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Their history, art, power, glory, infamy and suffering according to their creators, friends and enemies. ( )

Indeholder "Acknowledgments", " Illustration Credits", "1. Bookmaking", " The six-thousand-year-old history of books from the first primitive attempts to collect scribblings between covers, to the fabulous illuminated manuscript of medieval times and the proliferation of the printed word", "2. The Anatomy of Books", " An investigation into the creative content of books (featuring some well-known writers at work and showing some of their habits, inspiration, productivity and techniques) by way of titles, dedications, prefaces and indexes", "3. Book lore", " Anecdotes and curiosities concerning some famous and infamous books, the adventures and misadventures of certain celebrated authors with assorted literary difficulties, earnings, epitaphs, errata, events, forgeries, hoaxes, insights, mistakes, plagiarisms, reviews, statistics, and trivia", "4. Disastrous books", " The maladies, misfortunes, and sorry plight of abused authors, their terrible sufferings from vicious criticisms, heartless rejections, and tragic accidents, and the appalling punishments of some literary martyrs who died for their books", "5. The enemies of books", " The ravages of bookworks, books in flames, the complaint of books against war, mutilated and battered books, some current book troubles, banned books, and the destructive effects of dust, water, neglect, and children", "6. The love of books", " Books as intimate bedfellows, boon companions, faithful friends, sensual lovers, learned educators and entertainers, with eloquent thoughts on their diversions, immortality, passions, pleasures, powers, solace, truth, value, wit, and wisdom", "7. Bibliotypes", " Some characters from the world of books including bibliomaniacs, book hunters, bibliognosts, eccentric authors, bibliophiles, literary lunatics, bibliotaphs, book collectors, bibliophobes, constant readers, bibliolaters, book borrowers, bibliokleptomaniacs, and other bookish people", "8. Ex libris", " How to choose from the far too many books available (avoiding the bad, dull, lewd, smutty and worthless), when, where, and how to read them, and advice on their care and handling", "Bibliography", "Index".

En underholdende og rablende bog om bøger. ( )

This book is filled with many book related quotes, including those about buying, selling and reading, with my favourite being the bibliomania sections. Some of the thoughts on book matters are light hearted, others are more serious, but all are absolutely fascinating to the dedicated reader. The illustrations it contains are delightful and make this book a joy not only to read but also to browse through in spare moments. There are some fabulous book poems too, some of which I have never come across before. Written by Donaldson, who obviously has a terrific sense of humour as well as being a true book lover, this is a must have book for all bibliophiles. ( )