BASBANES, Nicholas A. 1943-

PERSONAL: Born 1943, in Lowell, MA; married; wife's name, Constance; children: two daughters. Education: Bates College, 1965; Pennsylvania State University, M.A., 1969,

ADDRESSES: Home—North Grafton, MA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Henry Holt & Co., 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Worcester Sunday Telegram, literary editor, 1978-91; national syndicated columnist, 1991-99; author. Military service: U.S. Navy, public information officer.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and New York Times Notable Book of the Year both for A Gentle Madness.

WRITINGS:

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and theEternal Passion for Books, Henry Holt and Co. (New York, NY), 1995.

Patience and Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of BookPeople, Book Places, and Book Culture, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2001.

Among the Gently Mad: Perspectives and Strategies for the Book-Hunter in the Twenty-first Century, Henry Holt and Co. (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Life beyond Life: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World for Harper-Collins;

SIDELIGHTS: Nicholas A. Basbanes had worked as a reporter for many years when the management at the Worcester Sunday Telegram decided to cut costs by eliminating the newspaper's book section, Basbanes lost his long-standing job as book review editor. He was forty-seven years old at the time, married, and had two children. Both he and his wife, Constance, had faith in his ability to write, so instead of looking for another fulltime job, Basbanes decided to become a part time freelance writer and devote the majority of his time and energy to writing a book.

Although confident of his skills in telling a good story, he had trouble selling his book concept to a publisher. No one thought that a book about books would ever sell, not even to an academic audience. To everyone's surprise, once Basbanes's first book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, was published in 1995, it turned out to be a bestseller.

A Gentle Madness is more than a book about books. It is a book about the people who have collected books and the significance of their collections. Basbanes uses his skills as a journalist to keep his readers involved in a story about other people's love of books. He incorporates interesting details of such ancient figures as Alexander the Great and the Italian poet Petrarch and then he moves into contemporary times with stories about characters such as Ruth Baldwin, a woman who collected children's books despite the fact that she disliked children, and Charles L. Blockson, who left his career as a professional football player to collect books on the cultural history of African Americans. One of Basbanes's most interesting stories involves the trial of Stephen C. Blumberg, a man who stole rare books from almost three hundred different libraries from all over the United States. Blumberg pleaded not guilty at his trial for reasons of insanity. He eventually lost his case.

Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Philip Kopper praised Basbanes' collection of stories about people who collect books. "It is a brave writer who attempts a comprehensive study that's fit to read. Nicholas A. Basbanes succeeds on several counts, for A Gentle Madness is an impressive achievement in its compilation of vast information, as well as instructive and interesting." Kopper then recommended the book for anyone "seriously interested in books or curious about the manic nature of collecting." Donna Seaman, writing for Booklist, also noted the manic nature of book collectors as she wrote: "A surprising number of these stories involve nefarious dealings and vicious rivalries, proving that even in our digitized age, books arouse intense emotions, from worship to greed."

In 2001, Basbanes published his second book, Patience and Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture, a sort of sequel to his first book. In this volume, Basbanes looks at the great libraries and their librarians through the ages. He also relates stories of bookmakers, booksellers, antiquarians, great authors, as well as book collectors. He tackles the current controversy over print media versus digital media, the problems of storing old books that few people want to read any more, and the ever-rising cost of paper in the production of books and journals. To illustrate some of the problems, he points out the volume of books that large libraries receive each day, such as the Library of Congress's load of twenty-five thousand new books each day.

In a review of Patience and Fortitude, a writer for Publishers Weekly concluded: "Basbanes's fund of stories will delight readers who value books for more than just a good story, have a yen for second-hand books plucked from dusty shops or like to look at catalogs for suspense and excitement."

Basbanes, an admitted bibliophile himself, lives in a small house in rural Massachusetts with his wife, two daughters, and over ten thousand books. In an article written for the online I Read Pages, Basbanes told Laurie Mason, "I fall over them, they fall down. Upstairs, we've added a library on to the house. All of the bedrooms are full. The bathroom downstairs, if you open the closet looking for towels, you're going to see books."

In 2002, Basbanes' third book, Among the Gently Mad: Strategies for the Book-Hunter in the Twenty-first Century was published.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1995, Donna Seaman, review of A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, p. 1913; September 15, 2001, Donna Seaman, review of Patience and Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture, p. 166.

Houston Chronicle, November 9, 2001, Earl L. Dachslager, "He Digs the Bookworms,"

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001, review of Patience and Fortitude, p. 1079.

Library Journal, September 1, 2001, Paul D'Alessandro, review of Patience and Fortitude, p. 176.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, December 3, 1995, David Kipen, "Collecting Myself," p. 18.

New York Review, December 20, 2001, Larry McMurtry, "Mad about the Book," pp. 57-59.

New York Times Book Review, August 20, 1995, Philip Kopper, "Crazy about Books," p. 25; October 14, 2001, Diane Cole, review of Patience and Fortitude, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, July 3, 1995, review of A Gentle Madness, p. 45; August 13, 2001, review of Patience and Fortitude, p. 296.

Washington Post Book World, December 9, 2001, Henry Wessells, "The Tomes of Their Lives," p. 12.*