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Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of…
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Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture (original 2001; edition 2001)

by Nicholas A. Basbanes

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1,4171112,957 (4.1)52
In his national bestseller, A Gentle Madness, Nicholas Basbanes explored the sweet obsession people feel to possess books. Now, Basbanes continues his adventures among the "gently mad" on an irresistible journey to the great libraries of the past -- from Alexandria to Glastonbury -- and to contemporary collections at the Vatican, Wolfenbüttel, and erudite universities. Along the way, he drops in on eccentric book dealers and regales us with stories about unforgettable collectors, such as the gentleman who bought a rare book in 1939 "by selling bottles of his own blood." Taking the book's grand title from the marble lions guarding the New York Public Library at 42nd Street, Basbanes both entertains and delights. And once again, as Scott Turow aptly noted, "Basbanes makes you love books, the collections he writes about, and the volume in your hand."… (more)
Member:bclark
Title:Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture
Authors:Nicholas A. Basbanes
Info:HarperCollins (2001), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 656 pages
Collections:Your library, Wishlist
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Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture by Nicholas A. Basbanes (2001)

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» See also 52 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Yet another fascinating account of the world of books and ideas from Nicholas Basbanes, who has become, by any objective standard, the leading chronicler of print culture. Very highly recommended.
  Mark_Feltskog | Dec 23, 2023 |
I liked the content of this book, but the way the information is presented is very poor. The author jumps from discussions of one institution or person to another with little more than a double-space to let you know a change in course is taking place. It felt disjointed and abrupt, and did not make for a pleasurable reading experience. The topics that the author covered were interesting, and the sections on book collectors and sellers were particularly fun. Given that the material was good, I wish that the author had done a better job of presenting it to the reader. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
I love books. I really do. And I love bookstores and libraries and book people in general. So, it makes sense that I would love this book.

Nicholas Basbanes also wrote A Gentle Madness, a book I stumbled upon in my public library a few years ago and fell in love with. So, I picked this one up and read it with glee. It’s over 20 years old and reading it for me was like a trip to my professional past as a librarian. The arguments librarians, their administrators, and the public had decades ago brought back so much angst for me.

I’m happy to say that some of these questions have been settled, sort of. Back then, some people saw the future of libraries in digital materials. They were ready to turn print lose to perish or thrive entirely in the wild. However, most people now realize that the demand for print books isn’t going away soon.

But libraries aren’t the only thing Basbanes discusses in this book. He talks about the people who collect rare books and the people who sell them. I don’t live with the kind of money he’s talking about, so I don’t keep up with the rare book market. But that doesn’t mean I don’t find it captivating as any self-respecting bibliophile would.

I admit to gushing a bit in this review. While reading about all these private, academic, and extensive public book collections was like a fairytale for me. It felt like reading Victoria magazine as a newlywed, setting up housekeeping, and dreaming of the possibilities. While I’ll never have room to store 50,000 volumes in my house, Basbanes has me dreaming of how that would look. And that’s almost as good as actually having it. ( )
  Library_Lin | Feb 21, 2023 |
Loved chapter 1, the history chapter. ( )
  gmillar | Oct 12, 2019 |
Not as interesting, to me, as Basbanes's A Gentle Madness, but a nice diversion. Where A Gentle Madness mainly chronicled individual bibliophiles, bibliomaniacs, and even bibliokleptomaniacs, this covers places sacred to the history of the book, tells of book sellers and their bookstores, and libraries and librarians. Though I found many bits to be interesting, I found several others that were boring. The reading dragged in places. ( )
  tuckerresearch | May 16, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
“An Exemplary Piece of Work … a rich feast … sheer pleasure … One dips into it, absorbs the many interwoven details, and comes away edified, enlightened, delighted and enriched … The tone, the pace, and the `weave' of Basbanes's prose have a cumulative effect. His journalistic background has taught him how to craft a good sentence, good paragraphs, and a captivating narrative line. His conversational style makes the reader acutely sympathetic to his intent; it makes us want to repay him with unflagging attention. His appreciation, even reverence, for all things bibliographic tells book lovers they are in the company of a kindred spirit. I'm looking forward to the completion of the trilogy.”
added by thebookpile | editLOGOS: Professional Journal of the Book World, Stephen Horvath
 
“Mr. Basbanes is a good writer with a loyal and growing readership. But he is also a writer enamored of books for their artifactual as well as intellectual value, for their beauty and uniqueness, and for the culture of the mind they embody and promote. This kind of love is not given to all writers. It doesn't just come with the talent. How fortunate a man to have such a passion. How fortunate his readers that he is willing to share.”
added by thebookpile | editClark University Libraries News, Diane Dolbashian
 
“Not only is Basbanes seriously obsessed with books, he's fascinated by libraries, spots where libraries once stood, bookstores, other bibliophiles, and, basically, anything else to do with books.”
added by thebookpile | editPages, Laurie Mason
 
“From almost the first page, one gets the sense that Nicholas Basbanes has done for books in Patience & Fortitude what Kenneth Clark did for Western Civilization in 1969, with the publication of his monumental work, Civilisation."

“By any measure, his interviews, his travels to sites around the world, his comprehensive scholarship, or his inspired writing, Basbanes has given us a full history of the book, its importance, its collection, and its future.”
added by thebookpile | editThe Caxtonian, Robert Cotner
 
“Book lovers relish meeting people who share their passion, just as all aficionados gravitate toward their own kind. So when Nicholas Basbanes, the king of bibliophiles, speaks here on Tuesday, there's sure to be a like-minded crowd on hand to absorb his every word. He is a most exciting and entertaining speaker.”
added by thebookpile | editChattanooga Times Free Press, Karin Glendenning
 
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Epigraph
Like all the men of the Library, in my younger days I traveled; I have journeyed in quest of a book, perhaps the catalog of catalogs. Now that my eyes can hardly make out what I myself have written, I am preparing to die, a few leagues from the hexagon where I was born. When I am dead, compassionate hands will throw me over the railing; my tomb will be the unfathomable air, my body will sink for ages, and will decay and dissolve in the wind engendered by my fall, which shall be infinite. I declare that the Library is endless. —Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), "The Library of Babel"
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For CVB and the next quarter-century
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While probing the murky bottom of Alexandria's Eastern Harbor for fragments of Queen Cleopatra's sunken palace, French divers came across an ancient stele that had been shielded from the sunlight for sixteen centuries.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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In his national bestseller, A Gentle Madness, Nicholas Basbanes explored the sweet obsession people feel to possess books. Now, Basbanes continues his adventures among the "gently mad" on an irresistible journey to the great libraries of the past -- from Alexandria to Glastonbury -- and to contemporary collections at the Vatican, Wolfenbüttel, and erudite universities. Along the way, he drops in on eccentric book dealers and regales us with stories about unforgettable collectors, such as the gentleman who bought a rare book in 1939 "by selling bottles of his own blood." Taking the book's grand title from the marble lions guarding the New York Public Library at 42nd Street, Basbanes both entertains and delights. And once again, as Scott Turow aptly noted, "Basbanes makes you love books, the collections he writes about, and the volume in your hand."

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