Comfort in old books

ON page 134 of A Passion for Books (Edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan (Three Rivers Press)), a short list of definitions appears, and it would not be too erroneous to say that at least one of the terms (if not more) explained, applies to you if you are a regular reader of the column.

Beginning with Bibliobibule (one who reads too much) and pausing for a moment at Bibliognoste (one who is knowledgable about editions, colophons, printers and all the minutiae of books) it takes in Bibliomane (one who accumulates books indiscriminately), Biblioriptos (one who throws books around), Bibliotaphe (one who buries or hides books) along with the familiar Bibliophile (one who loves books) and Bibliomaniac (A book lover gone mad). The list was the first thing that caught my eye as I was flipping through the book and I was hooked immediately. And once hooked I stayed that way for the volume abounds in lists that should delight the Bibliolater (one who worships books). Some of these include the famous (and controversial) list of the Top 100 English-Language Novels of the Twentieth Century issued by the Modern Library, and another somewhat quaint list of "One Hundred Good Novels" compiled by Edward Newton in 1928. You have Norman Mailer's Ten Favourite American Novels and W. Somerset Maugham's Ten Greatest Novels (the only book they have in common, is a choice no one would disagree with, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville). Then there is a list of Ten Best Selling Books Rejected by Publishers Twenty or More Times.

To show just how wrong we can (sometimes!) be it is instructive to survey the list - Dubliners by Joyce, Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain and so and so forth. Makes you wonder, doesn't it. There is an exceptionally good list, The New Life Time Reading Plan by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major, perusing which I have made up mind to get hold of a copy of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things as soon as I possibly can to get started on an author I had not even heard of. The list is admittedly one that is heavily biased towards the Western canon but it is a wonderful guide, and to its credit it does include Kalidasa, in addition to the Ramayana and Mahabharata, of course.

But enough of lists. There is a lot of stuff in this book that is designed to appeal to anyone with a yen for books. I read for the first time about a man who would be best described I guess as a bibliodemon (A book fiend or demon) or more prosaically as the "biggest collector ever known" of books, old papers and documents. A wealthy 18th Century land-owner and aristocrat, Phillipps spent all his money acquiring books and printed matter. His wife, three daughters and their governess were forced to help with the task; he filled several houses, sent booksellers and various other creditors mad; drove his first wife to her death with his obsession; offered his daughters to whoever would pay the highest dowry - all to acquire more books and manuscripts. Phillipps was like Richard Heber and M. Boulard, a certifiable biblomaniac. Heber was once described as "a biblomaniac in the most unpleasant sense of the word; no confirmed drunkard, no incurable opium eater had less self control; to see a book was to desire it, to desire it was to possess it, the great and strong passion of his life was to amass such a library as no individual before him had ever amassed. His collection was omnigenous, and he never ceased to accumulate books of all kinds, buying them by all methods, in all places, at all times".

Such collectors are rare, but collecting books has reached its apogee in our time. From ordinary collectors like most of us who buy books at regular intervals throughout our lives, to specialist collectors who inhabit a rarefied world dominated by signed first editions, limited editions, illuminated manuscripts and the like, never before have there been as many in pursuit of the printed word. Many of the pieces in the book deal with collecting books, valuing books and caring for them.

But the best essays for my money are about the great pleasure that books give the reader. There are several of these, but the one that moved me the most was entitled "Comfort Found in Good Old Books" by George Hamlin Fitch.

Grieving over the death of a deeply loved son, Fitch finds solace in well-loved books.

Time then to call it a day, and how better than to reprint one of the evocative quotations scattered throughout the book. I had a choice of several but will go with this one by Pete Hamill - "There are 10,000 books in my library and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends, and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer".

DAVID DAVIDAR

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