Please take a look at the following before coming to Charlottesville:
1. Nicholas A. Basbanes. A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995, rep 1996.
The best recent general history of book collecting.
2. John Carter. ABC for Book Collectors. 7th edn, revised by Nicolas Barker. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1994.
If you have not read this book fairly recently, please (re)do so; you won't be bored!
3. _______. Taste & Technique in Book Collecting: A Study of Recent Developments in Great Britain and the United States. Cambridge, England 1948; rep with a new supplement: London: Private Libraries Association, 1970.
A classic survey of c20 book-collecting practice. Don't worry if you can't find the 1970 edition (the 1948 edition is much more common, for some reason). Read to the extent of your interest.
4. Jean Peters ed., Book Collecting: A Modern Guide. New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1977; frequently reprinted.
Read through the whole book (trying all chapters but skipping any one that begins to bore you), paying particular attention to the first chapter (by William Matheson, presenting a general introduction to the subject of the course) and the last chapter (by Thomas Tanselle, presenting a lifetime reading plan).
5. William P. Barlow, Jr. Book Collecting: Personal Rewards and Public Benefits. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1984, rep 1988.
A 22-page pamphlet containing a lecture WB delivered at LC in 1983. It can be ordered for $5 postpaid directly from the Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20540.
6. Terry Belanger. Lunacy and the Arrangement of Books. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1983, rep 1985.
A 24-page pamphlet reprinting an HILO(1) after-dinner speech TB gave on the library Friends group circuit in the 1970s and early 1980s.
7. Weissman, Stephen. "What is the Use of Bibliography?" in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 89:2 (June 1995), pp. 133-148.
An urbane and amusing examination of the way antiquarian booksellers look at the sales potential of old books and at the techniques of descriptive and analytical bibliography.
8. Anthony Rota. The Changing Face of Antiquarian Bookselling, 1950-2000 A.D. [The 1994 Sol. M. Malkin Lecture in Bibliography.] Charlottesville, VA: Book Arts Press, 1994. Published in Rare Book School 1994 Yearbook, and available as a separate publication from the BAP for $10 postpaid).
An excellent introduction to current conditions in the antiquarian book trade.
9. Lewis, Wilmarth S. Collector's Progress. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.
If you have never read a book collector's autobiography, this is as good a place as any to begin. Library copies should be readily available. BookFinder.com lists (16 May 1999) dozens of copies for sale at prices ranging upwards from $9.
Nos 1-6 are available from Oak Knoll Books, 414 Delaware Street, New Castle, DE 19720; phone 302/328-7232, fax 302/328-7274, email oakknoll@oakknoll.com; URL <http://www.oakknoll.com> (they will take credit-card telephone orders). No. 8 (Rota) is available from the Book Arts Press.