The word, "Biblio-maniac" came up during a conversation with an avid scrabble buff. A bibliomaniac is defined in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a person having "an extreme enthusiasm for collecting and possessing books."I have read about eccentrics having to move out of their houses because there was no room left after collecting thousands of books. Frequently, we are assured by customers that they have more books than a bookstore. Often we are cautioned that floors have collapsed under the weight of books. At auction sales, book nuts tell us how many thousands of books they own -- as they bid on more. (Bibliomaniacs are generally not satisfied with one copy of a book.)
A customer who is not a bibliomaniac, expressed to us her puzzlement over a note attached to a trunkful of books found in her father's house, "Do not discard. Valuable."
We could try to explain this lack of self-control when it comes to collecting books, but that would take several books.
