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appearance.’
‘“The authorities are as yet unable to reveal what is to be done with this deposit of quartz books.”’
The dwarf produced another galley.
‘“Quartz Book Deposit Released for Use as Building Material!”’
he declaimed. ‘“After intensive research by the geological department of Bookholm University, the mayor’s office has decided that the rich deposit of quartz books found in a lateral branch of the Optimus Yarnspinner Shaft (as we reported) shall now be released for use as a building material free of charge. ‘The universal shortage of building materials occasioned by the Great Conflagration,’ Mayor HEMATITUS HEMO personally announced, ‘coupled with the scientific discovery that the process of petrification has deprived the fossilised books of all their ability to transmit information – and thus their status as antiquarian treasures – allowed of only this conclusion. The petrified books make excellent ashlars and roof tiles. They also look extremely handsome and are quite in keeping with the general character of Bookholmian architecture.’”’
The gnome unearthed yet another galley.
‘“Quartz Books Used as Building Material Promote the City’s Architectural Development!”’
he crowed. ‘“The official release of excavated quartz books for use as a building material has led to record building activity, particularly in districts surrounding the Optimus Yarnspinner Shaft. The local builders’ association has announced that the use of quartz books, especially for libraries—”’
‘All right!’ I broke in. ‘So the things are fireproof, I get it. Waterproof, too. That’s all I wanted to know.’
My Live Historical Newspaper obediently fell silent and stowed his galleys away. Quartz books, well, well. So the catacombs were still full of undiscovered marvels and treasures. Any other city would have made a big song and dance out of this find, which was one of nature’s miracles, whereas here it was disposed of as a building material!
We walked on in silence for a while, then turned down an alleyway and eventually reached a small square where the dwarf came to a sudden halt and solemnly announced: ‘We come now to older districts. Here Revolution Square. Here Naborik Bigosu burnt to death.’
I looked around. The little square made an inconspicuous impression and contained no shops. Some of the buildings surrounding it were Buchting Brick Gothic, others in the rusty Ironvillean Heavy Industry style or in frivolous Florinthian Baroque – the usual picturesque architectural farrago, in other words, and interspersed with quartz-book brick, which I was beginning to like more and more.
‘Narobik Bigosu?’ I asked my guide. ‘Never heard of him. Was there a revolution in Bookholm? Really? What kind?’
He rummaged among his papers and held a galley up to the light.
‘“From Prohibition to Revolution. A Historical Summary to Mark the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the Bookholm Fire Revolution, by HEMLO DRUDEL.”’
The gnome looked at me with his head on one side. ‘Read you?’
‘By all means,’ I replied. ‘Sounds interesting.’
‘“The prohibition of fire is one of the darkest chapters in recent Bookholmian history,”’ he began. ‘“In hindsight it seems almost inconceivable that a genuine attempt was made to ban the lighting and use of fire in Bookholm, yet it really forms a part of the city’s history. That it happened shortly after the last conflagration, and was attributable mainly to the ambition of certain reactionary Bookemists, may render it somewhat more comprehensible, but far from entirely so. Bookholm’s population was in a hopeless, aimless state of mind, the political situation anarchic, the city administration completely paralysed. Conditions were so chaotic that a group of fundamentalist Bookemists under the leadership of the charismatic antiquarian, astronomer and alchemistic charlatan NABORIK BIGOSU (an adherent and former
‘“The authorities are as yet unable to reveal what is to be done with this deposit of quartz books.”’
The dwarf produced another galley.
‘“Quartz Book Deposit Released for Use as Building Material!”’
he declaimed. ‘“After intensive research by the geological department of Bookholm University, the mayor’s office has decided that the rich deposit of quartz books found in a lateral branch of the Optimus Yarnspinner Shaft (as we reported) shall now be released for use as a building material free of charge. ‘The universal shortage of building materials occasioned by the Great Conflagration,’ Mayor HEMATITUS HEMO personally announced, ‘coupled with the scientific discovery that the process of petrification has deprived the fossilised books of all their ability to transmit information – and thus their status as antiquarian treasures – allowed of only this conclusion. The petrified books make excellent ashlars and roof tiles. They also look extremely handsome and are quite in keeping with the general character of Bookholmian architecture.’”’
The gnome unearthed yet another galley.
‘“Quartz Books Used as Building Material Promote the City’s Architectural Development!”’
he crowed. ‘“The official release of excavated quartz books for use as a building material has led to record building activity, particularly in districts surrounding the Optimus Yarnspinner Shaft. The local builders’ association has announced that the use of quartz books, especially for libraries—”’
‘All right!’ I broke in. ‘So the things are fireproof, I get it. Waterproof, too. That’s all I wanted to know.’
My Live Historical Newspaper obediently fell silent and stowed his galleys away. Quartz books, well, well. So the catacombs were still full of undiscovered marvels and treasures. Any other city would have made a big song and dance out of this find, which was one of nature’s miracles, whereas here it was disposed of as a building material!
We walked on in silence for a while, then turned down an alleyway and eventually reached a small square where the dwarf came to a sudden halt and solemnly announced: ‘We come now to older districts. Here Revolution Square. Here Naborik Bigosu burnt to death.’
I looked around. The little square made an inconspicuous impression and contained no shops. Some of the buildings surrounding it were Buchting Brick Gothic, others in the rusty Ironvillean Heavy Industry style or in frivolous Florinthian Baroque – the usual picturesque architectural farrago, in other words, and interspersed with quartz-book brick, which I was beginning to like more and more.
‘Narobik Bigosu?’ I asked my guide. ‘Never heard of him. Was there a revolution in Bookholm? Really? What kind?’
He rummaged among his papers and held a galley up to the light.
‘“From Prohibition to Revolution. A Historical Summary to Mark the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the Bookholm Fire Revolution, by HEMLO DRUDEL.”’
The gnome looked at me with his head on one side. ‘Read you?’
‘By all means,’ I replied. ‘Sounds interesting.’
‘“The prohibition of fire is one of the darkest chapters in recent Bookholmian history,”’ he began. ‘“In hindsight it seems almost inconceivable that a genuine attempt was made to ban the lighting and use of fire in Bookholm, yet it really forms a part of the city’s history. That it happened shortly after the last conflagration, and was attributable mainly to the ambition of certain reactionary Bookemists, may render it somewhat more comprehensible, but far from entirely so. Bookholm’s population was in a hopeless, aimless state of mind, the political situation anarchic, the city administration completely paralysed. Conditions were so chaotic that a group of fundamentalist Bookemists under the leadership of the charismatic antiquarian, astronomer and alchemistic charlatan NABORIK BIGOSU (an adherent and former
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