LECTURE BY AUTHOR OF A GENTLE MADNESS
The E-Sylum (4/4/2010)
Book Content
I was lucky to hear a lecture at the Clements Library in Ann Arbor, MI by Nick Basbanes (author of "A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books"). It was also nice to see another NBS member in the audience (David Davis).
I already knew that Basbanes is a good writer. It turns out he's also a wonderful speaker. He told stories of books, collectors, libraries, and more. The stories about Steven Blumberg were amazing. He also told about interesting encounters while doing research for a book he's writing about paper itself. One quotation he mentioned was one I had read in his book years ago but bringing it to the surface struck a chord (as someone who just moved and is dealing with my collections en masse):
"The bibliophile is the master of his books, the bibliomaniac their slave"
Hanns Bohatta
Dan adds:
The Clements Library has a half dozen Indian peace medals (all copper or bronze) and a couple of contemporary illustrations of Peace Medals being worn in their current exhibit: www.clements.umich.edu/Exhibits/nativeamerican/
nativeamerican.html.