Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2010

DOI

10.1086/ahr.115.3.901

Publication Title

American Historical Review

Volume

115

Issue

3

Pages

901-902

Abstract

In an age of the Kindle and e-books, how refreshing and meaningful to read Willa Z. Silverman’s fascinating study, which so eloquently describes a time when printed books not only mattered but were treasured, sought after, and treated almost as lovers at times. Far from being a treatise on monomaniacal, “nebbishy” bookworms, Silverman sheds light on a facet of Belle E´poque history hitherto underdeveloped and introduces us to a colorful, eccentric, artistic, and fanatically driven set of bibliophiles bent on creating a haven for the book, a “bibliopolis,” or as one of Silverman’s subjects, Robert de Montesquiou, put it referring to the importance of a book’s cover, “a portal into a world of illusion” (p. 153).

Comments

Web of Science: "Free full-text from publisher -- gold open access."

Original Publication Citation

Schulman, P. (2010). The new bibliopolis: French book collectors and the culture of print, 1880-1914. American Historical Review, 115(3), 901-902. doi:10.1086/ahr.115.3.901

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