The Enemies of Books

1880 book by William Blades

The Enemies of Books

Author| William Blades
Language| English
Subject| Books--Conservation and restoration.
Publisher| Elliot Stock

Publication date

| 1888
Publication place| England
Pages| 165

Dewey Decimal

| 025.8/4
LC Class| Z701 .B63 1888b
Website| http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1302

The Enemies of Books is a book on biblioclasm[1] and book preservation by the 19th-century bibliophile and book collector William Blades. The book was first published in 1880 and has been republished in different editions in 1881, 1888,[2] 1896, and 1902 and reproduced widely in electronic format in the 21st century. In the book, Blades, a well-known collector and preserver of the works of the English printer William Caxton, documented his outrage at any mistreatment of books in what became a passionate diatribe against biblioclasts, human and non-human, wherever he found them.

The book includes chapters on the following enemies of books: fire, water, gas and heat, dust and neglect, ignorance and bigotry, the bookworm, bookbinders, book collectors, other vermin (such as rats or flies), servants, and children.[3] The book ends with a passionate call for reverence for old books, something the author felt was lacking during his life.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* Destruction of libraries

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ The entry for biblioclasts is a very long list of deliberate book burnings and destruction by other means.
2. ^ The 1888 edition has "Revised and Enlarged by the Author", and has the publishing details as London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row and 165 pages
3. ^ Sajic, Andrijana. "A Book's Best Frenemy". Met Museum, 24 February 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
4. ^ The Conclusion at page 151 in the 1888 edition begins: "It is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at work for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be allowed to work out their sad end."

## External links

[edit]

* D. J. McAdam e text of The Enemies of Books
* E-text at the University of Virginia
* Project Gutenberg E-text
* The Enemies of Books public domain audiobook at LibriVox

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