Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture by Basbanes, Nicholas A - 2001

New York: HarperCollins, 2001 The obsessive passion people have had over the past twenty-five hundred years to possess books is commonly known as bibliomania. Basbanes expands the meaning , focusing on the more comprehensive concept of book culture. Visiting many key 'book places' around the world, he talks with a striking variety of kindred spirits, each one a living testament to the unending relevance of these essential artifacts in our lives. He explores the changing form of the book over the centuries and describes the nature of the institutions that have evolved to contain them, including acedmic, public, private, and national repositories. He documents many pertinent book stories that have not been told before, and offers unprecedented depth to others that have barely scratched the surface. He profiles the experiences and thoughts of all kinds of dedicated 'book people', be they librarians, readers, writers, bookmakers, booksellers, preservationists, or collectors. 603p.. ARC/Advance Reading Copy.. Softcover. Very Good.