Bibliophilia

Last updated
The Bookworm, 1850, by Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg - "The Bookworm".jpg
The Bookworm, 1850, by Carl Spitzweg

Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books.

Contents

Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, autographed copies, or illustrated versions. Bibliophilia is distinguishable from bibliomania, a compulsive obsession to collect books which can affect interpersonal relationships or health. The term "bibliophile" has been in use since 1820 and has been associated with historical figures like Lord Spencer and J.P. Morgan, who were known for their extensive book collections.

Profile

The classic bibliophile loves to read, admire and collect books, [upper-alpha 1] often amassing a large and specialized collection. Bibliophiles usually possess books they love or that hold special value, as well as old editions with unusual bindings, autographed, or illustrated copies. [3] "Bibliophile" is an appropriate term for a minority of those who are book collectors. [4]

Usage of the term

Bibliophilia is not to be confused with bibliomania, a potential symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder involving the collecting of books to the extent that interpersonal relations or health may be negatively affected, and in which the mere fact that a physical object is a book is sufficient for it to be collected or beloved. Some use the term "bibliomania" interchangeably with "bibliophily", and in fact, the Library of Congress does not use the term "bibliophily," but rather refers to its readers as either book collectors or bibliomaniacs. [5] [ verification needed ]

History

According to Arthur H. Minters, the "private collecting of books was a fashion indulged in by many Romans, including Cicero and Atticus". [6] The term bibliophile entered the English language in 1820. [7] A bibliophile is to be distinguished from the much older notion of a bookman (which dates back to 1583), who is one who loves books, and especially reading; more generally, a bookman is one who participates in writing, publishing, or selling books. [8]

Lord Spencer and the Marquess of Blandford were noted bibliophiles. "The Roxburghe sale quickly became a foundational myth for the burgeoning secondhand book trade, and remains so to this day"; this sale is memorable due to the competition between "Lord Spencer and the marquis of Blandford [which] drove [the price of a probable first edition of Boccaccio's Decameron up to the astonishing and unprecedented sum of £2,260". [9] J. P. Morgan was also a noted bibliophile. In 1884, he paid $24,750 ($772,130.92, adjusted for inflation for 2021) [10] for a 1459 edition of the Mainz Psalter. [11] Many bibliophiles such as Jay I. Kislak, donate their collections to libraries.

In the 20th century, the American tradition of women book collectors begins with the Women's Bibliophile Club in New York City, Hroswitha Club.

See also

The Bibliophile Society of Boston art from a limited edition book by Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau - The Bibliophile Society.jpg
The Bibliophile Society of Boston art from a limited edition book by Henry David Thoreau
Similar terms

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Heber</span> English book-collector

Richard Heber was an English book collector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliomania</span> Aspect of obsessive–compulsive disorder

Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book collecting</span> Activity of collecting books

Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is bibliophilia, and someone who loves to read, admire, and a person who collects books is often called a bibliophile but can also be known as an bibliolater, meaning being overly devoted to books, or a bookman which is another term for a person who has a love of books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookworm (insect)</span> Any insect that is said to bore through books

Bookworm is a general name for any insect that is said to bore through books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holbrook Jackson</span> English journalist, writer, socialist activist and publisher

George Holbrook Jackson was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Used book</span> Book which has been owned before by an owner other than the publisher or retailer

A used book or secondhand book is a book which has been owned before by an owner other than the publisher or retailer, usually by an individual or library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxburghe Club</span>

The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom.

A bookworm or bibliophile is an avid reader and lover of books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles</span> Student society at the University of Oxford

The Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles is a book collecting and bibliophile club run by students at the University of Oxford. It was originally founded in 1950 by a group of young bibliophiles, with the first meetings being held in Hilary term of 1951. For fifty years the Society held regular lectures, visits and other events during the University terms, and many of the leading bibliographers, librarians, book collectors, booksellers and other literary figures of the period spoke to the Society or hosted visits. Many of the Society's junior members went on to become prominent figures in the world of books, and some later served as senior members of the Society. One of the most influential members was John Sparrow, Warden of All Souls, who encouraged a love of books and manuscripts in a generation of students, and hosted a termly "Warden's Meeting"at which members were encouraged to bring items from their own libraries to pass round and say a few words about; the tradition of the "Warden's Meeting" continued after 1986, when the Warden himself was too ill to host the meetings and, indeed, after his death in 1992. Another of the Society's traditions was the quality of the termly programme cards, often produced by the leading printers and private presses of the age, including the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, the Rampant Lions Press, the Samson Press, the Fantasy Press, the Kit-Cat Press, Big Wheel Press, the Perpetua Press, the Incline Press, the Whittington Press, the Libanus Press, the Rocket Press, the Stanbrook Abbey Press and the Stamperia Valdonega.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Library</span>

The Ashley Library is a collection of original editions of English poets from the 17th century onwards, including their prose works as well as those in verse, collected by the bibliographer, collector, forger, and thief Thomas James Wise. The library was sold to the British Museum by his widow, Frances Louise Greenhaigh Wise, in 1937 for £66,000. It was named after the street in which Wise lived when he started the collection.

In book-collecting as in other things, the sum of all is that what interests you is what concerns you. Now to this end and purpose alone I also hold the Ashley Library to be wonderful, but it has an added wonder in that it reveals so exquisite a discrimination and so great a reverence for our masterpieces of literature... the great catalogue of his life's work and love, which is in effect a history of English literature during the last 300 years, may well appear as a blazing star, or an Angel, to his sight.

The Hroswitha Club was a membership-based club of women bibliophiles and collectors based in New York City, active from 1944 to 2004.

The Book Collectors' Society of Australia (BCSA) has been a focus for Australian book collectors to share their enthusiasm for books of all kinds, Australian and foreign, including antiquarian books. It was founded in Sydney in 1944, and its journal Biblionews has been published since 1947. There is also an equally active branch in Melbourne. An independent cognate society also exists in Adelaide.

<i>Bibliomania</i> (book)

Bibliomania; or Book Madness was first published in 1809 by the Reverend Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776–1847). Written in the form of fictional dialogues from bibliophiles, it purports to outline a malady called bibliomania.

<i>The Library</i> (book) 19th-century book

The Library by Andrew Lang is a late 19th-century book published by McMillan & Co. as part of the “Art as Home” series. Continuing the tradition of de Bury’s The Philobiblon and Dibdin’s Bibliomania, The Library is a half-serious look at the craft of book-collecting for the amateur bibliophile.

<i>Tsundoku</i> Term for buying books but not reading them

Tsundoku (積ん読) is the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them. The term is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Sabin</span> Anglo-American bibliographer (1821–1881)

Joseph Sabin was a Braunston, England-born bibliographer and bookseller in Oxford, Philadelphia, and New York City. He compiled the "stupendous" multivolume Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, considered a "bibliophilic monument;" and published the American Bibliopolist, a trade magazine. His sons Robert T. Sabin and William W. Sabin also worked in the bookselling business.

Pro Knigi – is a quarterly educational magazine that contains information about old books, the study thereof, the history of bibliophiles and the problems of book-collecting. It has been published in Moscow since 2007. The circulation of the magazine is about 2000 copies. It is distributed both by retail and subscription.

The National Union of Bibliophiles (NUB), full name Non-Commercial Partnership “The National Union of Bibliophiles”, is a public organisation, an association of bibliophiles of the Russian Federation. It was formed as legal entity in 2010.

Henrietta Collins Bartlett was an American bibliographer, Shakespeare scholar, and creator of the first modern census of Shakespeare's published drama. She has been called "one of the foremost bibliographers of her time," despite working in a scholarly field in which "the overwhelming majority has been male."

<i>A Gentle Madness</i> 1995 book

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books is a 1995 nonfiction book of book collecting case studies by Nicholas A. Basbanes. It was a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.

References

Notes

  1. Of course, a bookworm is an insect that eats books. The term "bookworm" is often used as a metaphor to describe a voracious reader, an indiscriminate reader, or a bibliophile. In its earliest iterations, it had a negative connotation—that is, it denoted an idler who read rather than worked. Over the years its meaning has drifted in a more positive direction. [1] Another meaning of the word is "a person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit." [2]

Citations

  1. "Is 'bookworm' positive or negative?". Merriam Webster . Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  2. "Bookworm". synonyms. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  3. Holzenberg, Eric. "The Bibliophile as Bibliographer". The papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 104.4 (2010): 421–431.
  4. Carter, John, Nicolas Barker and Simran Thadani. 2016. John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors, p.45. Ninth ed. New Castle Delaware: Oak Knoll Press.
  5. "Home | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on Dec 25, 2023.
  6. Minters, Arthur H. (1979). Collecting Books for Fun and Profit . New York: Arco Publishing Inc. ISBN   0-668-04598-1.
  7. "bibliophile". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . Merriam-Webster.
  8. "bookman". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . Merriam-Webster.
  9. Connell, Philip (2000). "Book Collecting: Cultural Politics, and the Rise of Literary Heritage in Romantic Britain". Representations. 71: 24–47. doi:10.1525/rep.2000.71.1.01p00764.
  10. "The Inflation Calculator". westegg.com. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  11. Basbanes, Nicholas (1995). A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books . New York: Henry Holt.

Further reading

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Booknotes interview with Nicholas Basbanes on A Gentle Madness, October 15, 1995, C-SPAN