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The Philobiblon
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The Philobiblon
The Philobiblon, or The Love of Books, is a collection of essays concerning the acquisition, preservation, and organization of books, written by the medieval English bibliophile Richard de Bury shortly before his death in 1345. The purposes of the Philobiblon were "to encourage the pursuit of learning contained in books; to justify the time and money [de Bury] spent on them; and to give practical advice for the formation of running of a library." Written in Latin, as was the custom of the day, it is separated into twenty chapters, each covering a different topic relating to book collecting.
Whether or not de Bury was the actual author of the Philobiblon has been disputed. The controversy began because Bishop de Bury's biographer Chambres neglects to mention the book at all in de Bury's biography. It was once thought that de Bury's chaplain, Robert Holkot, was the author and a substantial body of evidence was gathered to argue that this was the case. Today, however, most experts agree that the work is indeed de Bury's, chiefly due to the revealing and autobiographical nature of the book.
According to one scholar, the Philobiblon is "one of the longest extant medieval texts on the subject of library management." In it are several innovations such as the practices for circulation control among the students of Durham College, Oxford, using at times an open-stack rather than the dominant closed-stack system. Fifteenth-century scholars cited the work often. Thomas à Kempis, author of the devotional book The Imitation of Christ, borrowed a whole chapter of the Philobiblon for one of his works, and Mathaus Hummel read from it during the opening of the University of Freiburg.
The Philobiblon references the Vulgate version of the Bible so frequently that these quotations make up approximately one-fourteenth of the entire book.
As to de Bury's legacy, it was said about the Philobiblon: "it is the sole memorial of one who loved books so much in an age and country that loved them so little."
Originally written in 1345, the Philobiblon has been printed numerous times since. The first printing was in Cologne in 1473, the second at Speyer in 1483, and the third in Paris in 1500. Nearly a hundred years passed before it was printed again in England by Thomas James, Bodley's Librarian, in 1599. It was then printed in Germany again in 1610, 1614, and 1674. These editions relied upon the original Cologne edition of 1473. Later, in 1703, it was printed by J. A. Schmidt in a supplement for a treatise on libraries. It was then printed in English anonymously in 1832. Later, a French translation, along with the Latin text, appeared in 1856. It was first printed in the United States in 1861. Since 1888, it has been reprinted nearly twenty times. The edition of 1888 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.) was the work of Ernest C. Thomas who spent 15 years establishing the text and translating it into English. His translation was published again in London in 1902 by Alexander Moring.
Prologue
Prologue
In the Prologue, de Bury recounts in a flourish of language why and how he came to write the book, ending with:
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The Philobiblon
The Philobiblon, or The Love of Books, is a collection of essays concerning the acquisition, preservation, and organization of books, written by the medieval English bibliophile Richard de Bury shortly before his death in 1345. The purposes of the Philobiblon were "to encourage the pursuit of learning contained in books; to justify the time and money [de Bury] spent on them; and to give practical advice for the formation of running of a library." Written in Latin, as was the custom of the day, it is separated into twenty chapters, each covering a different topic relating to book collecting.
Whether or not de Bury was the actual author of the Philobiblon has been disputed. The controversy began because Bishop de Bury's biographer Chambres neglects to mention the book at all in de Bury's biography. It was once thought that de Bury's chaplain, Robert Holkot, was the author and a substantial body of evidence was gathered to argue that this was the case. Today, however, most experts agree that the work is indeed de Bury's, chiefly due to the revealing and autobiographical nature of the book.
According to one scholar, the Philobiblon is "one of the longest extant medieval texts on the subject of library management." In it are several innovations such as the practices for circulation control among the students of Durham College, Oxford, using at times an open-stack rather than the dominant closed-stack system. Fifteenth-century scholars cited the work often. Thomas à Kempis, author of the devotional book The Imitation of Christ, borrowed a whole chapter of the Philobiblon for one of his works, and Mathaus Hummel read from it during the opening of the University of Freiburg.
The Philobiblon references the Vulgate version of the Bible so frequently that these quotations make up approximately one-fourteenth of the entire book.
As to de Bury's legacy, it was said about the Philobiblon: "it is the sole memorial of one who loved books so much in an age and country that loved them so little."
Originally written in 1345, the Philobiblon has been printed numerous times since. The first printing was in Cologne in 1473, the second at Speyer in 1483, and the third in Paris in 1500. Nearly a hundred years passed before it was printed again in England by Thomas James, Bodley's Librarian, in 1599. It was then printed in Germany again in 1610, 1614, and 1674. These editions relied upon the original Cologne edition of 1473. Later, in 1703, it was printed by J. A. Schmidt in a supplement for a treatise on libraries. It was then printed in English anonymously in 1832. Later, a French translation, along with the Latin text, appeared in 1856. It was first printed in the United States in 1861. Since 1888, it has been reprinted nearly twenty times. The edition of 1888 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.) was the work of Ernest C. Thomas who spent 15 years establishing the text and translating it into English. His translation was published again in London in 1902 by Alexander Moring.
Prologue
Prologue
In the Prologue, de Bury recounts in a flourish of language why and how he came to write the book, ending with: