Creator
de Bury, Richard.
Title
Philobiblon
Coverage
[Paris]
Publisher
J. Petit
Date
1500
Description
Richard de Bury’s Philobiblon, often cited as the first book on bibliomania, is a spirited apologia for the disease. De Bury (1287–1345), Bishop of Durham and manuscript collector, purposely kept a light touch in the Philobiblon, “for it is absurd in authors that a light matter should be written in a lofty style.” During his lifetime, de Bury amassed a large library of books through gift and with the help of agents whom he employed to purchase manuscripts for him in continental Europe. This is the earliest edition of the Philobiblon in the Library; it was first printed in Cologne in 1473.