Books and Bookmen

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About this book

For Ian Maclaren, the size of a library tells little about the reader who owns it. His essay begins with a wealthy host proudly displaying a costly bookcase, then turns to a reader whose affection for Shakespeare and Milton matters more than literary training. These anecdotes establish a distinction between collecting books as possessions and returning to them as companions.

Maclaren considers editions, bindings, popular novels and the judgments that keep certain writers on a reader’s shelves. His comparisons of Scott and Thackeray dwell on character, feeling and the passages that reward rereading. Even the arrangement of a study becomes an occasion for humor, as neighboring volumes suggest arguments between their authors. Readers interested in book collecting or the history of literary taste will find a personal account of how reading habits shape a library.

About the author

Ian Maclaren

Ian Maclaren was the literary name used by John Watson, a Scottish minister and writer associated with the Kailyard school of fiction. He became widely known for stories of rural Scottish life, including Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, while publishing sermons and religious reflections from his experience in the Presbyterian ministry.