THE relationship between book collectors and librarians has alwaysbeen an ambivilent one: cordial but suspicious, suspicious but deferential,deferential but competitive. A symbiotic relationship, Isuppose, except that symbiosis implies the survival of both species. Bookcollectors die (or lose interest in collecting, which is much the samething), while librarians metamorphose indefinitely and even thrive bypicking over the collector's earthly remains, the collections the deceasedor disinterested collectors have left behind. Is it any wonder that the bookcollector would approach his relationship with librarians with the sameanxiety with which the male black widow spider approaches sex? The librarian,on the other hand, has his own anxieties. The collector is a formidablefoe in the auction room and seems to have a better rapport withbook dealers. And the librarian—unlike the collector—must worry thathis collection is being eaten away by theft, mutilation and even, on occasion,use.
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