The Book Collector
Cambridge, Massachusetts
1951
The accompanying essay by Charles Nodier, 1780–1844,Librarian of the Arsenal in Paris, bibliographer, bibliophile,and a literary leader of the Romantic Movement, originallyappeared in French under the title “L’Amateur des Livres,”in Les Français Peints par Eux-mêmes, Paris, 1841, Vol. III,pp 201–9. It seemed to me excellent, and so agreeably of itsperiod, that I asked my friend Barbara Sessions to translateit, which she has now done, as far as I know, for the firsttime. Together we have edited the few parts which seemedslightly pedantic, and have added some notes which willexplain the more abstruse literary, or bibliophilic, allusions.
Book collectors, M. Nodier to the contrary notwithstanding,are still very much alive, and can again be foundeven in the harried ranks of capitalists. But the learnedFrench librarian was nearer right about his own pamphlets:They have indeed faded from memory. Now I hope thisone of them may survive for a few more years, despite theephemeral form in which you receive it.
August 1951 Philip Hofer
Rien n’égale ma joie ... je viens d’acheter pour cinquante écus unHorace imprimé à Amsterdam en 1780! Cette édition est excessivementprécieuse: à chaque page elle est criblée de fautes!
Lithograph by Honoré Daumier, (1844)
I should like to warn you, from the outset, that thisessay will be as lively as a speech by Mathurin Cordier[1] ora chapter of Despautere![2] God, Nature, and the Academyhave enclosed my imagination within these narrow boundaries,which it is no longer able to overstep. At least youcan always refrain from reading me, and in that are morefortunate than I—who, following the dictates of a tooexigent publisher, have no choice but to write. The drawingswere made, the plates were ready; and the only thingneeded to complete the issue was a long and unprofitabletext. Well, then—here it is! But you will be disappointedif you expect to f