What We're Reading

Reading Matters: Five Centuries of Discovering Books

Author: Margaret Willes
Publisher: Yale University Press
$30.00 Cloth (295 P.)
ISBN: 9780300127294
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Reviewed by Marcia A. Lusted, Statusing

For most of us today, books are easy to come by. We can buy them at independent bookstores, large chains, grocery stores, discount stores, or order them online new or used. If we don't care to own books, they are readily available from libraries or we can even download and read them electronically. It's hard to remember that just a few hundred years ago, books were a luxury and only the very rich could afford to buy them.

In her book Reading Matters, Margaret Willes explores the acquisition of books from the sixteenth century to today, often showcasing how individuals and later groups built their libraries, what books were most commonly owned at any one time, and the advent of publishers, subscription libraries, book clubs, and paperback books. From Bess of Hardwick, who began her library in the 1500s, to Samuel Pepys, an avid reader and book buyer who collected over 3000 books in his lifetime, to Victorian nobility who acquired thousands of books and custom-built elaborate libraries to hold them, the book explores how these men and women and many others like them amassed their collections, who they bought them from, and the history of the book trade and how it operated as a whole. The book is also filled with fascinating tidbits, such as the vending machines created to dispense the first Penguin paperbacks, and the Cotgreave Indicator, an unwieldy machine invented to tell library patrons whether or not a title was available, since early libraries did not allow patrons to browse their shelves.

This is a fascinating book for anyone with a touch of bibliomania. Reading about other people who love books and put great care into buying and managing their libraries is almost like gaining membership to an exclusive club. Although the book focuses mostly on the British book trade and British collectors, much of the information is relevant to book lovers and librarians everywhere. After reading this book, you'll never think of book ownership in quite the same way again.