A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes

I have just heard of three books that I simply MUST read:

1. A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books

2. Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture (or Patience and Fortitude: Wherein a Colorful Cast of Determined Book Collectors, Dealers, and Librarians Go About the Quixotic Task of Preserving a Legacy)

3. The Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World

All are by Nicholas A. Basbanes.

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist in non-fiction in 1995 and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, A Gentle Madness is in it's sixteenth printing (click here for a review from the NYTimes Book Review)! How in the world have I not heard of this book or this author until now?

These three books are considered a trilogy: A Gentle Madness being about the history of book collectors, Patience & Fortitude being about libraries, and  The Splendor of Letters being about book preservation.

Basbanes's other books also sound interesting:

• Editions & Impressions: My Twenty Years on the Book Beat
• Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the 21st Century
• Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World

Apparently Basbanes's books are very well known among bibliophiles...guess I've just been hiding under a rock for the past fifteen years. :)