A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books

Spanning the long period from ancient times, when books were hand-copied, to the modern day, "A Gentle Madness" takes us on a strange and exciting journey through the world of rare book collectors. Our society owes a lot to book collectors. Determination, time, and money have enabled them to seek out and preserve rare books, manuscripts, documents, and letters of profound cultural and historical importance. Many of the most noted collectors have ultimately given their world-class libraries to colleges and universities, where the fruits of their labor have benefited generations of scholars and researchers. This book demonstrates, in a colorful manner, how book collectors are driven to seek out new acquisitions for their libraries. For some, it is a consuming passion. For a few, it is a dangerous obsession that forces them to sacrifice the basic amenities of life, or even break the law. Nicholas Basbanes not only introduces readers to book collectors throughout history, but also to the books themselves, and to the methods employed to obtain rare books. While anyone interested in history and scholarship will thoroughly enjoy this book, book collectors will have a very difficult time putting it down, except maybe to run down to the local antiquarian book store and spend some money!

Literally anyone who enjoys reading will prize this book. I had mentioned and quoted briefly from the book on my personal page, and received questions about the work, as well as many people who said they too had the disease.There is truly a Psychological condition that describes people obsessed with books, the condition is known as Bibliomania, derivatives include Bibliomaniac, and Bibliomane. The Author describes a condition of buying books you have no intention of reading. For most of us (I am afflicted) this means we buy and read books as much as we can. I have crossed over to collecting old books, and since they are in Latin, Greek, and other languages unknown to me, my defense that I will read them is weak.You will read about a man who "collected" over 23,000 books from various libraries and other book outlets just to possess them. His library grew as he traveled around the Country adding to his collection. His taste was excellent and his library contained priceless volumes by the hundreds. His story illustrates how easy access is to rare books and further how they can be purloined. It is not a how to steal books section, just one amazing tale.The book also documents the building/collection of some of the finest libraries in existence. The libraries are as varied as there are books. One women set out to build the definitive library of children's books, what she has collected will amaze you.The attitudes of the caretakers of these works view themselves as just that, keepers for a time, their feelings about where books should be, and should never be will surprise you. What is done with many collections after the original assembler dies will also surprise you.The book also educates the reader to the History of bookmaking, the few surviving Guttenberg Bibles, books from the cradle i.e. incunabula, produced prior to the year 1400ad.This book will probably set you off to an antiquarian bookfair, for lovers of books it's a special experience. Hold a first edition by Galileo, see 1 page of a Guttenberg Bible that for $25,000-$30,000 can be yours. Or for the upscale shopper you can bid against Bill Gates for the Leicester Codex of Da Vinci, in round numbers bring about $40,000,000.After you read the book, everything you read going forward will be enhanced. But tread carefully; the collection of old books is not an inexpensive hobby. On the other hand holding a book that is 500 years old can be a pretty heady experience.Every library will be enhanced by this book.

....for any collector of books or, for that matter, collectors period!

For anyone who has felt the joy of holding a beautiful volume or the compulsive tug to have it for one's own, this book is a must read. From Alexandria to the present, it chronicles the human passion for books and collecting through stories that are lively enough for the novice and scholarly enough for the serious collector.

It always seemed to me that my passion for books and the lenghts to which I would often go to satisfy it was not very distant from a mild form of madness. This wonderful book has showed me that, madness though it may be, it has been shared by many illustrious persons and is no reason for shame. My only quibble is a certain degree of envy thar rises up after reading about rich individuals who were able to indulge their preference much more munificently than I!