"If I were blind, I would still take pleasure in holding a beautiful book."
Sylvester De Sarcy (Bibliofile)

 "The Scorn of the Bibliophile"

By Jim Makovec (Idaho Jim) 

  I am a Bookman. I am a Bibliophile.  I love books, I cherish them, I collect them and I worship them.  I am in constant search for the perfect book.  The soft supple leather, the artisans design of the cover, the choice of the printers font, the texture, the color, the feel and the smell of the paper and its relationship of the illuminations.  Finally, the writers flow of words and the interest and imaginations past to me through his stories.  This is a little of what a true Bibliophile goes through in his choosing of fine books. 

I read Bookman’s books of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.  I read William Dana Orccutt, A.S.W. Rosenbach, A. Edward Newton, Douglas C. McMurtie, Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt and of-course George Talbot Goodspeed.  These authors give me insight as to what the Book is and how to respect it.  The Perfect book is illusive.  It is there but I have never found it.  I’ve come close with the authors above but I am still looking.  William Dana Orcutt in his book “The Magic of the Book” Little, Brown and Company, 1930 concerning his quest for perfection writes in his introduction: 

"I was amused to find that with the publication of my books some of my reviewers and a few correspondents seemed seriously to think that I believed the Quest to be ended.  Imagine the tragedy of so alluring an adventure becoming an accomplished fact – even granting that it were possible!  Where is the Perfect Book to be found?  In the words of the author or in the heart of the reader?  In the design of a type or in the skill of the typographer or the binder?  In the charm of the paper or in the beauty of the illumination or illustration?  It must, of course, be in the harmonious combination of all of these, but the words of the author which find a place in one reader’s heart fail to interest another; the design of a type that is appropriate to one book is not equally expressive in all.

The word perfection has no place in our language except as an incentive.  To search for it is an absorbing adventure, for it quickens our senses to perceive much that would otherwise be lost.  If perfection could become commonplace, the Quest would end, -- and God pity the world!  Until then each of us will define the Perfect Book in his own words, each of us will seek it in his own way." 

In the quoted paragraphs above lie the scorn of the Bibliophile and a vailed explanation of his addiction.  There is in fact no such thing as the Perfect Book. However, this is the key!  This is the key to the Bibliophiles addiction. In our minds the Book is there. Along the way at some point in time we have tasted and felt the emotion given us by the hunt.  From that point we are as hooked as the devil in the Opium Den. There is no relief so to feed our emotion we continue the constant hunt.  We read, collect we touch and we smell all of the wonderful books in our collection never to reach a gratification.  We always want the one more tome with the magic quality we have not yet discovered.  Mr. Orcutt also touches this subject further on in his Introduction.  He writes: 

"A writer may be born who combines the Wisdom of Solomon, the power of analysis of Henry James, the understanding of Plato, the Philosophy of Emerson, and the style of Montaigne.   This manuscript may be transformed into a book by a printer who can look beyond his cases of type, and interpret what Aldus, and Jenson, and Etienne, and Plantin saw, with the artistic temperament of William Morris and the restraint of Emery Walker.  There maybe a binding that represents the apotheosis of Italian, French, and English elegance.  A reader may be developed through the evolution of the ages competent to appreciate the contents and the physical format of such a volume, “for what we really seek is a comparison of experiences.”  But until then, let the Quest go on!" 

  So you see what we seek is a concept.  An ideal that is always just above and beyond our reach.  As we come close with another beautiful addition to our collection our dopamine churns in our middle brain and we sit in our Library in a state of euphoria literally hugging the tome we have purchased.  As we digest it, touch it, smell it and fondle it the dopamine slows and at some point we shelve the wonderful book and begin our search anew knowing for a fact that the next book we find may be that truly Perfect Book.  Our life goes on and we are happy for the euphoric situations in which we find ourselves. Every book is a joy and every book inserts into us a small portion of that euphoria.  It can be the children’s nursery rhyme or it could be seeing the original Guttenberg Bible for the first time.  Each state has its own level, but the feeling is there regardless of its extent. We are beyond cure and beyond help. The fact is we don’t want cure and we don’t want help.  Our love for the book has evolved and it is all encompassing.  Whether you are at the beginning of your book career or are a well aged Bookman, you know within you what that feeling is.  Rest assured though, as a Bibliophile you are not alone. We are at all levels and at least one in a thousand of us have the ability to actually find that book.  I know I will eventually find mine.  Maybe my next purchase or just maybe it will be that Bible that the Priest uses at my funeral but I know in my heart that it is out there -somewhere - and I know I will surely find it.