Are book collectors and book curators worlds apart? The former might well be hoarding books since the age of 15. A he could have stored books under the beds of his children, and a she could have been briskly bidding at auction unbenownst to her husband. The book curator meanwhile may have prudently acquired a few precious items, and studied many more in the silence of the university library.A collector is capable of pulling out each precious treasure in a sequence that would rival artillery fire, but rarely jots down basic information on so much as a notecard. The book curator or historian is able to x-ray a book, present it under peer review in the shape of statistical, material and bibliographic facts, which isn't to say that he or she remains obtuse to its beauty, or doesn't know a jolly good story or two.
United by their love of a similar object, the twain do meet: in bibliophile societies. Book historians may deliver the acumen for membership publications, whereas venerable collectors may bring up the memory of Baron such and such, and may have seen every elegant drawing room and château with a library.
Recently, an elegant mingling of both worlds has taken place in the city of Liège (Luik) and within the Société des Bibliophiles Liégeois, which resulted in a sumptuous publication: Florilège du livre en principauté de Liège du IXe au XVIIIe siècle (2009, ISBN 978-2-9600900-0-0).
This is merely the announcement; we hope to come back to the contents of this volume in the next two weeks.
Details:
Florilège du livre en principauté de Liège du IXe au XVIIIe siècle. Société des Bibliophiles Liégeois, 2009. 560 p. numerous color illustrations. Hard cover and colored dust-jacked. ISBN 978-2-9600900-0-0. Paul Bruyère and Alain Marchandisse, Scientific Editors. Available by subscription from the Société des Bibliophiles Liégeois.
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