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BOOK MADNESS or the reason why people collect books .Caution this article should only be read by people under the age of 50 years old or with the help of a physcologist older than 50 years old .
Caution collectors come in all shapes and forms . There are people who collect books because they like the smell of old books , because they like the feel or the look of old books .Other collect specific subjects , for example books on erotica , war , dance and subjects such as history ,astronomy and the like . I know people who just collect books I am sure they do not really know why, they do not read . Though reading is not a prerequisite for book collecting or the bibliophile , the bibliophile being " the lover of books" in Latin .
In the internet age of computers and social net working . It would be easy to think that people do not collect books.But they do and there are more collectors than ever .Scanning the internet book shops for books .That they desire .Though they are dictated to by the modern life style , [2011] people do not collect vast collections . Like bibliophiles of previous generations as a rule .That is I mean collections of tens of thousands of books in one domestic house . Which I have often seen , but less so now .Collections like this can be worth $600,000 to $1,000,000.00 NZD . A manic collection collected by someone slightly over come with the Book Madness Disease of book grabbing but of a similar size might be worth a few hundred or say a thousand dollars depending on content . Here collecting can be very manic with no real reason or objective but for the pocession of the book .
Then there are the collectors who collect for investment purposes or commodity trading , the book being the commodity. Books become some sort of hedge fund or bank account .
Book Madness can be detected by certain signs , for example no power switched on just in case of fire , the stove turned off and the shelves within the stove lined with books , the laundry , the bedrooms , the toilet lined with books .The floor has not spring to it , the heavy books pushing it down . These people have aquired acute Book Madness disease and must be treated with care, never mention the words , disposal , clearance , inheritance or any thing that might cause emotional distress .Or cause them to think that their collection is in danger of being touched or removed just as one would feel loosing a lover .These people usually have the luxury of an old and large villa , or warehouse or barn . But they can be found in state flats , private homes and even on yachts moored in the harbour . Weighted down with large volumes their owner with no where else to store them .
Most people collect in moderation . Collecting a few books , yet still declaring syptoms of Book Madness . They collect books that feel familiar , that inherantly mean some thing to them wether culturally or spiritually .They collect books that create an enviroment .The spines , the smell lending to that environmental feeling of something familiar , something desired , that must be retained . For what reason who knows . All this lending a feeling of well being . Supposedly . Possibly the opposite feeling might be the one desired by the bibliophile , the lover of books .
Just like the Yogi the lover of yoga who chooses an environment which enhances the yoga experience and by selecting the appropriate environment . For example the Yogi chooses stillness , soft light , a beam of sunlight so as to calm the soul .The book collector is simiar but sometimes not so planned selecting shelves or boxes or what ever on which to store their books . There are no rules or guide lines . The books that are displayed how ever so may cover such emotions as familiarity , symbolism , a colour sense .What ever the collector possibly is the only one who knows why . Being so full with madness some might never comprehend what they have desired .
Another target of this discourse is the new age , the modern collector .Possibly a thinker a planner .Possibly some sort of philosopher , but still a bibliophile pocessed with the dease of Book Madness. They claim to be a collector , their collection comprising of some 2 possibly 10 or 20 books often no more . Disposing quickly of books that no longer fit the tiny collection . A suit case a storage unit box . The books that clutter the sparse industrial designed apartment of the 20th century .They restrict the travel and movement from apartment to apartment . From country to country of the bibliophile . Focused on the value of the books ,but some times on the emotion these collectors are as interesting as previously described Madness victims .
To move on and select another group , this only being one of many groups of odd bibliophiles a group truly beyond comprehension of most sane individuals , those afflicted by the Madness and those casual observers .When book hunting in South Australia I met this truly odd bibliophile [ lover of books ]. He was staying permanently in a country hotel .The only one for some one hundred miles or so .That I usually stay in when travelling through this barren district where water costs more than the nightly room rate .The old man some five or so years older than me but looking his age badly , asked if I was the bookie .He wanted to show me his book collection. I had visions of Burke and Willis trudging across the plains of Australia meeting the first people of Australia . Books to die for . A collection worth hundreds or thousands .
His room at the top of the stairs was dusty but well light by the morning sun .The pride of his collection sitting on the window sill . Twenty or so books all with dust jackets but dusty and sun bleached . I stood and looked then this person who was completely Mad in the book sense said "I wanted to show you my book worm collection ".The book worms all very alive were enjoying their residence on the window sill in an old hotel being attended by a book collector . Consumed with Madness
I have never recovered from this episode in the world of books and like many hotels in Australia in the out back it will along with the worms be devoured by a bush fire the district returning to nothingness and no books ..
Bibliophile . { Bookfairnz } . item 98 78 40 52
There is no disclaimer all of these events reflect what I have seen and actual. All are true stories and events of bibliophiles infected with BOOK MADNESS .
Book Madness is covered extensively in a manuscript written in 1530 by a Transyvanian Scholar Johannes Honterus III . In which he describes the sinister side of this uncurable afliction that could only be stopped by boiling in red ink in a public place of the afflicted .
Auckland Exlibris Society Member .
this article was written by the second hand book buyer
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