Nonfiction · 1344
The Love of Books
The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury
Richard de Bury · translated by Ernest Chester Thomas
A medieval bishop's passionate case for the value of books and libraries — how to acquire them, how to care for them, why a kingdom's greatness can be measured by them — written by a man who used his access to kings and popes to build one of the great private libraries of his age.
Richard de Bury completed the Philobiblon in 1344, shortly before his death; Ernest Chester Thomas's English translation, the first full critical edition of the text, was first published in 1888.
This Bibliomancer edition presents the complete text.
Contents
- Preface
- Prologue
- Prologue
- Chapter I — That the Treasure of Wisdom Is Chiefly Contained in Books
- Chapter II — The Degree of Affection That Is Properly Due to Books
- Chapter III — What We Are to Think of the Price in the Buying of Books
- Chapter IV — The Complaint of Books Against the Clergy Already Promoted
- Chapter V — The Complaint of Books Against the Possessioners
- Chapter VI — The Complaint of Books Against the Mendicants
- Chapter VII — The Complaint of Books Against Wars
- Chapter VIII — Of the Numerous Opportunities We Have Had of Collecting a Store of Books
- Chapter IX — How, Although We Preferred the Works of the Ancients, We Have Not Condemned the Studies of the Moderns
- Chapter X — Of the Gradual Perfecting of Books
- Chapter XI — Why We Have Preferred Books of Liberal Learning to Books of Law
- Chapter XII — Why We Have Caused Books of Grammar to Be So Diligently Prepared
- Chapter XIII — Why We Have Not Wholly Neglected the Fables of the Poets
- Chapter XIV — Who Ought to Be Special Lovers of Books
- Chapter XV — Of the Advantages of the Love of Books
- Chapter XVI — That It Is Meritorious to Write New Books and to Renew the Old
- Chapter XVII — Of Showing Due Propriety in the Custody of Books
- Chapter XVIII — Showeth That We Have Collected So Great Store of Books for the Common Benefit of Scholars and Not Only for Our Own Pleasure
- Chapter XIX — Of the Manner of Lending All Our Books to Students
- Chapter XX — An Exhortation to Scholars to Requite Us by Pious Prayers
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About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
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About the author
1287–1345 · Medieval
Richard de Bury (1287–1345) was an English churchman, bishop of Durham, and bibliophile who served as tutor and later chancellor to King Edward III and undertook diplomatic missions to the papal court at Avignon. His Philobiblon (1344), a treatise defending the love of books and the case for building libraries, is among the earliest works devoted entirely to book-collecting.
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