Book Id: 42460 The Bibliomania. First edition, with ALS mounted on front pastedown. Thomas Dibdin.
The Bibliomania. First edition, with ALS mounted on front pastedown
The Bibliomania. First edition, with ALS mounted on front pastedown
The Bibliomania. First edition, with ALS mounted on front pastedown

The Bibliomania. First edition, with ALS mounted on front pastedown

Publisher Information: London: 1809.

With an Autograph Letter from Dibdin

Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (1776-1847). The bibliomania; or, book-madness; containing some account of the history, symptoms, and cure of this fatal disease . . . iv, 87pp. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1809. 214 x 124 mm. 20th century half calf, marbled boards, a few tiny scuff-marks on back cover. Light toning but very good. With an Autograph Note signed by Dibdin, dated Jan. 25, [18]41, tipped to the front pastedown, mended with clear tape.

First Edition. “Dibdin’s Bibliomania, first published in 1809, is an anthem to the printed book, a warning to the unwary about the perils of obsessive book-collecting, and the confessions of a rabid book-collector” (Danckwerts, p. vii). Written in less than a month, The Bibliomania marks “the first full flowering of Dibdin’s love affair with books” (Windle and Pippin, p. 35); it had the effect of “producing much innocent mirth and exciting a general curiosity after rare and precious volumes” (Dibdin, Reminiscences of a Literary Life, p. 272). Dibdin, a clergyman and inveterate book-lover, was a lively and engaging writer whose works enjoyed great popularity and helped to stimulate enthusiasm for book collecting in the nineteenth century. The autograph note tipped into this copy reads: “Good Mr. Warren, If I had not been cheated of £37.10 that Monday you would have had your £5 with fresh boards last week. As it is please to wait until Saturday next. Always your obliged T. F. Dibdin.” Danckwerts, “Introduction,” in Dibdin, The Bibliomania (2004), pp. vii-xxxvi. Jackson, Thomas Frognall Dibdin: An Annotated List, 16. Windle and Pippin, Thomas Frognall Dibdin: A Bibliography, A11a.

Book Id: 42460

Price: $1,500.00

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