\n-- Contact opinion editor Kehla West at krwest@indiana.edu.