The books had many a ducking

[nuniunu]

Hi, I'm reading a book titled <Words in Pain> by Olga Jacoby,
and I read this sentence from here.

The books had many a ducking and some were spoilt, but it improved my mind to learn while sitting twenty minutes in the bath at Ems and Schwalbach.

What does "have a ducking" mean here?
The only meaning of duck I know is an animal, duck...
Thank you!

 

[emsr2d2]

"Ducking" means being dipped in water. The rest of the sentence goes on to explain that she likes to read in the bath so I assume she has dropped some books into the bath water!

Ducking

Did you look the word up online or in a good dictionary before asking here?

 

[Tarheel]

That's why I don't read while sitting in the bathtub.