The Philobiblon is a collection of essays concerning the acquisition, preservation, and organization of books, written by the medieval English bibliophile Richard de Bury shortly before his death in 1345.
The purposes of the Philobiblon were "to encourage the pursuit of learning contained in books; to justify the time and money [de Bury] spent on them; and to give practical advice for the formation of running of a library.
It was once thought that de Bury's chaplain, Robert Holkot, was the author and a substantial body of evidence was gathered to argue that this was the case.
In it are several innovations such as the practices for circulation control among the students of Durham College, Oxford, using at times an open-stack rather than the dominant closed-stack system.
Thomas à Kempis, author of the devotional book The Imitation of Christ, borrowed a whole chapter of the Philobiblon for one of his works, and Mathaus Hummel read from it during the opening of the University of Freiburg.
[7] The edition of 1888 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.) was the work of Ernest C. Thomas who spent 15 years establishing the text and translating it into English.
The Complaint of Books against the Clergy already promoted Caeterum iam de clericis, qui sunt vasa virtutis, loquamur.
"Finally, by the knowledge of literature, we establish priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope, that all things in the ecclesiastical hierarchy may be fitly disposed".
[13] Here, de Bury is acknowledging that the Catholic Church, and many of the clergy in England, had for many years a distrust of non-liturgical books, especially the Greeks classics, which were deemed "pagan".
The Complaint of Books against the Possessioners De quorum laboribus hodie in plerisque splendent monasteriis illa sacra gazophylacia, cherubicis libris plena.
Here, de Bury argues that mendicants are too tempted by fine food, luxurious garments, and grand housing while books are considered superfluous.
"[15] Here, as in the previous chapters, de Bury levels a strong indictment against the present status of his church in a way that is rarely seen prior to the Reformation.
Of the numerous Opportunities we have had of collecting a store of books Fiebat ad nos desideratus accessus vasorum scientiae et volatus multifarious voluminum optimorum.
In his most revealing chapter, de Bury recounts how his position within the church and government of the Crown enabled him to obtain books through a sort of benign bribery.
How although we preferred the Works of the Ancients we have not condemned the Studies of the Moderns Antiquorum tamen examinatos labors securiori aviditate cupivimus perscrutari.
In chapter 9, we see in de Bury the general trend of the Catholic Church during this time to recognize the wisdom of the Greek classical writers such as Plato, Ovid, Euclid and others.
Of the Gradual Perfecting of Books Quemadmodum namque in scriptoribus annalium considerare non-est difficile quod semper posterior praesupponit priorem.
"Accordingly the wisdom of the ancients devised a remedy by which to entice the wanton minds of men by a kind of pious fraud, the delicate Minerva secretly lurking beneath the mask of pleasure.
"[22] 14. Who ought to be special Lovers of Books Per quod universis evidenter ostenditur nullum posse rempublicam debite regere sine libris.
[25] As proof of this, de Bury argues that the disciple Paul "Did more for building up the fabric of the Church by writing his holy epistles, than by preaching by word of mouth to Jews and Gentiles.
Of showing due Propriety in the Custody of Books Longe namque diligentius librum quam calcium convenit conservari.
Showeth that we have collected so great Store of Books for the common Benefit of Scholars and not only for our own Pleasure Ut ipsi libri et singuli eorundem communes fierent In this chapter de Bury describes his plan for his library after his death.