the middle shelf was given over to more light-minded reading : a small selection of romances , slightly ragged with much reading , featuring robinson crusoe ; tom jones , in a set of seven small , leather-covered volumes ; roderick random , in four volumes ; and sir henry richardson 's monstrous pamela , done in two gigantic octavo bindings-the first of these decorated with multiple bookmarks , ranging from a ragged dried maple leaf to a folded penwiper , these indicating the points which various readers had reached before giving up , either temporarily or permanently .