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rampaginglibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure that i actually fall into the category of bibliophile or bibliomaniac, although i've often called myself one. I do have a collection of over 3,000 books (there are still so many in boxes that i haven't catalogued them all) but many of them i just bought because i wanted to read them and was afraid they might go out of print before i got a chance more than because i wanted to own a valuable possession. There are a few i own because i want to OWN, or read again, and again, but i am not, for the most part, a connoisseur. In fact, "one theory holds that the defining moment occurs when a person buys a book with the prior certainty that he will never read it, though others are less cynical," i don't know that i have ever bought a book with the prior certainty that i will never read it (well, perhaps i have not intended to read it cover to cover, but definitely Needed to have it immediately at hand for reference... or felt i did...)
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes tops out at 638 pages (but that’s with 103 pages of notes and index so you only have to wade through 535 pages of actual text). It starts out interestingly enough, with the preface and first chapter introducing the subject at hand and giving a brief gloss over the drive to collect books. The first part of the book is devoted to the history of book collecting and is an interesting chronicle of the development of many private libraries as well. One must have a sense of history to appreciate the history of any art including that of book and printmaking.
Not that the entire tome is boring, exactly, or i don't think i would read the entire thing, it's just that occasionally i would find myself at the end of the paragraph without any idea of what it said (do you ever do that? it's one thing when you're listening to some windbag go on and on or watching t.v. or something along those lines, but when you are reading, which is, in a sense, an active activity, and realize your mind is drifting... But in this case, it seems to be a rather orgasmic experience {just so i have your attention...} but more than that, perhaps i am a bibliophilliac after all, just reading about book collections, and book auctions, and books, well you know, some things do it for some of us, and many things do it for some of us [librarians are a sexual fantasy stereotype after all:]and what is it about orgasm that seems to wake women up and make men drowsy? Is it just a satisfaction thing, or some kind of evolutionary adaptation to ensure pregnancy and species diversion?]). Okay, back to the subject at hand...
I found the second part of the book to be a bit more intriguing as it provided more intimate sketches of the bibliomanes themselves (perhaps this was necessitated by the times~Basbanes only had interview access to live subjects, after all). An entire chapter is devoted to Stephen C. Blumberg, the biblioklept who stole from rare book collections of libraries across the country to amass his own reference collection (which he always considered his own personal ILL system~he was saving the libraries from themselves, really...)
Instead of admiration or even a sense of having found kindred spirits in this book, i found myself wanting to clear out many of my own processions which have become too numerous and cumbersome. One of my biggest fears is that i will die leaving a pile of crap that my niece and nephews will have to sort through for me. Even at my current rate of about 150 titles per year can i really read all of the books i own that i have not yet read (and with new ones constantly appearing do i really want to?) And what IS the point of ownership anyway? I've always had a need to hold on to things, as if i can hold on to people and to history and to all the feelings attached to them if i can just hold that thing in my hand. Poppycock! One of my purposes in blogging the books i read is to try and hold on to the memories of what i felt when reading so do i really need those pages?
Perhaps much of this is brought about by the fact that i have come to the sudden realization that i am in desperate need of about $7,000 like, yesterday (just to bring my bills current, mind you, to keep the creditors from repossessing my cats and the blood in my veins~hey, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, if they could just replace it with some fresh, healthy, non-migrainey blood...because i have absolutely nothing of value) Maybe it's also just brought on by the fact that i'm tired of having so much damn stuff, and having to walk over, move it around, or plow through it constantly.
"Night after night I have spent carting down two flights of stairs more books than I ever thought I possessed. Journey after journey, as monotonously regular as the progresses of a train round the Inner Circles; upstairs empty-handed, and downstairs creeping with a decrepit crouch, a tall, crazy, dangerously bulging column of books wedged between my two hands and the indomitable point of my chin. the job simply has to be done; once it is started there is no escape from it; but at times during the process one hates books as the slaves who built the Pyramids must have hated public monuments. A strong and bitter bone-sickness floods one's soul. How ignominious to be strapped to this ponderous mass of paper, print, and dead men's sentiments! Would it not be better, finer, braver, to leave the rubbish where it lies and walk out into the world a free, untrammelled, illiterate Superman?"
~Solomon Eagle, Moving a Library
I won't even mention those multiple cross-country moves (even the cross-town moves are bad enough). Time to lighten up... While i'm still in the mood, but how?
How?
How?
bookishlybeauty's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
tabestry's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
jayhawkshoes's review against another edition
5.0
Most people would probably read this book and be shocked by the eccentric behaviors of these bibliophiles...I on the other hand was inspired...ha ha. This is a wonderful book that delves into a the world of people driven by a passion for books. Nicholas Basbanes brings to life these people with richness and depth beyond simply reporting. Books are my passion, they excite me, they comfort me, and they inspire my mind and heart. This book illustrates the passion that books have always had in my life.
karenchase's review against another edition
4.0
It's a bit disingenuous to say I finished this, I suppose, since I ran out of time and I didn't actually read the entire thing. But I got the idea. It's basically a survey of book collectors from time immemorial, and it concludes with the story of a biblio-kleptomaniac, who stole hundreds of books from libraries. The magnitude of his thievery is staggering, and is as much a testament to the lack of security that exists in these collections as it is to his own obsessiveness. But you didn't hear it from me. I actually found this text pretty repetitive, and I honestly couldn't tell you all the collectors (legitimate ones) that Basbanes talks about throughout the book. I own his second book about libraries, and I mainly picked up this one so that I had a basis for that second book. So hopefully I'll make it through that one eventually.
ovvlish's review against another edition
4.0
This book was quite the behemoth not only for page count but also for the sheer number of stories told. This book is comprised of a long succession of stories about famous and influential book collectors and bibliophiles throughout (Western - European and American) history. There was not much rhyme or reason to how the stories were told, they were all just laid out for one to read in quick (or maybe laborious) succession. It was definitely a slog at times, but the stories told are for the most part fascinating, and I found this book particularly pertinent to my life right now, as I have just begun a rare books class. This book despite being something of a struggle to keep reading at times nevertheless teaches you lots of tendencies and interesting tidbits about the book collecting game in such a way that you don't even realize you learned it until it comes up in conversation later and you go "wait a moment, I know this".
acton's review against another edition
5.0
A work of nonfiction that provides a steady stream of facts, and still manages to be engaging and enjoyable throughout, earns a five-star rating from me. Nicholas Basbanes spins many tales about the origins of famous libraries, and the migration patterns of some of the oldest books in existence. Reading this added to my must-see bucket list.
Toward the end of this tome, there is a very long section on Stephen Blumberg, the man known as the most successful bibliokleptomaniac in history. It is a spicy tale...fortunately, he respected the books he was hiding, and they were returned, eventually, to all the victimized institutions--all across the country and in Canada, as well. (He was sentenced to almost six years in prison and heavily fined.) Blumberg would not have been caught had a "friend" not turned him in for a bounty.
Basbanes mentions many smaller but intriguing collections, such as the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts. This was exciting for me, because my husband and I have had the opportunity to see this. I had heard a couple stories about how David Copperfield came to buy the entire Mulholland collection, but I did not know the reason it was sold. The back story involves a banker who was implicated in the savings and loan scandal. It seems that this collection was a bank president's private--perk. When that bank collapsed in 1990, the late John Mulholland's collection was seized by a government agency to recoup the bank's losses--and it did. The last owner paid $575,000 for the original collection, and his famous curator, Ricky Jay* continued to enhance it over a period of years. In the end, about $850,000 had been spent on a collection that was then sold to Copperfield for 2.2 million dollars! Nice return.
Another collector who gets space in this book is Fred J. Board, who collects "oddities." This man makes his own rules. The oddest thing he owns, in my opinion, must be the book printed on pasta, fastened with steel bolts. (Not sure I'd drive to Connecticut to see that.)
There are many human interest type stories included in this fabulous reference book, since the passion for collecting cannot be separated from the personalities of these bibliophiles. They are the reason that so much history has been preserved and is available for study.
Since this is a reference book, it need not be read from cover to cover (I did that out of habit). It's well organized and indexed. I'm glad to have this in my collection, and would certainly recommend it.
*Ricky Jay is a famous magician and also a most engaging writer. I highly recommend Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. (And he is no longer the curator of the Mulholland Collection.)
p.s. well-indexed means 100 pages of index. Lest anyone think I'm a speed reader, I am not.
Toward the end of this tome, there is a very long section on Stephen Blumberg, the man known as the most successful bibliokleptomaniac in history. It is a spicy tale...fortunately, he respected the books he was hiding, and they were returned, eventually, to all the victimized institutions--all across the country and in Canada, as well. (He was sentenced to almost six years in prison and heavily fined.) Blumberg would not have been caught had a "friend" not turned him in for a bounty.
Basbanes mentions many smaller but intriguing collections, such as the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts. This was exciting for me, because my husband and I have had the opportunity to see this. I had heard a couple stories about how David Copperfield came to buy the entire Mulholland collection, but I did not know the reason it was sold. The back story involves a banker who was implicated in the savings and loan scandal. It seems that this collection was a bank president's private--perk. When that bank collapsed in 1990, the late John Mulholland's collection was seized by a government agency to recoup the bank's losses--and it did. The last owner paid $575,000 for the original collection, and his famous curator, Ricky Jay* continued to enhance it over a period of years. In the end, about $850,000 had been spent on a collection that was then sold to Copperfield for 2.2 million dollars! Nice return.
Another collector who gets space in this book is Fred J. Board, who collects "oddities." This man makes his own rules. The oddest thing he owns, in my opinion, must be the book printed on pasta, fastened with steel bolts. (Not sure I'd drive to Connecticut to see that.)
There are many human interest type stories included in this fabulous reference book, since the passion for collecting cannot be separated from the personalities of these bibliophiles. They are the reason that so much history has been preserved and is available for study.
Since this is a reference book, it need not be read from cover to cover (I did that out of habit). It's well organized and indexed. I'm glad to have this in my collection, and would certainly recommend it.
*Ricky Jay is a famous magician and also a most engaging writer. I highly recommend Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. (And he is no longer the curator of the Mulholland Collection.)
p.s. well-indexed means 100 pages of index. Lest anyone think I'm a speed reader, I am not.