I’ve been racing through Sidney E. Berger’s The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others from cover to cover as if it was one of those unputdownable, page-turning blockbusters. This lively, wide-ranging, finely detailed glossary is high entertainment for bibliophiles of every stripe. Berger is a Renaissance bookman, at once scholar, collector, bibliographer, rare book-librarian, paper historian, curator, hand press printer and papermaker. Like John Carter before him, whose venerable ABC for Book Collectors often serves as the inspiration for this book collector’s glossary, Berger is personal, witty and opinionated in the way he writes up these entries. We badly needed not just an update to Carter’s ABC , but a fresh book-collecting glossary that is more in-depth, comprehensive, and scholarly—and that’s exactly what Sidney Berger’s passionate dictionary is.
Fun moments
Part of the fun for the seasoned bibliophile (already familiar with many of the terms here) is matching our own knowledge and command of the glossary with the author’s, and to be often surprised or delighted with what Berger has to say. Sometimes you are just nodding or chuckling along with him; at other times sitting up straight to take in something new you hadn’t known before. Berger’s book is far more superior and interesting than Carter’s ABC ; and far more serious. One suspects Carter wrote his glossary on a whim, even tongue-in-cheek, while Berger means this for the use of scholars and bibliophiles alike. He wears his scholarship lightly and informally, making the whole task of writing and producing this book look easy, but a decade of work went into it, and of course, a lifetime of being a devout bibliophile.
As a typophile and collector of fine press books, I was especially thrilled that Berger had included many terms related to typography, papermaking, metal founts, private presses, typefounding organisations, and type designers. Included also are entries on book arts journals such as Fine Print , The Colophon , and Parenthesis , as well as entries on bibliophilic societies. The world of fine printing and the larger universe of the book arts are seldom represented in collecting glossaries and dictionaries, but luckily here the author is also a collector of note who happens to be deeply engaged with fine bookmaking. Berger and his wife Michèle Cloonan are authorities on decorated papers and own the largest private collection.
I have long been a fan of Berger’s work, of his numerous papers and books on the book arts. In particular, I have immensely enjoyed his collaboration with Henry Morris’s Bird and Bull Press, authoring books on Japanese hand papermaking, marbling and compiling sumptuous bibliographies of this celebrated fine press. A forthcoming book from Berger that I am eagerly looking forward to is on Leonard Baskins’ Gehenna Press, which I suspect will be the definitive text on this glorious fine press.
I was surprised not to see a separate entry for T.F. Dibdin in the dictionary, that much maligned, though equally celebrated rhapsodist of bibliophily. He doesn’t turn up even in the entry on ‘Bibliomania’, and you finally—just about—catch sight of him when you get to ‘the Roxburghe Club’ entry. I assumed Berger felt Dibdin had made too many appearances in reference works of this sort and had given him the boot. But when I got to speak briefly to Berger, he surprised me even more by saying he had simply forgotten Dibdin. “He just wasn’t on my mind in the same way the other things in the dictionary were.”
Totally involved
That told me how personal the dictionary had been to Berger—he had written it not as some overarching, grand project but as an exploration of glossaries and terms he had such intimate knowledge of that he could write them up straight from his bibliographic heart.
Still, it would have been fun to read Berger on the angel of bibliomania, and he has promised to include him in the next edition. I would also have liked to see entries for the Typophiles, a very jolly, informal though influential group of printers and graphic artists, as well as something on those notorious dining clubs for fine printers, The Double Crown Club and the Rounce and Coffin Club. But a dictionary of glossaries and terms, especially for collectors, simply can’t have every preoccupation and pet subject of every collector included. Instead, one should look for terms one didn’t already know or know enough about. And there’s plenty here that was new to me, that entertained, enlightened, and edified me.
Personal displeasure
In my conversation with him, Berger expressed disappointment with the new and ninth edition of ABC for Book Collectors . Though it had more entries and was illustrated, he found some new concepts and updated terms poorly defined with incorrect vocabulary. For him it was very important that bibliophiles learn the right terms for the right context. In his introduction, Berger says, “This dictionary is aimed at anyone who wants to speak intelligently about books.” Book collectors, he feels, should learn more about the physical make-up of the book so they can speak about them precisely. His dictionary has an extensive bibliography listed at the end, with over 600 additional readings that one can pursue. There are appendices on specialised terms related to type, binding and paper.
Two reference works are now indispensable to the bibliophile: the Oxford Companion to the Book in two volumes, and now this portable one volume by Sidney Berger. I have been, since getting hold of his Dictionary of The Book , reaching for it so many times, I can’t imagine how I—or any bibliophile—got along without it so far.
The writer is a bibliophile, columnist and critic.
