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

For booklovers, this is the ultimate tome to delve into and to stay absorbed until the end. One can find more than enough justification for being an avid collector of books. There are plenty of stories of known, inspirational figures whose libraries contributed to western culture, but also a number of stories about lesser known figures. An extraordinary resource for any bibliophile.M. T. Philipps, author of ‘Keeping Calm’

...who craves ownership of a book almost as much as the reading of it. Although I am not sure the colorful characters in this book do indeed read their purchases, and needless to say they spend way, way more than I on their purchases, the fundamental urge to possess an object of one's desire is the same.Monks and spiritualists teach us that our possessions bind us, restrict us, and soon they are not our possessions but we become theirs. Happiness lies not in possessing things. A happy life does not require and indeed may depend on not having many possessions. In fact, the fewer the better, some may say. This book and the list of characters and the lengths they'll go to secure a possession will blow their minds.Our culture tends to be indulgent on collecting books. Sources of wisdom. How else would ancient manuscripts and documents of historic importance be preserved and handed down to next generations? While I appreciate the contribution of many of the high-minded collectors in this book, there are some that have just gone overboard and are lost - as is the case with the famed book thief who made himself sick by licking library identifiers off library books.All in all, a hearty recommendation to anyone who's interested in the topic of book collecting.

A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes is a wonderful book. The original version is worth not 5 Stars but 10. My rating here is only as to the new smaller paperback version. Although out of print- it is and has been easily obtainable despite the claims of some reviewers on this page. And finally a Kindle electronic edition (if only the other 2 volumes of the trilogy would make it to Kindle). HOWEVER this new paperback edition and the Kindle edition drawn from it is FLAWED and the PAGINATION IS WRONG. The original edition runs to 638 pages of text. This new edition runs 633 pages..5 pages ran away--a page by page examination you quickly see the pagination does NOT match up with the original. Additionally the type is much much smaller (dig out the reading glasses). The current question is how much text was removed to save space (lower printing costs) ???????????Yes, Text has been removed. Now by accident or by intentional act is not yet determined. EXAMPLE: on page 45 Nick Basbanes tells the famous story of Rosenwald granting Rosenbach an unlimited bid to beat the Germans at auction as to a rare manuscript the Germans would exploit to boast Nazi history. The most important line is missing: "He instructed Rosenbach to buy the manuscript at any price."Thus a new topic for Nick Basbanes is born..in going to electronic texts (the kindle version is based upon this flawed text version) books can be edited, censored etc and how do you tell, can our book history be rewritten 1984 style--checking pagnitation for completeness is soo much harder now...I always assumed the Kindle electronic versions were dead on complete-I now know better

Amazing seller/shop and such a beautiful book! Condition is excellent.

A history of various private book collectors going back to Classical Greece.My favorite is a father writing his _10_ year old son:I told you before to quit buying books!Why am I still getting bills from book dealers???AndNo! I will not go to any more book auctions for you!Needless to say the child grew up and left house full of books in various countries.Or the guy who wanted to collect early California literary material.And later realized he had to gather early Mexican materials for context.And " " " " " " " Spanish " " "Or they guy who stole $20 million dollars worth of books to keep in his house !

I learned that there are many categories of book collectors.

This is that book that you cant put down. The one you wake up with nestled under your chin, book sans dust jacket heavy laden abreast; numb thumb stuck just where you were before exhaustion won out. Nostalgic celebration of adventure, nobility, and the quarrel between the seekers and preservers of truth,and the sightseeing risktakers of note along the way. The New Testament of book collecting.

Basbanes takes you inside the world of high end book collecting. The stories he relates include tales of nobility, captains of industry, and one fascinating tale of an obsessed book thief. Few of us will ever see, let alone own, a First Folio or Gutenberg Bible but in this book we can at least read about those who have.

As described - excellent product and speedy delivery

The BEST Book ever in Books On Books or Books About Books category I learnt about Book collection , American Book-collection. Book auctions etc. , as also various Crimes like book thieves, murders for books, etc from this book. An EXCELLENT book On BOOK CULTURE.Hats off To the Author Nicholas Basbanes, for his excellent research of the subject.