ABSTRACT
There is nothing particularly new in a predilection for the collecting of books. People in every age collected, sometimes compulsively, copies of the writings of others. These harvesters of the written and printed word are blessed with an almost limitless supply of material, and so it is no surprise that specialization flourishes. Some collectors, like the Duc de Bury, collect books for the beauty of their format. Others, like Duke Humphrey, whose gift of his library to Oxford University marked the beginning of its great Bodleian Library, collected “ideas” rather than books in the mere physical manifestations. Still others collect books that are, in one way or another, related to some person, place or time. I know a man who has set for himself the considerable task of acquiring all of the important books published in a single decade. Another seeks out every book mentioned in novels, a hobby requiring discretion, since many such books are themselves fictional.
