The joys of a good hardback

I hardly ever listen to Saturday Live on R4, but I did today and - gosh! - there was Jane, from Books, Mud and Compost, extolling the virtues of the hardback book - from her Folio Society edition of Diary of a Provincial Lady to the wonderful red 1950s/60s hardback versions of Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories.

You can catch the programme again on the R4 website for the next seven days - Jane's about three-quarters of the way through, just after Howard Jacobson's thoughts about the importance of hardback books from an author's point of view (apropos Picador's decision to abandon publishing in hardback).