Endangered books

SIR – Books aren’t just threatened by damp, beetles and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (report, May 2).

Too many are being taken out of the public realm as they are flogged off by museums, universities, religious bodies, libraries, government departments and the like. I have seen many rare books up for auction that had supposedly been donated to such institutions in perpetuity. Roger Croston

Christleton, Cheshire