Salient features of printed books

can be owned
material aura: material interactivity
indexes a history (personal, cultural)
annotateability
public, when in libraries
reflect class (who owns deluxe coffee table books)
portability
stability of individual copies over time
subjectivates its users: we own a particular book, we become (or can pretend to be) a particular type of person
serendipity: one can wander randomly through them
aesthetic/formal richness