by Nicholas A. Basbanes
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| List Price: | $18.95 |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $4.96 |
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Product Description
Obsessive book collecting remains the only hobby to have a disease named after it. This book is an adventure among the afflicted, beginning 2,500 years ago in Alexandria, when a commitment was made to gather all the world's knowledge beneath one roof, and moving on to profiles of living collectors and exclusive examinations of many great contemporary stories. Illustrations.
Amazon.com Review
What a delightful book about books and people who love books! As a second generation bibliophile, a possible bibliomane who had several people move out of my house a year ago because they erroneously believed that my books were taking over the household, and a devout employee of "Earth's Biggest Bookstore," I can vouch that Basbanes accurately describes the glorious role of book collectors as archivists of human knowledge, and -- in continual counterpoint -- sometimes pathologically obsessed book junkies.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 An ongoing madness, 2008-09-20
This was a good book, although a trifle long, and delving into area's of book collecting that I was not personally interested in. I was hoping for something that would give me insights into book collecting in general. I chose the wrong book, and cannot blame tbe author for that.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 I'm Normal, 2008-01-07
Ok not normal, but there are people out there that love books as much as I. Basbanes has created a brilliant collection of book collectors and collections. Any bibliophile without this book in his collection is just a reader
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
All lauds and honors be added unto this book, 2007-12-17
I doubt that I can add much to all of the praises that have already been written about "A Gentle Madness." All I can say is that I love mine so much that I have already given away three copies of it to friends and family, and I have every intention of buying more so that I can have them on hand as gifts for appropriate persons.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
The passions of book- collecting, 2007-10-15
It is possible to love books without necessarily loving or caring for what is inside them. It is also possible to love books because one wishes to possess the knowledge, understanding, beauty, that is within them. In this truly epic history of book- collecting and its most passionate and eccentric collectors Basbanes uses his considerable journalistic skill to tell a story which no lover of books, inside or out, will want to miss. Incredible collectors who were more the slaves of their books( The bibliomaniacs) and who were more their masters ( The bibliophiles) have their histories told here. In the background is the long story of the thing - itself, its making and its transformations in time.
Basbanes also emphasizes the fact that the collectors have been great benefactors of human culture and learning. Their collections , as that of John Harvard have been the basis of great institutions of learning.
While some were so obsessed by possessing the books for themselves ( The world's greatest bibliokleptomaniac Stephen Blumberg whose story is featured when asked why he did not sell the books and make himself rich said " I want them all for myself") others deliberately collected for the benefit of Mankind ( The story of Aaron Lansky's singlehandedly saving a considerable share of the Yiddish books which otherwise would have bee lost, is an extremely moving one) .The nineteenth century French collector Xavier Marmier willed his own large collection to his provincial town library. But he also expressed gratitude to the booksellers whose shops he would visit each day. And above all he expressed his love of collecting, and how much pleasure he had derived from searching through and finding the treasures of his collection.
All in all this is a ' classic work' about one of humanity's most harmless obsessions, or as the title of the work calls it ' the gentle madness'. It provides what great literature of all kinds does, an enhanced sense of the possibilities of human life.
0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 Strictly amateur, 2007-09-08
The only people impressed by Basbanes' books are those who don't really know very much about books, book collecting, libraries, or the antiquarian trade. This volume in particular is plagued with sloppy scholarship, conjecture, gossip, and unsubstantiated anecdote. He can't even get the names of major libraries right. It's certainly a fun read, but it shouldn't be taken seriously.
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