a pasteboard library card that records any spoken sound as an overdue charge until it is paid in silence.

The object conforms to a standard borrowers’ card, ruled for name, date, and fines. The card remains blank for borrower particulars. When placed on a table within a room where speech occurs, entries appear under the fines column in graphite, in sums from one farthing to two shillings. The description line names the sound in plain terms (e.g. “throat-clearing,” “chair scrape”) and gives a time of occurrence to the minute. The entries persist until the card is kept in a closed drawer without human speech for an interval equal to the recorded duration of the named sound. Silence observed in an unoccupied room does not discharge the charges. Attempts to erase the entries remove only the ruling beneath them. The metal eyelet shows abrasion consistent with long use on a spindle. The card produces no entries from music produced mechanically, but does so from humming.