First Impression: An Interview With Author and Bibliophile Nicholas A. Basbanes

Abstract

Nicholas A. Basbanes did not publish his first book until he was 52 but, in the ten years since, the former literary editor at the Worcester Sunday Telegram has given bibliophiles and librarians five books about books. The first, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books (Holt, 1995), was a landmark commentary on book collecting that has sold 100,000 copies. The second, Patience & Fortitude (HarperCollins, 2001), named for the pair of lions that guard the entrance to the New York Public Library, explored the ways librarians and collectors have protected and housed their treasures throughout history, while describing libraries and book culture in general. Next came Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century (Holt, 2002), a spin-off book from the first book. Arriving after that was A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World (HarperCollins, 2003), an expanded section intended for Patience & Fortitude that looked at how books are preserved for succeeding generations. Borrowing from Ranganathan's third law of library science, Basbanes' recent book, Every Book Its Reader (HarperCollins, 2005), allowed him to draw on numerous taped interviews conducted for A Gentle Madness that were never used. His next work will be a centennial history of Yale University Press. The Lowell, Massachusetts, native spoke at Indiana University as a guest of its Medieval Studies Institute in October 2005, when William F. Meehan III sat down with the author at the Grant Street Inn in Bloomington.