The Enemies of Books

"The Enemies of Books" is a book on biblioclasts and book preservation by nineteenth century bibliophile and book collector William Blades. The book was first published in 1880 and has been republished in different editions in 1881, 1888, 1896, and 1902 and reproduced widely in electronic format in the twenty-first century. In the book, Blades, a well known collector and preserver of the works of British printer William Caxton, documented his outrage at any mistreatment of books in what became a passionate litany 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, and servants and children. The book ends with a passionate call for reverence for old books -- something he felt was lacking during his life.

External links

* [http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/BlaEnem.html E-Text at the University of Virginia]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1302Project Gutenburg E-Text]
* [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/literarystudies/EnemiesofBooks/toc.html Scanned electronic copy at the World Wide School]