A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books | 
 enlarge | Author: Nicholas A. Basbanes
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $3.00
You Save: $17.00 (85%)
New (27) Used (48) Collectible (3) from $2.54
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 255412
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 668
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.7
ISBN: 0805061762
Dewey Decimal Number: 002.075
EAN: 9780805061765
ASIN: 0805061762
Publication Date: March 15, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: new
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| Similar Items:
| • | Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century | | • | Patience & Fortitude : A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture | | • | A Passion for Books : A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books | | • | A Splendor of Letters : The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World | | • | Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
What a delightful book about books and people who love books! As a second generation bibliophile, a possible bibliomane who had several people move out of my house a year ago because they erroneously believed that my books were taking over the household, and a devout employee of "Earth's Biggest Bookstore," I can vouch that Basbanes accurately describes the glorious role of book collectors as archivists of human knowledge, and -- in continual counterpoint -- sometimes pathologically obsessed book junkies.
Product Description
The passion to possess books has never been more widespread than it is today; indeed, obsessive book collecting remains the only hobby to have a disease named after it. A Gentle Madness, finalist for the 1995 National Book Critics Circle award, is an adventure among the afflicted. Richly anecdotal and fully documented, it combines the perspective of historical research with the immediacy of investigative journalism. Above all, it is a celebration of books and the people who have revered, gathered, and preserved them over the centuries.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 I'm Normal January 7, 2008
Ok not normal, but there are people out there that love books as much as I. Basbanes has created a brilliant collection of book collectors and collections. Any bibliophile without this book in his collection is just a reader
All lauds and honors be added unto this book December 17, 2007
I doubt that I can add much to all of the praises that have already been written about "A Gentle Madness." All I can say is that I love mine so much that I have already given away three copies of it to friends and family, and I have every intention of buying more so that I can have them on hand as gifts for appropriate persons.
The passions of book- collecting October 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is possible to love books without necessarily loving or caring for what is inside them. It is also possible to love books because one wishes to possess the knowledge, understanding, beauty, that is within them. In this truly epic history of book- collecting and its most passionate and eccentric collectors Basbanes uses his considerable journalistic skill to tell a story which no lover of books, inside or out, will want to miss. Incredible collectors who were more the slaves of their books( The bibliomaniacs) and who were more their masters ( The bibliophiles) have their histories told here. In the background is the long story of the thing - itself, its making and its transformations in time.
Basbanes also emphasizes the fact that the collectors have been great benefactors of human culture and learning. Their collections , as that of John Harvard have been the basis of great institutions of learning.
While some were so obsessed by possessing the books for themselves ( The world's greatest bibliokleptomaniac Stephen Blumberg whose story is featured when asked why he did not sell the books and make himself rich said " I want them all for myself") others deliberately collected for the benefit of Mankind ( The story of Aaron Lansky's singlehandedly saving a considerable share of the Yiddish books which otherwise would have bee lost, is an extremely moving one) .The nineteenth century French collector Xavier Marmier willed his own large collection to his provincial town library. But he also expressed gratitude to the booksellers whose shops he would visit each day. And above all he expressed his love of collecting, and how much pleasure he had derived from searching through and finding the treasures of his collection.
All in all this is a ' classic work' about one of humanity's most harmless obsessions, or as the title of the work calls it ' the gentle madness'. It provides what great literature of all kinds does, an enhanced sense of the possibilities of human life.
 Strictly amateur September 8, 2007
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
The only people impressed by Basbanes' books are those who don't really know very much about books, book collecting, libraries, or the antiquarian trade. This volume in particular is plagued with sloppy scholarship, conjecture, gossip, and unsubstantiated anecdote. He can't even get the names of major libraries right. It's certainly a fun read, but it shouldn't be taken seriously.
And you thought you like to buy books!!!! June 27, 2007
An amazing collection of folks who just couldn't put down a good book. Extremely well written, highly entertaining. A "must read" for anyone who ever finds themselves with an abundance of books (or knows someone with the same affliction). Alas, Mr. Basbanes offers no cure, but since you can't possibly measure up to the characters he profiles, you will feel better about your own collection.
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