Most matches in books are safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface. The alternative, “strike-anywhere” types are usually stick matches, which come in boxes.
I heard this story from my dad:
His sister had gotten a job in a match factory. I think this must have around 1920, give or take a couple years. Her job was to gather the matches from the manufacturing line and place them manually into the boxes.
After a few days, she came home one night, eager to demonstrate her job to her family. She got a couple boxes of matches, placed the empty boxes on one end of the dining room table, and spread out the contents on the other end, to simulate her work station. She then began to rapidly gather the matches by handfuls, preparing to place them into the boxes. When she started to handle the matches, the “strike-anywhere” heads ignited, giving her a handful of blazing matches! Evidently, the matches in the factory were still a moist enough from the manufacturing process that this was not an issue on the line.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.