Book Madness: A Story of Book Collectors in America

by Denise Gigante

The fascinating history of American bookishness as told through the sale of Charles Lamb’s library in 1848
 
Charles Lamb’s library—a heap of sixty scruffy old books singed with smoke, soaked with gin, sprinkled with crumbs, stripped of illustrations, and bescribbled by the essayist and his literary friends—caused a sensation when it was sold in New York in 1848. The transatlantic book world watched as the relics of a man revered as the patron saint of book collectors were dispersed.
 
Following those books through the stories of the bibliophiles who shaped intellectual life in America—booksellers, publishers, journalists, editors, bibliographers, librarians, actors, antiquarians, philanthropists, politicians, poets, clergymen—Denise Gigante brings to life a lost world of letters at a time when Americans were busy assembling the country’s major public, university, and society libraries. A human tale of loss, obsession, and spiritual survival, this book reveals the magical power books can have to bring people together and will be an absorbing read for anyone interested in what makes a book special.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Books About Books

400 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One for all bibliophiles and book collectors, but perhaps not one for the general reader. I found it interesting enough – indeed fascinating at times – but overall quite heavy-going and certainly not a light read. It tells the history of book collecting in America through the dispersal of Charles Lamb’s library in1848, and how this initial sale led to the subsequent rise of book collecting and libraries throughout the land. Some interesting cameos of the main players helped sustain my interest.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Yale University Press for an advanced copy of this history on America in the 1840's and the rise of book collections and libraries.

Every day I accept the fact that I will never read all the books I want to read. Gradually I am accepting the fact that I will probably never read all the books that I have in my home. My profession allows me access to titles, discounts to acquire them, and advanced readers to keep ahead. My obsession is library book sales, thrift and used bookstores and walking around neighborhoods who love to leave unwanted books on front stoops for others. So I understand the wanting, the needing, and the idea of building a library for myself, and for others who I love to share books with, as portrayed by many of the characters in this book. Denise Gigante, a professor at Stanford University has written in Book Madness: A Story of Book Collectors in America a story about America's early obsession with with books, and many of the early collectors of yesterday who changed the face of American letters and libraries for us to enjoy today.

The book starts with a brief introduction the world of publishing, royalties and bookstores in America, which was a little bit chaotic for the early part of America's history. We meet some of the early booksellers and their interests, and how they plied their trade. Readers are then introduced to Charles Lamb, famed English essayist, poet and a very important man on the literary scene in London, friend to many of the great thinkers of the time. After his death in 1834, his library of some sixty books were presented for auction in New York in 1848. This caused quite a stir, for though the books were not in the best of shape, they were well-read with weakened bindings, smelling of smoke, candles, and possibly gin, with crumbs and other detritus, these were still the books of a literary giant, and much attention was made. The buyers were a diverse group, from actors, lawyers, pastors, and politicians. At the same time America was beginning to try and build a literary history, building public libraries and university libraries, which used the Lamb books to bring attention to their works.

The story is told through the books, following the books and the purchasers along as the careers went higher, or lower, and how that affected the American literary scene. Some stories tell of great things, some of obsessions and feuds, some are funny, some end sad. Their was a a tremendous amount of research for this book, as one can tell from the dramatis personae at the front of the book that lists quite a lot of people. The books are described, plot and how they looked at auction, with a nice look at the people involved that gives a nice idea of life at the time.

Not a book for everyone. This is more on Charles Lamb and the books and people than a real study of book collecting and selling, but it is interesting with many humourous stories and odd characters, as one would expect from book people. For fans of books, Charles Lamb in particular, and readers of life in the United States after the Civil War this would be a wonderful gift.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

After managing to absorb two or three good books about book trading – not those diaries of that bloke in Scotland, with his acerbic look at his customers, staff and profit margins alike, but more high-end – this one defeated me. It’s concerning what we can learn from the people who bought, traded in, and collected the last few books owned by Charles Lamb when they were sold off in New York in the middle of the nineteenth century. This was the age of the birth of the American public library – when riches and largesse could found a university collection with a rich white man’s name on (hopefully your own), or help inspire and fund a community establishment for the public of a major city.

If you have an interest in historical American bibliophilia, book collections and collecting, and the pre-Victorian life of certain classic volumes, this will be right up your street. If on the other hand only a small proportion of these names mean anything to you (and what has happened to the surname Crowninshield?!) and you barely know Charles Lamb and the few dozen books referred to, then this will quickly prove a wasted purchase. I am damned sure from the little I read that this author knows her subject inside and out and can produce the forensic, academic book to end all books on this certain, specific subject. But I saw instantly that despite her skills, this is of the most minority academic interest; reading all these pages as a humble average-commuter-kind-of-browser would not have served my time at all well.

If you are in front of a copy and need to know if you need buy it, turn to page 216 and read the paragraph beginning halfway down. That’s as sure a proof of this book’s approach as I ever need deliver, and is infinitely more accurate than the cosy cover image.

[Book Club of One · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Madness: A Story of Book Collectors in America explores the culture of book collecting in America as association copies (books that once belonged to an author or someone connected to the author) began to be seen as collectibles or having value due to their history, beyond just their printed content. Denise Gigante begins the book by detailing the life of Charles Lamb, and uses the distribution of his personal library as the framework for her exploration of book collecting in 19th century America.

While only made up of 5 main sections, this book has an extensive cast of figures, these names, affiliation and geographic locations make up the first 10 page. All of them are in some way, involved in book trade as sellers and buyers, scholars, readers, collectors or librarians. Gigante begins by giving a biography of Lamb and how he used his personal library, cutting out images, using them as coasters or his habit of writing in them; she then shifts into the literary world of this time. Chapter 3 looks specifically at those collecting Shakespearean works. Chapter 4 looks at the Boston Antiquarians and expansion of historical societies, the works of bibliographers and bibliomania (book madness, giving us the title). Chapter 5 traces the history and development of several libraries in the United States.

Throughout these separate sections Gigante explores the mindsets, drives and conflict between collecting and establishing longevity of many book collectors. At several points, there is the discussion of the formation of a large library and then what occurs when its owner died, often to be broken up by auction as occurred for Lamb's library.

Book Madness is very much a book for specialists or historians working in the book trade or looking at this time period's literary and book collecting history. With a wide number of people detailed it can be difficult to keep track of their linkage to Charles Lamb. However it is a compelling argument for the importance of keeping notable collections together as they can tell us a lot about their owner.

I received a free digital version of this Ebook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Miriah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I received this book as an ARC from Yale University Press.

In this book the author gives us a detailed life of Charles Lamb and the people surrounding him. Gigante delves into the players who considered themselves book collectors, and what book collectors of that period (late 1800’s- early 1900’s) looked like.

This was a decently fun read; I think maybe I would have enjoyed it more had I read it under different circumstances. This seems like a cozy fall/winter read.

The primary audience would be book aficionados, history buffs, and book collectors.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will write a review on this book later.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s nice to know that book owners and book collectors have always been little weirdos

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowsers! Another bookish book about book collectors, book madness and bibliophiles.

I loved it even though the middle got a touch slow.

But Charles Lamb's book collection being collected by people in the UK and America was superb, fascinating and I couldnt get enough.