Chapter 32 The disease called bibliophilia (1)

Judge Mayhew told me that one of the most pleasant delusions he had experienced during his long and active career as a bookworm was born of catalogism.I presume that there are many laymen among my readers (so that I can save these savages through preaching), and in order to broaden their knowledge, I would be happy to explain bibliophilia to them.The so-called "bibliophilia" is such a hobby that those diagnosed bookworms are likely to indulge in.It is a practice of many publishers and book sellers to publish and distribute their catalogs periodically, hoping by this to induce readers to pay for what they sell.

By what means do these cunning businessmen get their intended victims As for the list, I can't tell you, but I know it well.It seems that as long as I am a book lover on the face of the earth, I don't care how remote and hidden his residence may be, these merchants will soon find him and drown him with their pleasing temptations. I have said before that there exists a secret alliance among booksellers in which they exchange trust.So when a new customer walks into a bookstore on Fulham Avenue, or Oxford Street, or the Quays in Paris, or whatever (as long as he's looking for a book), he's Within a month, the person's name and address were reported and entered in the address book of every bookseller in all Christian countries.Soon there will be an eternal stream of catalogs, price-lists, and bulletins from publishers and book dealers in every corner of the world being thrown at him by unmistakable post.

Judge Methuen had been a victim (a happy one) of catalog fetishism for forty years.He has claimed that it would be better than Pikes Peak if all the catalogs sent to him during that time were piled up and read by him.Known for conquering regions from the Arkansas River to the Rocky Mountains.Pikes Peak was named in his honor. ] taller and a thousand times more fun than Pikes Peak.My humble self was also a noted catalog reader, and I can attest that this habit seized me with extraordinary delusions, most notably in the deep conviction that a book , as soon as I glimpse its title in a catalog and put an "X" on it with a pencil, it's practically mine.

I remember that once I was discussing with Judge Methuen and Dr. Orel about Charles I's efforts to escape from Carisbrooke Castle.At this point a point of disagreement arose and I said: "Gentlemen, I would like to refer to Hillier's The Exodus, and I have no doubt that my views will be supported by this authoritative work." However, citing Hillier is easy, and finding him is much more difficult.I searched my library for three days, and the result of this overzealousness was that my library was a mess.It was all in vain, and the book, which I was so determined to find, was nowhere to be found.It finally occurred to me that I must have lent the book to someone, and the next thing I was sure it had been stolen.

I have never heard of this lost book again.Moreover, I almost forgot about the incident until one evening (that was a full two years after my argument with the fellows) I came across a copy of the May 1871 Saxland Bibliography.By sheer coincidence, I opened it, as if luck were on it, and on the page I opened it happened to have the following entry: "G. Hillier: The Escape of Charles I from Carisbrooke Castle; Format: Octavo, 1852, Canvas, 3/6." Facing this entry, there is a cross, which is my handwriting, and I can tell at a glance: this is my long-lost Hillier!I was going to buy it and marked it up.But with such determination and a cross in a pencil, the deal is over.However, making up my mind to buy it has already satisfied me, and the effect is no different from actually buying it.I think -- yes, I could swear -- I've bought it simply because I was going to.

At our next meeting, I told Methuen about this. "This experience is not unique," said the judge. "As for myself, it may be said that it is a long-standing habit of mine: to mark certain entries in the books I read, and then I am satisfied. walked away, convinced that the books really belonged to me." "I often come across cases of this character," said Dr. Orel. "The hallucinations are of a peculiar kind recognized by pathologists, and the quickest cure is hypnosis. Just last year, a The pretty and elegant lady approached me with a sad face. She confided to me with tears in her eyes that her husband was on the verge of insanity. Her statement went something like this: The unfortunate fellow believed that he had a very large collection of books, As a matter of fact, the number of books in his collection was no more than three hundred or so.

"On enquiry, I was informed that NM (as I called the victim of this hallucination) regularly read and noted booksellers' catalogs. Further research revealed that NM's great-uncle (of the mother's line) had once invented a flightless flying machine, and a cousin of his, was the author of a pamphlet entitled Sixteen to One, or Must-Read for the Poor. "'Madame,' said I, 'it is quite clear to me that your husband suffers from bibliophilia.' "At this point the poor woman went into a state of hysteria, lamenting that she lived to see her beloved fall victim to this strange disease so severe that it required a Greek name. When she calmed down, I explained to her that the disease is not fatal and can be easily cured."

"What, frankly," asked Judge Methuen, "is it really bibliophilia?" "I will be happy to explain briefly," replied the doctor, "that you must first know that every sane man has two sets of bowels, the physical and the intellectual, the latter being the brain. Hippocrates [Hippocrates] Pocrates, a famous Greek doctor, is known as the father of medicine. Traditionally, he is considered the author of the "Hippocratic Oath."] (Since then, the progress of medical science has not been very good, even surpassing Xenophon Two Stads, or five Balachants [Stade is a unit of length adopted by ancient Greece, about 185 meters. Balashant is a unit of length used in ancient Persia, about 5.6 kilometers.])—— Hippocrates, I go on, found that the brain suffers from exactly the same diseases as the bowels of another inferior class can suffer.