Bibliomania, a passion for books

People have been collecting written materials ever since the invention of printing. This later developed into a passion for collecting books, which turned into a malady for many collectors.

It was not, however, until 1809 that a name for this sickness became widespread. In that year, Thomas Frogmall Diddin popularized the word “bibliomania” when he published a lighthearted pamphlet entitled “The Bibliomania or Book Madness” containing some account of the history, symptoms and cure for this fatal disease.

Nicholas Basbanes has written a book, “A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books.”

This book is a chronicle of past and present bibliophiles and bibliomanes, terms used to refer to persons who have contracted the gentle malady of bibliomania.

There were many great personalities even in the Greek and Roman period who were known for their passion for collecting books and possess great libraries. Among them were the Greek tragedian Euripides, the Roman orator and statesman Cicero and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt.

Basbanes calls the early part of the 19th century the heroic age of book collecting. This was the era of the private collectors. The 20th century also had its own share of collectors. One of them was Carter Burden, who died in 1996 and was one of the heirs of the Vanderbilt clan.

At the beginning of every summer, I make a personal resolution to make my collection of books into a real library. I have also begun to read books I have bought but never finished reading. This week is the beginning of another such journey.

I must confess that I am one of those persons who accumulate books “in a seemingly uncontrollable fashion.” This is a quotation from one of the most fascinating books I have read, “At Home with Books:  How Booklovers Live and Care for their Libraries.”

I have books that are scattered all over the house, in the den, master’s bedroom and in my office in Lockton Insurance Brokers.

My wife has also decided after much discussion that it was time to get rid of some of my books.

I tell everyone though that I am not a book collector. I know collectors who are serious collectors of paintings, glassworks, wines, currency, antique jewelry. If you are a budding collector, I suggest you read “Consuming Passions: Philippine Collectibles” edited by Jaime Laya. It is a collection of essays by Filipino collectors on their areas of interest.

Collectors are those who collect because they have a passion for their areas of interest or a scholarly interest in these. A collector can usually distinguish between bad and good and the best places to buy and the value of each piece they collect.

I share a little of this passion because I have a small collection of Philippine antique maps, most of which I purchased in Madrid and London. It is too expensive to buy these in Manila.

One regret that I have is that a few years ago, I passed up the opportunity to buy an antique 1750 Philippine map in Edinburgh, Scotland. I still occasionally spend a few tortured hours of regret.

My love affair with books is simply that of a reader who has the habit of amassing books to read and keeping them afterwards. It is true what someone once said about reading: “Your books are your personal history. You are what you read.”

I suppose that tells you a lot about people who complain they are too busy to read books. I have been collecting books since my grade school days in La Salle Bacolod. I still have some of the books written by G.A. Henty which I read in the school library. He wrote a series of historical novels for children. The hero was always a teenage boy working with real-life historical figures and the setting was always an actual period in history. After reading a Henty novel, my curiosity led me to the college library to find a history book that served as a setting for the book. Among his books were “With Hannibal in Carthage” set during the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage; “With Lee in Virginia” set during the American Civil War and “With Kitchener in Sudan,” set during the Mahti uprising in 19th century Sudan. Other settings were the Franco-Prussian wars, the War of the Roses, medieval England and many other periods.

This was the author who started my romance with history which has continued until today, although I have graduated to reading Toynbee and Huntington.

I have a fairly large collection of science fiction and fantasy books that started in college with the Foundation novels of Asimov, the novels of JRR Tolkien and the Dune novels by Heinlein.

When I become very interested in a genre, I have the unfortunate habit of even buying second-rate books. So even though I have read first-class science fiction and fantasy authors like Heinlein, Asimov. Clarke and Tolkien, I also have books by such forgettable authors as Norman Zimmer and Bradley. But like the typical book addict, I have kept their books in my collection.

During the Marcos years, I started buying books on the American civil rights movement which grew into an African-American mini library. I also started buying books on politics and biography of great historical and political figures.

I have also developed a passion for Filipiniana, including the complete set of F. Sionil Jose’s novels and the original print of the book “Philippine Campaigns.”

After teaching Strategic Management for 22 years at the De La Salle Graduate School of Business, I have collected several hundred books on business, mostly on strategy.

This is a column that could go on and on because I come from a family of book lovers and writers. Barbara Tuchman once wrote: “Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.”