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Editions and Impressions: Twenty Years on the Book Beat Hardcover – December 8, 2007

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

Nicholas A. Basbanes, called "the leading authority on books about books" by Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough, has explored Western book culture as a journalist for twenty years. Editions and Collections brings together for the first time in book form more than thirty of his essays exploring the world of the book. Basbanes travels to Iraq and reports on a nascent library started by U.S. soldiers. He attends a high-stakes auction on behalf of a friend and places bids that exceed his annual salary, and he offers insightful profiles of collectors, librarians, authors, and scholars. This is Basbanes at his best.
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If anyone in the United States is truly a book person, surely it is Nicholas A. Basbanes. For two decades, the literary critic and columnist has cast a fond, even loving eye, on the culture of books, their substance, their wider meaning in society and the people who -- in ways similar and markedly different -- share his passion. His intense engagement with all things bookish shines from every page of his new collection of journalistic pieces, each one sparkling with insights born of total immersion in his beloved subject. Basbanes already has written a handful of indispensable books on this topic, but, as he makes clear in his introduction to "Editions & Impressions," he selected these particular essays "precisely because they are not replicated in any substantial way" in his other published work. The essays are radiant with his joy in discovering and exploring the byways of the book world. And what a world it is, full of fascinating characters and interesting tales, which Basbanes, with his experience covering "every imaginable kind of story as a newspaper reporter," is perfectly fitted to evoke. The first part of "Editions & Impressions" consists of chapters with Greek-derived titles, all beginning with the root prefix "biblio," meaning -- what else? book! Two are titled "Bibliophilia," meaning the love of books, something Basbanes certainly knows all about (having written such books as "A Gentle Madness" and, most recently, "Every Book Its Reader"). Yet he is never sappy, never shows even a hint of "bibliolatry" (the title of another essay), sacerdotal worship of books or a self-congratulatory tone. And when he considers other people's love for books, particularly among collectors public and private, he tackles the touchy subject of money. Indeed, as a librarian at the Boston Public Library acquisitions department told him, "[A]fter all these years of collecting, we'd have to be rich, don't you think?" But a bookseller avers that "if you can't get a particular book for money, that's really rare." That he brings up "filthy lucre" when examining the various factors that feed people's love for books is part of what makes this book uncommonly refreshing. There is a fascinating chapter titled "Bibliokleptomania," which reflects Basbanes' experience as an investigative reporter in the heady days after the 1972 Watergate break-in. Of "notorious book thief" Stephen C. Blumberg, who was convicted in 1991 of stealing more than 20,000 rare books and 10,000 manuscripts in 45 states and Canada, he cites the defense's argument that "a severe disillusionment disorder [forced] him to believe he must rescue the past and protect it from an indifferent environment," as well as the prosecutor's accusation that "just like any cat burglar . . . the man is a thief." A true bibliophile, Basbanes pronounces his own eminently sensible verdict: "Typical collectors, of course, preserve the relics of creativity and shared experience, and though bibliomania certainly involves obsession, it can be productive, so long as it is held reasonably in check." Such is Basbanes' gusto for books and everything to do with them that there is little doubt he would endure this rite of passage and more for a look at such a library. And, far from emerging "sorely troubled," Basbanes' exuberant spirit would be energized, as he so evidently has been in his multifarious book experiences around the world. --LA Times

From the Inside Flap

Decades before he began writing A Gentle Madness and the other volumes in his acclaimed series on book collecting, libraries, and reading, Nicholas A. Basbanes got his start as a journalist. His experience as an investigative reporter, literary editor, and columnist makes Basbanes unique among the many chroniclers of book culture, creating a body of work that led two-time Pulitzer prize winning historian and biographer David McCullough to call him the leading authority of books about books. Editions and Impressions: Twenty Years on the Book Beat brings together the best of Basbanes's book journalism. Here, he reports first-hand on a nascent library springing up on the battlefield in Iraq. He describes putting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line at a New York auction on behalf of a friend and placing bids that, in some instances, exceeded his annual salary. In Sweden, he writes about a seventeenth-century palace library left unfinished when builders walked off the job three centuries ago. He recalls meeting with one of the most prolific book thieves of the twentieth century, and considers instances of the tragic destruction of books and libraries. Basbanes often says that he is a collector of collectors, and this book also brings together many profiles of fascinating rare-book aficionados, from the extremely wealthy who can buy almost anything they want to collectors who have built marvelous and important collections on limited budgets. Most of these pieces are significantly revised and expanded from their original appearances in print, and throughout the book, Basbanes has added notes to bring the stories up-to-date. These essays, collected from two decades worth of magazine and newspaper appearances, establish Basbanes as one of the leading book journalists of our time.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fine Books Pr; 1st edition (December 8, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 209 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0979949106
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0979949104
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

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Nicholas A. Basbanes
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I've written ten books, the most recent titled "Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," which was published in June 2020, and has since been named a Book of the Year by the Times Literary Supplement (TLS). In 2016, I was named a Public Scholar by the National Endowment for the Humanities in support of work on this book. My previous work, "On Paper: The Everything of Its Two Thousand Year History" was one of three finalists for the 2014 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction awarded by the American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation; and also the recipient of an NEH grant. My first book, "A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books," was a finalist in 1995 for the National Book Critics Circle Award. I lecture widely on a variety of subjects, and write the Gently Mad column for Fine Books and Collections Magazine. My articles, OpEds, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Humanities, Smithsonian, and Civilization, among other publications. I am a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, and went to Bates College, where I majored in English. From 1968 to 1971, I served as a naval officer aboard the aircraft carrier Oriskany, and made two combat cruises to Vietnam. I got my master's degree in journalism from Pennsylvania State University. My wife and I have two adult daughters, and live in Central Massachusetts.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2008
    When I see Nicholas A. Basbanes on a book cover I know I have to read it, because no one else in today's world so well depicts the joy to be found in reading and collecting books. Editions and Impressions is a collection of short essays and articles written over a period of twenty years. Some of the collectors and collections described here will be familiar to readers of Basbanes' earlier works, particularly A Gentle Madness and Among the Gently Mad, while others will be less recognizeable but still just as interesting to read about. I particularly enjoyed the eulogies or obituaries to noted book collectors like Carter Burden or Louis Szathmary. I collect books too, and while I'll never have the resources to make the scale of purchases the collectors described here oould enjoy, its nevertheless fun to realize that the same stab of joy I feel when I buy for a few bucks a long out of print title by a favorite author is shared by men and women who can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars.

    Basbanes mentions he has another collection of essays and articles to be published soon, along with several more works waiting to be finished. I and countless other bibliophiles will be awaiting them anxiously.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2008
    If you are a book lover, you will absolutely cherish every word written by the incomparable Nicholas Basbanes. In this latest offering of books about books, Mr. Basbanes has collected articles and essays covering his illustrious career as an author, journalist and top-notch book reviewer. I found every entry to be a fascinating glimpse into the world of everything books. Mr. Basbanes writes about authors, collectors, book makers and the history of books in a wonderfully witty and compelling manner making every one of his books a bonafide page-turner. After reading Mr. Basbanes, I am always hungry for more, and I know he will deliver regularly with another insightful look into the gentle madness that is bibliomania. I highly recommend all of his previous books which are easliy purchased anywhere. On top of these terrific books, Mr. Basbanes is a prince of a guy who thoughtfully responds to his readers' emails no matter where in the world he might be. How refreshing it is to have authors who actually care about the reader! Read EDITIONS & IMPRESSIONS as soon as you are able, and you will find your life enriched immeasurably.
    32 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2014
    This is one of several books Nicholas Basbanes has written that book lovers must read. If you like to write, or read, or collect books, you won't go wrong with one of Basbanes' books.
    One person found this helpful
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