"WOULD you read a couple of verses of John Donne more fervently if they came in a sleek little tome with some glitzy yellow-gloved glamazon on the cover? (See Carol Ann Duffy’s new anthology, Out of Fashion).

Some would. But a librarian — for which, read a stylish and bookish type who would rather have her nose between some pages than in the air at most parties — wouldn’t care about that. She is the anti-fashionista and so very much more appealing for her accidental and quirky allure. Nothing matters as much as the books and the words, but wait — that doesn’t quite mean that it doesn’t matter at all ..." ('Fusty? No, they just don't go by the book' by Emily Davies. The Times, 22 November 2004)