Book Megalomania

Once again, my list of ideal jobs has grown longer with the addition of Book Megalomaniac.

A book megalomaniac is a person who spends a huge amount of time, money and energy in the acquisition of rare works of literature. They concentrate on amassing a collection of the oldest, most valuable books in existence and have been known to spend millions on individual works. Surely there can be few greater jobs than the preservation of our literary masterpieces.

Indeed, the benefits of such book megalomaniacs are manifest when one views their collections. These books are preserved immaculately, with the highest level of security implemented. Beyond this safety, an appropriate level of reverence is paid to these works and the collections have the air of sacred temples devoted to past gods of literature.

But this heightened security and formality greatly limits the appreciation of these works to a small minority of the public. The vast collections are often not advertised and catalogues for their entire works are rare, if they exist at all. This security removes the literature from their original intention – to be read and enjoyed. But this complaint seems ridiculous when compared with the potential loss of our literary heritage to theft or depreciation. I only wish that more than a tiny percentage of these collections be shown, while the rest is protected as it should be.

The only thing I could fathom spending huge amounts of money on is literature – hopefully I will have that opportunity at some point in my life!

-The English Student