Books and Bookmen — Story, Setting & Ideas

The Bookman's Defining Traits

Maclaren defines the bookman not by the size of his library but by his attitude. A bookman may own few books, yet he desires a loved author in a becoming dress and scorns a friend in a cheap edition. The true bookman is a lover, not a jailer; his books are kept in open beds where he can pluck a blossom at will. The anecdote of the host's locked glass doors serves as a cautionary tale: the owner who locks his books is a mere jailer, holding them by force. Maclaren's metaphor of books as flowers in a conservatory versus open beds recurs throughout, emphasizing accessibility and affection over mere possession.

Hereditary Bibliophilia

Maclaren treats book collecting as a hereditary disease, passed from father to son like a microbe. He cites Sainte-Beuve, whose father died when he was an infant but left his soul and taste written on every margin of his books. The book microbe is conveyed through pages, and a father in the last stages of the disease will unknowingly inoculate his son by allowing him to play in the bookroom, opening parcels of books reeking with infection. Maclaren's language is playful yet precise: the air is charged with germs against which only commercial conversation is a disinfectant. This section grounds the passion for books in a quasi-biological inevitability.

Imagined Gatherings and Historical Bookmen

Maclaren conjures a fantasy assembly of book lovers, including the Duke of Roxburghe, Earl Spencer, Monkbarns, and Charles Lamb. He imagines Lamb recounting how he roused old Barker in Covent Garden to buy a folio Beaumont and Fletcher, coming home rejoicing. The company also includes Mary Queen of Scots, whose library catalogue reveals a learned collection. Maclaren recalls being allowed to look upon a book of devotion said to have belonged to her, priced at a thousand guineas. This section blends historical figures with literary characters, creating a convivial scene where bookmen pay tribute to the fascinating young woman from Holyrood, reminding readers that even a bookman has a heart.

Movement Between Scenes and Recurring Images

The structure of 'Books and Bookmen' moves fluidly between anecdote, metaphor, and historical reference. Maclaren shifts from the locked glass case to the open beds of books, from the hereditary microbe to the imagined gathering of bookmen. Recurring images include the conservatory versus open garden, the prison versus freedom, and the disease versus cure. The bookman's heart is a constant thread, softening the intellectual pursuit with emotion. Maclaren's voice is conversational, yet his observations are precise: the bookman's fastidiousness, the father's inadvertent inoculation, and the tribute to Mary Queen of Scots all reinforce the central theme that book collecting is a passion, not a pastime.

Maclaren's 'Books and Bookmen' is best approached as a series of linked essays rather than a systematic treatise. Readers will find pleasure in his vivid anecdotes and the warmth he extends to fellow book lovers. Pay attention to the metaphors of gardening and disease, which unify the work. The text rewards those who appreciate the quirks of bibliophilia without requiring prior knowledge of the figures mentioned.