Charles Nodier

“ The harmless, deliciously enjoyable fever of the bibliophile becomes, in the bibliomaniac, an acute malady bordering on delirium. Once it has reached that fatal stage of paroxysm it loses all contact with the intelligence and resembles any other mania. I do not know whether or not the phrenologists, who have discovered so many absurdities, have as yet localized the collector’s instinct—developed to such a high degree in some poor devils of my acquaintance—within the box of bone which houses our poor brain. ”

“ Civilization has reached the most unexpected of its ages, the age of paper. Now that everyone writes books, no one shows any particular eagerness to buy them. Besides, our young authors are well on [8] the way to building up whole libraries for themselves out of their own works. They need only be left to their own devices.
If we were to subdivide the species book collector into its various classes, the top-most rank in the whole subtle and capricious family should without doubt be given to the bibliophile. ”

“ The bibliophile who sends his books to be bound by Bauzonnet [13] is no better than the numismatist who has his medals gilded. Leave brass its verdigris, and the old book its worn leather.” The truth behind all this is that Bauzonnet’s bindings are expensive, while the bouquiniste is far from rich. We agree that cosmetics are a near sacrilege when applied to beauty, and that books should not be abandoned to the dangers of restoration except as a last resort; but rest assured that fine array harms a book no more than it harms a beautiful woman! ”

“ In that age of ignorance from which we have now had the good fortune to emerge, the publisher was, in general, a man capable of appreciating the books he published; he printed them on good solid paper, supple and resonant, and, when they were sufficiently important, had them bound in sound moisture-proof leather, well-glued and stoutly sewn. If by chance the volume found its way to the second-hand book-stall, that did not spell its ruin. Whether of sheep-skin, calf, or parchment, the binding—blanched and hardened in the sun ”

“ One might even be so bold as to warrant that the bibliophile is to all intents and purposes a happy man, or at least that he knows how happiness can be achieved. That good and learned book-lover, Urbain Chevreau, [7] has given us a marvelous description of this kind of happiness, as he himself experienced it. You will agree with me, if you will listen to his words for a moment instead of to mine: “I never know boredom,” he writes, “in my solitude, where I am surrounded by a large and well chosen library. ”

“ The bibliophile ought not to be confused with the bouquiniste, [17] the second-hand-book addict, of whom I shall now have something to say, although the bibliophile is by no means too proud to visit the second-hand book-stalls from time to time. He knows that more than one pearl has been cast before swine, and more than one literary treasure found in vulgar wrappings. Unfortunately, luck of this sort is extremely rare. As for the bibliomaniac, he never looks over second-hand books, since to do so would again introduce the element of choice. The bibliomaniac cannot choose; he buys. ”

“ You will have noted, in fact, that this worthy man—the object and model of my favorite studies and the delight of my happiest hours of reading, praesidium et dulce decus meum—has, in the charming picture he has given us of his so enviable existence, either forgotten to mention, or himself failed to realize, the rarest and most precious ingredient of his happiness. ”

“ The true second-hand-book addict is usually an old man living on his small independent income, a retired professor, or a man of letters who has outlived his vogue, but who still keeps his taste for books without having managed to retain enough money to buy them. ”

“ The bouquiniste has the life-long conviction of owning something that no one else owns, and would shrug his shoulders patronizingly before the coffers of the Grand Mogul himself; but he has compelling reasons for not decking out his treasures in a meaningless display of luxury, though he disguises his real motives under a thoroughly specious excuse. ”

“ The term bouquiniste is one of those words of double meaning which unfortunately abound in all languages. It is applied both to the amateur in search of old books and to the poor open-air merchant who sells them. In times past the dealer in second-hand books lacked neither a certain [20] standing nor prospects for the future. He was occasionally known to make his way up from a modest side-walk stall, or a chilly push-cart to the dignity of a real shop measuring all of six meters square. A case in point was that of Passard, recollections of whom may still linger in the Rue du Coq. ”

“ The bibliophile is a man endowed with a certain amount of intelligence and taste, who derives pleasure from works of genius, imagination, and feeling. He enjoys his mute [9] conversations with great minds—unilateral conversations which can be begun at will, dropped without discourtesy, and resumed without insistence ”

“ Up to this point, the story is in no way out of the ordinary, and hardly merits being told—but it is not yet finished. The man of genius attained fame (something which does occasionally happen to genius) and then died (something which happens sooner or later to everyone) . ”

“ Birth of His Majesty, the King of Rome.”—The skull of the bibliomaniac must have approximately the same protuberances.
Only a step separates the sublime from the ridiculous; only a crise, the bibliophile from the bibliomaniac. The one often turns into the other through mental deterioration or [16] increase of fortune—two grave afflictions to which the best of men are subject, though the first is far more common than the second. ”