Bibliomane

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person exhibiting an overwhelming obsession with amassing books
2. An individual defined by an insatiable enthusiasm for collecting written works
3. A person who has an intense and compulsive desire to gather books without restraint

Etymology: "Bibliomane" is a compound built from two Greek elements: "biblion," meaning "book," and "mania," meaning "madness" or "frenzied passion." The "-mane" ending is the form of "mania" that appears in words like "kleptomane," so the pattern is the same one that gives us "pyromaniac" and "monomania," both built from the same Greek root. The word came into English from French, where "bibliomane" was already in use, and it was adopted to describe someone whose craving for books goes beyond ordinary enthusiasm. A bibliomane is less a reader than a collector driven by the urge to possess, which is why the word carries a faint suggestion of illness rather than scholarship.