Bibliomania Information
Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.
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Description
One of several unusual behaviors associated with books, bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a genuine book collector. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania. Bibliomania is not a psychological disorder recognized by the DSM-IV.
The term was coined by Dr. John Ferriar, a physician at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.[1]
Other book-related conditions
Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the usual love of books and is not considered a clinical psychological disorder.
Other abnormal behaviours involving books include book-eating (bibliophagy), compulsive book-stealing (bibliokleptomania), and book-burying (bibliotaphy).
People with bibliomania
- Stephen Blumberg, who was convicted of stealing $5.3 million worth of books
- Sir Thomas Phillipps[2] (1792–1872) suffered from severe bibliomania. His collection, which at his death contained over 160,000 books and manuscripts, was still being auctioned off over 100 years after his death.
- Rev. W.F. Whitcher[3] was a 19th century Methodist pastor who, after having stolen and rebound rare books, would assert they were rare "finds" from local booksellers.
Further reading
- Jackson, Holbrook (2001). The Anatomy of Bibliomania. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252070437.
- Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (1811). Bibliomania: Or Book Madness. ( Dibdin's
- Bibliomania at Project Gutenberg)
- Basbanes, Nicholas A. (1995). A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. Henry Holt and Company, Inc..
Notes
- ^ Kendall, Joshua. The man who made lists: love, death, madness, and the creation of Roget's Thesaurus, Penguin Group, USA, 2008, p. 154.
- ^ Book Collecting: A.N.L. Munby: A Balanced View
- ^ "A Book Thief.; A Providence Preacher's Strange Transactions In Rare Volumes". The New York Times. 1881-07-28. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01E2DB133EE433A2575BC2A9619C94609FD7CF. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
External links
- "Lost The Girl; Got The Book" - Illustration of bibliomania ruining a relationship
- Booknotes interview with Nicholas Basbanes on A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes and the Eternal Passion for Books, October 15, 1995.
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