Never judge a book by its cover. More importantly, never burn books, as had happened in Berlin 86 years ago. Or throw them away, as was almost the case in Valletta just a few days ago.

“Books are precious things but, more than that, they are the strong backbone of civilisation. They are the thread upon which it all hangs and they can save us when all else is lost,” American novelist Louis L’Amour says in his work ‘Education of a Wandering Man’.

Deciding to throw books away, especially old ones, already raises pertinent questions. Attempting to justify it by saying they had “no particular value” is mind-boggling. This especially coming from a learned person, the Provincial Minister of the Franciscan Order in Malta, to boot.

Had John Milton, whose books had been publicly burned in England and France, been around he would probably have repeated what he had written in 1644: “Books are not absolutely dead things but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are.”

The swift action taken by passers-by when spotting the old publications on a truck in Valletta shows that book lovers remain and that the book lives on despite all the modern-day gadgets at one’s disposal.

This is further evidenced by the fact that public libraries lent out over one million books last year, an increase of 12.2 per cent over 2017.

All book lovers must have been shocked reading what the Franciscan Provincial Minister said: “The general content of the books was of a religious nature. They aren’t of any particular value. They are neither Melitensia nor of any particular historical value or otherwise.” He also argued that the only value the books have was as a collector’s item and that they did not cost more than €20, adding it would take a considerable amount of money to have them restored.

So the books did have some value, after all. In fact, according to the Provincial Minister, the plan was to store them elsewhere and then give them to anyone interested in them. The fact remains that old books were allowed to be thrown haphazardly on a truck with no supervision whatsoever. There surely must have been collectors willing to take them – even at a price – and have them restored at their own expense.

The public outrage at his decision thankfully led to the intervention of the Archbishop and the Culture Minister and the books have now been ‘stored’ by Heritage Malta, hopefully away from any mould.

The immediate action taken by the Culture Minister to save the books contrasted sharply with the attitude of his Cabinet colleague, the Education Minister, which prompted the head of the Malta Book Council to declare his position was no longer tenable. The issue was over the council’s autonomy.

This state of affairs highlights the need for a more concerted effort to be made to not only ensure no books are ‘burned’ or ‘dumped’, at least not before they are properly inspected, but, indeed, to grasp this opportunity to further boost the love for books.

Perhaps it is time for a new lobby group whose main aim would be to fight against what Milton had warned, that he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.