On the Odors Which My Books Exhale

书香漫溢

Eugene Field

尤金.菲尔德

作者简介

尤金.菲尔德（Eugene Field，1850—1895），美国诗人和专栏作家，以儿童诗歌创作闻名。他也是颇负盛名的藏书家。

尤金.菲尔德藏书楼现属圣路易斯市博物馆，向全市公立学校的学生免费开放。

本文选自1896年出版的尤金.菲尔德遗作《书痴的爱情事件》（The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac）。书中寄托了作者对书的满腔柔情。在写完该书第19章的两天后，尤金.菲尔德在睡梦中与世长辞，没能完成该书最后一章。文中，作者描述了一种奇特的气味——书香。一个人只有具备灵敏的嗅觉、细腻的心思，才能感受书的生命，与书惺惺相惜。作者正是如此，你又是如何？

Have you ever come out of the thick, smoky atmosphere of the town into the fragrant, gracious atmosphere of a library? If you have, you know how grateful the change is, and you will agree with me when I say that nothing else is so quieting to the nerves, so conducive to physical health, and so quick to restore a lively flow of the spirits.

Lafcadio Hearn once wrote a treatise upon perfumes, an ingenious and scholarly performance; he limited the edition to fifty copies and published it privately—so the book is rarely met with. Curiously enough, however, this author had nothing to say in the book about the smells of books, which I regard as a most unpardonable error, unless, properly estimating the subject to be worthy of a separate treatise, he has postponed its consideration and treatment to a time when he can devote the requisite study and care to it.

We have it upon the authority of William Blades that books breathe; however, the testimony of experts is not needed upon this point, for if anybody be sceptical, all he has to do to convince himself is to open a door of a bookcase at any time and his olfactories will be greeted by an outrush of odors that will prove to him beyond all doubt that books do actually consume air and exhale perfumes.

你是否曾穿过城市中弥漫的浓烟，走进图书馆里优雅的芬芳？如果有过如此经历，你就会明白这种转变多么令人愉快，也就会同意我的观点——没什么能比书香更让人心绪平静、身体健康、精神振奋。

小泉八云[1]曾写过一部见解独到的学术著作——一本关于香味的专著。该书未公开出版，只印了50本，所以非常罕见。不过说来也怪，书中竟只字未提书香。我将其视为无法原谅的失误，除非作者明智地意识到书香值得写专文论述，故暂不撰文，待进行必要的研究之后再详细阐述。

威廉•布莱兹[2]的权威著作谈及了书会呼吸。不过，这一点无须专家论证。如果有人怀疑，他只要随时打开书柜，就能闻到扑鼻的书香。这会打消他的所有怀疑，证明书确实会吸入空气，吐出芬芳。

Visitors to the British Museum complain not unfrequently that they are overcome by the closeness of the atmosphere in that place, and what is known as the British Museum headache has come to be recognized by the medical profession in London as a specific ailment due to the absence of oxygen in the atmosphere, which is caused by the multitude of books, each one of which, by that breathing process peculiar to books, consumes several thousand cubic feet of air every twenty-four hours.

Professor Huxley wondered for a long time why the atmosphere of the British Museum should be poisonous while other libraries were free from the poison; a series of experiments convinced him that the presence of poison in the atmosphere was due to the number of profane books in the Museum. He recommended that these poison-engendering volumes be treated once every six months with a bath of cedria, which, as I understand, is a solution of the juices of the cedar tree; this, he said, would purge the mischievous volumes temporarily of their evil propensities and abilities.

常有访客抱怨大英博物馆内空气憋闷、不堪忍受。伦敦医学界已将“大英博物馆头痛症”列为特殊疾病，将其归咎于书太多而造成空气中缺氧。凭借独特的呼吸方式，每本书每天会消耗几千立方英尺的空气。

长期以来，赫胥黎教授[3]一直想知道，为何大英博物馆内空气有毒，其他图书馆却免受此害。一系列实验让他确信，空气有毒是因为博物馆里有亵渎神明的书。他建议，这些制造毒气的书必须每六个月拿“松汁”浸泡一次。据我所知，“松汁”是一种雪松树汁溶液。赫胥黎教授说，这能暂时净化有害卷册邪恶的本性和力量。

I do not know whether this remedy is effective, but I remember to have read in Pliny that cedria was used by the ancients to render their manuscripts imperishable. When Cneius Terentius went digging in his estate in the Janiculum he came upon a coffer which contained not only the remains of Numa, the old Roman king, but also the manuscripts of the famous laws which Numa compiled. The king was in some such condition as you might suppose him to be after having been buried several centuries, but the manuscripts were as fresh as new, and their being so is said to have been due to the fact that before their burial they were rubbed with citrus leaves.

These so-called books of Numa would perhaps have been preserved unto this day but for the fanaticism of the people who exhumed and read them; they were promptly burned by Quintus Petilius, the praetor, because (as Cassius Hemina explains) they treated of philosophical subjects, or because, as Livy testifies, their doctrines were inimical to the religion then existing.

As I have had little to do with profane literature, I know nothing of the habits of such books as Professor Huxley has prescribed an antidote against. Of such books as I have gathered about me and made my constant companions I can say truthfully that a more delectable-flavored lot it were impossible to find. As I walk amongst them, touching first this one and then that, and regarding all with glances of affectionate approval, I fancy that I am walking in a splendid garden, full of charming vistas, wherein parterre after parterre of beautiful flowers is unfolded to my enraptured vision; and surely there never were other odors so delightful as the odors which my books exhale!

我不知道这种处理方法是否有效，但我记得普林尼的著作里提过，古人用松汁保护手稿不致腐坏。格涅乌斯•泰伦提乌斯曾在贾尼科洛山的庄园里挖到一个箱子，里面不但有罗马老国王努马的残骸，还有他订立的著名法典的手稿。国王陛下的模样很糟糕，一看就知道他在地底下待了好几个世纪；但那份手稿却光鲜如新，据说是因为入土前曾用柑橘叶擦拭过。

如果没有那些狂热的发掘者和读者，这些所谓的“努马之书”或许能够保存至今。它们很快被罗马执政官昆图斯•佩蒂留斯付之一炬。根据卡西乌斯•赫米那的解释，焚书原因是这些书探讨了哲学问题。李维则认为，焚书原因是书中理论有悖于当时的宗教学说。

我与亵渎神明的著作一向无甚瓜葛，因此对赫胥黎教授建议处理的有毒书籍一无所知。我敢说，再也找不到比我的藏书、我那些忠实的伙伴味道更妙的东西了。我徜徉在书籍之间，时而摸摸这本，时而碰碰那本，满怀深情地注视每一本书。我幻想自己漫步于一座富丽堂皇的花园，鲜花竞相绽放，美景尽收眼底，令我心醉神迷。确实，没有哪种气味能像书香一样，让人如此愉悦！

My garden aboundeth in pleasant nooks

And fragrance is over it all;

For sweet is the smell of my old, old books

In their places against the wall.

Here is a folio that’s grim with age

And yellow and green with mould;

There’s the breath of the sea on every page

And the hint of a stanch ship’s hold.

And here is a treasure from France la belle

Exhaleth a faint perfume

Of wedded lily and asphodel

In a garden of song abloom.

And this wee little book of Puritan mien

And rude, conspicuous print

Hath the Yankee flavor of wintergreen,

Or, may be, of peppermint.

In Walton the brooks a-babbling tell

Where the cheery daisy grows,

And where in meadow or woodland dwell

The buttercup and the rose.

But best beloved of books, I ween,

Are those which one perceives

Are hallowed by ashes dropped between

The yellow, well-thumbed leaves.

For it’s here a laugh and it’s there a tear,

Till the treasured book is read;

And the ashes betwixt the pages here

Tell us of one long dead.

But the gracious presence reappears

As we read the book again,

And the fragrance of precious, distant years

Filleth the hearts of men

Come, pluck with me in my garden nooks

The posies that bloom for all;

Oh, sweet is the smell of my old, old books

In their places against the wall!

我的花园在怡人角落，

四处弥漫芳香；

因为旧书香气袭人，

书架倚着高墙。

这部对开本年久色衰，

霉斑有绿有黄；

每页散发大海的气息，

暗示密封船舱。

这是法国佳丽的珍宝，

散发隐约芳香，

香气中有百合与水仙，

园中歌声飞扬。

这本清教徒风范的小书，

印得粗鲁张狂，

带着美国佬的冬青味道，

或许有薄荷香。

沃尔顿喋喋不休的小溪旁，

雏菊愉快生长；

而在草地或林场上，

毛茛玫瑰开放。

但是最可爱的书，我想

让你有所感受，

泛黄发皱书页上的灰烬，

让它倍显神圣。

这有欢笑，那有泪水，

直至读完珍藏；

留在书页之间的灰烬，

讲述漫长死亡。

当我们再次阅读此书，

仍旧倍感亲切，

珍贵旧时光留下的芬芳，

充盈人们心房。

来吧，随我到花园角落，

摘取花朵馨香；

哦，我的旧书香气袭人，

书架倚着高墙！

Better than flowers are they, these books of mine! For what are the seasons to them? Neither can the drought of summer nor the asperity of winter wither or change them. At all times and under all circumstances they are the same—radiant, fragrant, hopeful, helpful! There is no charm which they do not possess, no beauty that is not theirs.

What wonder is it that from time immemorial humanity has craved the boon of carrying to the grave some book particularly beloved in life? Even Numa Pompilius provided that his books should share his tomb with him. Twenty-four of these precious volumes were consigned with him to the grave. When Gabriel Rossetti’s wife died, the poet cast into her open grave the unfinished volume of his poems, that being the last and most precious tribute he could pay to her cherished memory.

History records instance after instance of the consolation dying men have received from the perusal of books, and many a one has made his end holding in his hands a particularly beloved volume. The reverence which even unlearned men have for books appeals in these splendid libraries which are erected now and again with funds provided by the wills of the illiterate. How dreadful must be the last moments of that person who has steadfastly refused to share the companionship and acknowledge the saving grace of books!

Such, indeed, is my regard for these friendships that it is with misery that I contemplate the probability of separation from them by and by. I have given my friends to understand that when I am done with earth certain of my books shall be buried with me. The list of these books will be found in the left-hand upper drawer of the old mahogany secretary in the front spare room.

我的书比花更妙！季节更替又如何？无论夏日干旱，还是冬日严寒，都无法使其枯萎、将其改变。无论何时何地，书籍始终如一，永远光彩夺目、芬芳四溢、充满希望、使人受益！书籍魅力无穷，蕴藏无尽之美。

人类自古就渴望将爱书带进坟墓，这是多么奇妙！即使努马国王也和书籍分享墓穴，用24卷珍贵典籍陪葬。加百利•罗塞蒂[4]的妻子去世后，诗人将未竟的诗篇投入她开敞的墓穴。这是诗人最后的、也是最宝贵的礼物，铭刻妻子在世时的珍贵记忆。

历史记录了一个又一个例证：垂死之人靠熟读书籍得到安慰，许多人弥留之际手持爱书，直至离开人世。即使目不识丁的人也对书籍尊敬有加。许多金碧辉煌的图书馆都是靠文盲遗赠的基金建起的。对那些拒不与书为伴、也不知书中益处的人来说，临终时刻将是多么可怕！

这便是我与书的友谊。想到和它们分开的日子也许已不远，我就心生苦楚。我已告知友人，当我离开人世，定要拿爱书陪葬。我家客房里有张古老的桃花心木写字台，在写字台左边上层抽屉里能找到这些书的清单。

我徜徉在书籍之间，时而摸摸这本，时而碰碰那本，满怀深情地注视每一本书。我幻想自己漫步于一座富丽堂皇的花园，鲜花竞相绽放，美景尽收眼底，令我心醉神迷。

Eugene Field 尤金•菲尔德

[1]小泉八云（Koizumi Yakumo，1850—1904），原名帕特里克.拉夫卡迪奥.赫恩（Patrick Lafcadio Hearn），旅居日本的英国人。他将日本民间故事改写成英文短篇，成为现代日本怪谈文学的鼻祖。

[2]威廉.布莱兹（William Blades，1824—1890），英国书目文献学家、印刷史家。

[3]汤玛斯.亨利.赫胥黎（Thomas Henry Huxley，1825—1895），英国著名博物学家。

[4] 丹蒂.加百利.罗塞蒂（Dante Gabriel Rossetti，1828—1882），英国诗人和画家。他的妻子在生下一名死婴后服用过多鸦片酊而死。万分沮丧的罗塞蒂在她的墓地埋葬了大量未完成的诗稿。