Book dossier

Philobiblon

by Richard de Bury

The Philobiblon is a collection of essays concerning the acquisition, preservation, and organization of books written by the mediaeval bibliophile Richard de Bury shortly before his death in 1345. Written in Latin, as was the custom of the day, it is separated into twenty chapters, each covering a different topic relating to book collecting. There was a dispute as to whether de Bury was the actual author of the Philobiblon. The controversy began as a result of the bishop’s own biographer, Chambres, neglecting to mention the book at all in de Bury's biography. Many thought that de Bury’s chaplain, Robert Holkot, was the author and there was substantial evidence that this was the case. Today, however, most experts agree that the work is de Bury’s, chiefly due to the revealing and autobiographical nature of the book.[1] According to one scholar, the Philobiblon is “one of the longest extant medieval texts on the subject of library management.” In it are several innovations such as the practices for circulation control among the students of the college, utilizing at times an open-stack rather than the dominant closed-stack system.[2] Fifteenth century scholars cited it often. Thomas Kempis, the author of the devotional book The Imitation of Christ, borrowed a whole chapter of the Philobiblon for one of his works, and Mathaus Hummel read from it during the opening of the University of Freiburg.[3] As to de Bury’s legacy, it was said about the Philobiblon: “it is the sole memorial of one who loved books so much in an age and country that loved them so little