From Publishers Weekly
Basbanes's guide to book collecting is a more practical, but no less impassioned, complement to his earlier history of bibliophilia, A Gentle Madness. He presents useful tips illustrated with charming anecdotes about the collecting habits of everyone from Winston Churchill to Umberto Eco. To Basbanes, book collecting isn't about making money, but "about gratifying a passion in a sensible way." He urges collectors to buy books that they know and develop specific areas of interest to avoid "buying blind-the most frequently committed transgression in book collecting." He insists that it is possible to acquire first-rate collections on modest budgets, and extols the virtues of select Internet sites. Particularly intriguing are Basbanes's descriptions of the most interesting collections he has encountered. Among these are the George Arents Collection at the New York Public Library, which consists of several hundred thousand objects in 20 languages on the history, literature and lore of tobacco, as well as the Jay Miller Aviation History Collection at the Central Arkansas Library, consisting of 6,000 books on flight history and 50,000 aviation journals, along with hundreds of aircraft operation manuals. Basbanes also offers some startling figures. A first issue copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, for example, recently went for $15,000. Though targeted primarily at prospective collectors, this lively book will appeal to any book lover, as Basbanes's enthusiasm is infectious.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Booklist
Every page of this compendium contains real information. Basbanes tells you what you want and need to know after you have fallen in love with an area or a subject and have begun to think about amassing what you love. He explains clearly how to start, how to listen, how to search. He has no patience for those who buy as an investment only, and he is direct about that. He teaches questions to ask in libraries, of dealers, on the Web; he makes good distinctions between how the Web has facilitated some kinds of book buying as well as making clear what's irreplaceable about book fairs and book dealers. Every librarian should read this book because it illuminates the passion for books from the collector's perspective, one that parallels our own (it may even intersect it at some point). It is rich in engaging vignettes of book collecting and book collectors. It even makes the madness seem, well, logical. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
