The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac

This is a difficult book for me to rate. I was unaware when I began reading that it was a satire, and that the author and the narrator were different people. In fact I knew very little of Eugene Field, aside from a few of his poems that I have read.
The book itself was a fanciful rambling account of the narrator's experiences with books. Despite moments of enchantment, I was frequently bored and distracted. Occasionally the author made odd comments about women, which I overlooked as I was unsure whether he was serious or joking. And then I came to the opening line of the penultimate chapter:
"The women-folk are few up there,
For ’t were not fair, you know,
That they our heavenly bliss should share
Who vex us here below!
The few are those show more who have been kind
To husbands such as we:
They knew our fads and didn’t mind—
Says Dibdin’s ghost to me."

He then goes on to say, "It has never been explained to my satisfaction why women, as a class, are the enemies of books, and are particularly hostile to bibliomania."

The chapter went on to describe in more detail and with a jocular tone the obstacles women create in the enjoyment of books.

At this point I stopped reading and marked the book as DNF. However after doing so, I read some of the reviews of other readers and began to get an inkling that there was more to this book than I had realised.

Unfortunately I had been listening to the Librivox audiobook, which omitted the introduction. Reading this (luckily I happen to also own the ebook) and some further information on trusty Wikipedia prompted me to finish the book. I felt somehow that I owed it to Eugene Field to do so. This was his final book, written despite his very poor health. He died a week after its completion, still in his prime, with a large family.

I'll never be able to say I particularly liked this book. But at least I can say I made the effort to finish it. show less

Some of the chapters I liked better then others because I knew the books Field was talking about, other chapters went over my head as I had no knowledge of the people or books but all and all it was an interesting, humorous and sometimes strangely familiar feeling to the way I feel about books. If you like "The Haunted Bookshop" I'm sure that you will find much to like here.

Perhaps I'm uncharacteristically susceptible right now because I'm hardly half way through this intoxicating assemblage of words and I'm in love.

Obsession with collecting (media, especially) hasn't changed a bit from the mid-1890s to the mid-2010s.

Wonderful collection of essays.

"He aquí la historia de un viejo y peculiar coleccionista de libros, en la Norteamérica de finales del siglo XIX, rodeado de personajes tan singulares como entrañables: sus amigos, el juez Methuen y el doctor O'Rell; su hermana, la señorita Susan; sus amores de juventud, Captuvity Waite, Panchonette... Una novela repleta de humor, encanto e inteligencia sobre los deleites, aventuras y desventuras de la bibliomanía. Pero también sobre la alegría de vivir, contagiosa en todas sus páginas."

Info
Bibliomanía: «Pasión de tener muchos libros raros o los pertenecientes a tal o cual ramo, más por manía que para instruirse». Diccionario de la Lengua Española.

He aquí la historia de un viejo y peculiar coleccionista de libros, en la Norteamérica de finales del siglo XIX, rodeado de personajes tan singulares como entrañables: sus amigos, el juez Methuen y el doctor O’Rell; su hermana, la señorita Susan; sus amores de juventud, Captivity Waite, Fanchonette… Una novela repleta de humor, encanto e inteligencia sobre los deleites, aventuras y desventuras de la bibliomanía. Pero también sobre la alegría de vivir, contagiosa en todas sus páginas.

«Cuando el juez Methuen tiene ganas de chanza y quiere reírse de mí, me show more pregunta si he olvidado la época en la que estuve poseído por un espíritu de renovación y juré solemnemente no comprar más libros… Mi relación con los libreros cubre un período tan largo y ha sido tan íntima que incluso en medio de una vasta multitud, no tendría dificultad en determinar quiénes son libreros y quiénes no. Porque, al tratar con los libros, llega un momento en que estos hombres acaban pareciéndose a su mercancía, no sólo en su aspecto sino también en su conversación. Mi librero ha habitado tantos años en su rincón que habla al estilo antiguo y tiene el aspecto sencillo y atractivo de una antigua y sólida encuadernación; y para deleite de los entendidos en olores, desprende ese aroma a moho y tabaco combinados que al verdadero bibliófilo le resulta más agradable que todos los perfumes de Arabia. He estudiado el oficio con tanto interés que con sólo clavar la vista en un librero puedo decir con certeza qué tipo de libros vende.» show less

He aquí la historia de un viejo y peculiar coleccionista de libros, en la Norteamérica de finales del siglo XIX, rodeado de personajes tan singulares como entrañables: sus amigos, el juez Methuen y el doctor O'Rell; su hermana, la señorita Susan; sus amores de juventud, Captivity Waite, Fanchonette...