Bibliomania is an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. One of several psychological disorders associated with books, bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a genuine book collector. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania.
The term was coined by Dr. John Ferriar, who practiced as a doctor at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.[1]
Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophily, which is the usual love of books and is not considered a clinical psychological disorder.
Other abnormal behaviours involving books include book-eating (bibliophagy), compulsive book-stealing (bibliokleptomania), and book-burying (bibliotaphy).
Reading that was almost enough for me to swear off visiting the used bookstore at the library. I don't want to have bibliophilia! I don't! I don't!
On another note, anybody ever heard of bibliotaphy? Who thinks of burying books for fun?
Oh NO! I just realized that I do tend to think of the library as a kind of mausoleum. That's kind of like book burying, come to think of it . . .
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If it's any consolation, there's a whole seminary in KY with those syndromes. They buried a time capsule there and I'm willing to bet they buried a book, though I'm not certain. I listened to a CD from RZIM and Dr. Zacharias admitted to having to use the restroom before entering a bookstore because it was so exciting.
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