Bibliophile or Bookworm...which one I you?

A friend of mine happened to mention during a rarely given opportunity of psycho analysing me that I have a case of bibliophilism. This got me thinking do I really or am I a book worm? There’s a difference as well all probably know. The latter loves books for their content, in other words loves reading and the other not only loves reading but loves the actual book as well and these tend to be collectors and if you want to be catty I suppose you can call them horders.

I love reading, from about 11 years old you couldn’t tear me from a book and when I was single I could spend Friday to Sunday alone in my flat, going no where, seeing no and would not feel deprived because my nose would be stuck deep within the pages of a book. I got a little older and things seem to have evolved, not only do I read books now but I have to have them. I just can’t bear to part with them.



While looking these two types of behaviours  up I came across a number of quote that I fear, not only removed any remaining doubt but also failed to discourage this compulsion. Here they are:

“Maybe I should start my own local (sorry, Fred) book-lending service to subsidize mybibliophilia.”

BookFlix

“I think that in any study of anything, an example of excess is instructive, because bibliomania on the whole -- bibliophilia, which is the cousin, are productive exercises.”

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books

“Several years ago, in a fit of bibliophilia that still afflicts me, I started buying earlier versions of some favorite titles.”

Forbes: Beware Rare Book Forgeries

Let us examine the evidence in the context of the last quote. For reasons of maintaining my sanity I only went to my dining room cabinet to test the theory and did not approach bookshelves.



That poor cabinet I should add was the dining server until it found an alternative function.

So here’s my little inventory starting from your left:

• The first two rows are all old classics that I could not pass up because they are either old or old and leatherbound. I have not as yet gotten to them or some of the others classics around the house accept for Sir. A. C.Doyle and Rupert Brooke’s in this batch. But I had to save them from dust mites and heaven only knows what other forms vermin at the second hand bookstore.


• I was looking for books on ancient Africa when I came across Graham Hancock and found Fingerprints of the gods which is about Egypt but then there was this signed copy of Underworled as well. So how could I leave a signed copy and so I immediately developed a fascination with the Ice Age.  I remember how much they cost and how I winced when they told me but heck, you only live once.


• Then I came across this adorable book on Raphael the painter in a second hand furniture store. As you can see right at the top if you squint, vermin was beginning to work its way and the old man gave it to me for $7. It’s the best $7 I’ve ever spent. This book was created at a time when publishers and printers treated the process as an art. Phiadon Press did a really beautiful job of the inside, the picture quality is phenomenal and they aren’t stuck to the book (kind of a floating effect) and yet the quality is still outstanding right up to today. This was back in 1943. Sometimes I flip through just to admire it.


• Terry Pratchette, well what can I say. I had a copy but then came across a first edition, what’s a girl to do. I have quite a few of his first editions I’m proud to say.


• Neil Gaiman: I loved The Graveyard Book which I still have not reviewed but the madness here really becomes evident when you realise that these are not first editions, they are paperbacks which came out the same year. But in my defense, the illustrators were different people dammit. So I had to get both for choice. And of course I had to have another American Gods because this is the 10th Anniverary Edition. If I didn’t buy it now who knows what I would miss out in value in 200 years.


• And that Sussana Clarke book is another hardcover earlier edition that I just couldn’t let up and so soon I have to pass on the softcover copy I got a while back.


• And last. The little soft leather bound copy of The Story Of An African farm. This edition came out in 1924, the first was in 1883. I think my reasons are obvious.

And that is me in a nutshell and I fear my friend's summation was correct; I have indeed progressed from bookworm to bibliophile. Be that as it may, as BookFlix guy says, I am adamant I’d rather find a means to support my habit than a cure. At this juncture, nothing threatens my happiness more than the prospect of ever having to give away my books. I could not, not for love nor money.

So which are you, a Bibliophile or a Bookworm?