Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2018 Issue

“Bibliomania”: Do You Have a Collection or Do You Have a Disease?

"I must have books and acquiring them is all the fun."

"I must have books and acquiring them is all the fun."

    As a child I would accompany my book buying dad on his frequent rounds to the various basements and sub-basements of Goodwill Industries in Detroit, where the books were not shelved, but piled in heaps, often to the ceiling in dim rooms illuminated by the light of a single bulb hanging by an electrical cord and casting spooky shadows on the moldy walls.

He would spend hours poking through them and eventually some of those books would come home with us. At our house they led a more organized life, on shelves, in stacks at the top and bottom of the stairs, on my mother’s desk, on my father’s desk, and in boxes in the packing room - ready to come in or go out.

    But we were booksellers, so it was natural for us to have books, a lot of books.

    There are, it seems, other people who acquire many books and often not even for reading, selling or library purposes. These folks have a different name, they’re not collectors, they’re termed “hoarders” and their condition is sometimes called “bibliomania

    Wikipedia defines “Bibliomania as a disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.” According to the online reference site “Bibliomania is one of the several psychological disorders associated with books -- such as bibliophagy (book eating) and bibliokleptomania (book stealing). Bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a more conventional 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.”

   This condition is not just a Western cultural phenomena. The Japanese slang term “tsundoku” means acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up without reading them.

    East or West, another very different explanation for the condition is contained in the quote by A. Edward Newton: "Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity ... we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access reassurance.”

    A less sanguine view links bibliomania to compulsive hoarding, also known as hoarding disorder, which is a pattern of behavior that is characterized by excessive acquisition and an inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment. Compulsive hoarding can create health risks, impaired functioning, economic burden, and adverse effects on friends and family members.

     Typically hoarding can prevent uses of space, enough so that it can limit activities such as cooking, cleaning, moving through the house, and sleeping. It can also put the individual and others at risk of fires, falling, poor sanitation, and other related concerns. Compulsive hoarders may be aware of their irrational behavior, but the emotional attachment to the hoarded objects far exceeds the motive to discard them.

     Mental health professional sometimes (but not always) label the condition as an offshoot of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but not everyone agrees on this diagnosis, or even that it is a psychological abnormality. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s web site,“Some individuals with hoarding disorder may recognize and acknowledge that they have a problem with accumulating possessions; others may not see a problem.”

   Still others prefer a different definition:

I tend to think I'm a biblioholic rather than a hoarder,” commented bookseller Michael J. Osborne. Biblioholic is defined as a love for books, especially fine editions.” Osborne said jokingly he hopes to one day get around to “Biblioholics Anonymousor BA. “Kidding aside,” he continued, “I often wonder why I buy so much? I sold off a few hundred boxes to a colleague a while back,..." and in the next breath he continues, “I'm working on a few hundred more….. Not that I need them, more that I want them.”

    “Behind me are about 40 file boxes (you know the kind), of books, half of which recently acquired, the other half in boxes for at least a year. Behind that are shelves, many, of planning books, and although I have cataloged a chunk there is a lot left and I still continue to buy them. Then there is roughly 50 linear feet of books yet to be cataloged, many of which I have had for a VERY LONG time. Then the 20 boxes stacked in the corner. Then the books about books I have amassed. Then I think about my age and my health and I say to myself, “You will never catalog all of these books.”

   “There will be time, there will be time… Not."

    “But I must have books, and acquiring books is all the fun. It’s an elixir. Someone calls. They have books. You go. Once I have examined a book and experience it, drink it in, then I put it aside, craving the next one. Biblioholic. Yup.”

   Another dealer, Joanne Hoefer observed: “I had early this year a couple come in and ask if I took cookbooks. I said ‘Yes.’ They said their brother-in-law had passed and they had a few boxes they were mine if I wanted them? Sure," I said, "I'll take them.”

   “They showed up the next day with 57 large Home Depot boxes of cookbooks so heavy I could not move them, had to take books out of each box to even be able to move the cartons.

    “There were almost a thousand books she said, most of them brand new. “ I still have six boxes left to work through. The guy was a plumber, electrician- handyman, it appears he bought them just to leaf through.”

    Is death the only solution? Not quite, says Lynn Wiencke of Chisholm Trail Bookstore, “Moving cures hoarding.”

Here are a few instructive links on hoarding in general and book hoarding in particular:



Compulsive Book Buying

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/26/bibliomania-the-strange-history-of-compulsive-book-buying  

Ten Famous Book Hoarders

lithub.com/10-famous-book-hoarders/

Collyer Brothers death

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2217953/Homer-Langley-Collyer-Hoarder-brothers-killed-clutter-New-York-mansion.html

Ten hoarders killed by their own junk

listverse.com/2017/06/19/top-10-hoarders-who-were-killed-by-their-own-hoard/  

Why we hoard:

psychologyofwellbeing.com/201509/getting-to-know-your-inner-hoarder.html

Rare Book Monthly

  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly! Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles