The Amenities of Book-Collecting and Kindred Affections

A series of witty, anecdotal essays that celebrate book-collecting and its pleasures, combining practical advice, personal reminiscence, and cultural commentary. The writer contrasts bibliomania with other hobbies, offers guidance on acquisition, care, and cataloguing, recalls book-hunting travels and encounters with booksellers, and reflects on the aesthetic and social satisfactions of owning and reading books. Interspersed are humorous portraits of literary figures and observations about changing fashions in collecting, with frequent digressions on bindings, editions, and the emotional rewards that attach to both rare treasures and ordinary volumes.