The Steipler Gaon Taking Care of Living and Breathing Seforim

The Steipler Gaon was especially makpid on Kevod HaSefer. The sefer Toldos Yaakov gives some examples of his diligence and sensitivity in his Kevod HaSefer.

• Once, when someone took out the wrong sefer for him, before returning it to its place on the shelf he made sure to learn something from it in order not to “embarrass” it.
• He would fix every rip in his seforim. When he rebound his Shas he said, “I have pleasure from the fact that my seforim have been restored with their proper honor.”
• If he fell asleep on a sefer after learning until his last ounce of energy dissipated, he would feel terrible about the lack of kovod for the sefer.
• Two of his seforim, Birchas Peretz and Chayei Olam, were originally sold at cost price because he felt they were worthwhile to disseminate publicly. Afterward, he decided to raise the price because he felt it was not kovod for the seforim to be sold so inexpensively. The profits were given to Tzedoka.