The Love of Books

Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, completed in 1345, is the great medieval treatise on the love of books. He was an obsessive book-collector who argued that no price should hinder someone from buying books. However, unlike many later bibliomaniacs, he appreciated them for their true value, as a sources of wisdom, rather than as artefacts.

Richard de Bury (1281-1345) was one of the most powerful and influential men of his age. He was High Chancellor of England from 1334 to 1335 and Treasurer from 1335. However, it was as Bishop of Durham that he was in his true element, and it was in this role that his book-collecting can be seen as a most philanthropic venture, building up a store of knowledge for present and future generations.