WORD OF THE WEEK: BIBLIOPHILE

bibliophile (BIB-lee-uh-fyl) also bibliophil (-fil) or bibliophilist (bib-lee-OF-uh-list) noun

1. A lover of books.
2. A collector of books.

[Biblio-, book + -phile, lover of.]

"The 17th-century bibliophile George Thomason, whose specialty was seditious tracts, once buried his collection of over 22,000 publications, fearing their discovery, by the Army. What if he'd died, before he was able to retrieve them? " Albert Goldbarth, Canyon, Gorge, Arroyo, Poetry, Oct 1999.

[Editor's note: burying one's library is not generally considered a good preservation practice. And in the "Who Says You Can't Take It With You" department, 27-year-old bibliophile and "traction heir" Harry Elkins Widener clutched a 1598 edition of Bacon's Essays as he went down with the S.S. Titanic on April 15, 1912. (Trager, James; The People's Chronology, New York, 1979]

Wayne Homren, Editor

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The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 26, June 25, 2000, Article 8

WORD OF THE WEEK: BIBLIOPHILE

Wayne Homren, Editor