Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An exaggerated preoccupation with the acquisition and ownership of books.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Book-madness; a rage for collecting and possessing books, especially rare and curious ones. Also bibliomany.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A mania for acquiring books.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The obsession of owning valuable books.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun preoccupation with the acquisition and possession of books

Etymologies

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Examples

  • (The other reason indulgence and castigation often are hard to distinguish in an account of bibliomania is that those diagnosing the disorder so often detect symptoms in themselves.)

    "Wedded to Books': Bibliomania and the Romantic Essayists 2004

  • The ardor of possessing books, commonly called bibliomania, also styled bibliophilism and "biblio" -- whatever else that has suggested itself to the fruitful imaginations of dozens of felicitous writers upon the subject, -- is described by Dibdin as a "disease which grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength."

    Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs Henry H. Harper

  • Himself an indefatigable collector of books, the possessor of a library as valuable as it was interesting, a library containing volumes obtained only at the cost of great personal sacrifice, he was in the most active sympathy with the disease called bibliomania, and knew, as few comparatively poor men have known, the half-pathetic, half-humorous side of that incurable mental infirmity.

    The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac 1896

  • Burns, or Americana, or any other branch or phase of bibliomania; for each of these things accomplishes a noble purpose in that each contributes to the glory of the great common cause of bibliomania, which is indeed the summum bonum of human life.

    The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac Eugene Field 1872

  • Himself an indefatigable collector of books, the possessor of a library as valuable as it was interesting, a library containing volumes obtained only at the cost of great personal sacrifice, he was in the most active sympathy with the disease called bibliomania, and knew, as few comparatively poor men have known, the half-pathetic, half-humorous side of that incurable mental infirmity.

    The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac Eugene Field 1872

  • He obsessively spent money he didn't have on books, and his bibliomania was the first great manifestation of his propensity to addiction - a hunger to consume that was 'absolutely endless and inexorable as the grave'.

    The Coffee House | Politics and News Discussion Forum 2009

  • The modern bibliophiles who know what it is to revel in the enjoyment of a goodly library, luxuriant in costly bindings and rich in bibliographical rarities, who are fully susceptible to the delights and exquisite sensibilities of that sweet madness called bibliomania, will readily comprehend the multiplied pleasures of that early and illustrious bibliophile in the seclusion of Auckland Palace; he there ardently applied his energies and wealth to the accumulation of books; and whilst engaged in this pleasing avocation, let us endeavor to catch a glimpse of him.

    Bibliomania in the Middle Ages Frederick Somner Merryweather

  • Early nineteenth-century phenomena such as bibliomania and the figure of the "bookman" helped to spark a widespread awareness of books as printed objects and an interest in the physical dimensions of the readerly relationship to them.

    Article Abstracts 2004

  • Some, such as bibliomania - obsessive collecting of books - aren't too worrying.

    The Guardian World News Kira Cochrane 2011

  • Never has bibliomania been written in such a wistful way.

    Books. Matter. Stories. Matter. (Or: How a Book Made Me Cry After Six Pages) « BAHAY TALINHAGA 2009

Comments

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  • Apparently there's a store called Bibliomania in Oakland: http://www.bibliomania.ws

    December 3, 2011

  • book hoarding freaks. u need to get right with god. da fuxk is wrong with you.

    March 14, 2012