Building the Bibliographical Decameron – one person's descent into "Bibliomania"

Once the province of great institutions, the establishment of personal libraries became a sign of great intellectual curiosity in the Age of Enlightenment. American President Thomas Jefferson's personal library famously became the corner stone of the US Library of Congress, after the original collection was burned by the British during the War of 1812. This reader—collector—discusses here obsession with collecting books.

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Bibliomania: the strange history of compulsive book buying

By Lorraine Berry

The Guardian

January 26, 2017