Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who hides or buries books, or keeps them under lock and key.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare One who hides away books, as in a tomb.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun rare One who "buries" books by hiding them, locking them away, or otherwise shutting them up and keeping them from use

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French bibliotaphe, from biblio- + Ancient Greek τάφος ("burial, tomb").

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Examples

  • On the other hand, a man may be a bibliotaph simply from inability to get at his books.

    The Bibliotaph and Other People Leon H. Vincent

  • Two interesting types of maniac are known respectively as the bibliotaph and the biblioclast.

    The Bibliotaph and Other People Leon H. Vincent

  • The dog-in-the-manger bibliotaph is the worst; he uses his books but little himself, and allows others to use them not at all.

    The Bibliotaph and Other People Leon H. Vincent

  • The most genial lover of books who has walked city streets for many a day was a bibliotaph.

    The Bibliotaph and Other People Leon H. Vincent

  • The bibliotaph buries books; not literally, but sometimes with as much effect as if he had put his books underground.

    The Bibliotaph and Other People Leon H. Vincent

  • The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance of a bibliotaph.

    The Enemies of Books 1888

  • The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance of a bibliotaph.

    The Enemies of Books William Blades 1857

Comments

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  • n. - person keeping his or her books secret or locked up.

    May 16, 2008

  • Yes, what a waste of a book. Yet, sometimes we have to lock our books up in a storage bin because we can't walk on the floor anymore...:*)

    February 24, 2010

  • SET THE BOOKS FREE OR WE SHOOT A LIBRARIAN EVERY TEN MINUTES.

    February 24, 2010

  • *ducks behind bulletproof book cart*

    February 26, 2010

  • He must have drunk a miser's quaff,

    Now hoards each page and paragraph.

    A dog in the manger,

    To sharing a stranger,

    He's turned a sullen bibliotaph.

    October 11, 2014

  • There isn't even an agreed upon term for multi-book readers. There are bibliophiles — lovers of books. There are bibliotaphs — hoarders of books, with the intent of keeping the books out of the hands of others. There's even a word for people who like to read in bed — librocubicularist. But no succinct way of summing up the act of reading more than one book at at time.

    But that doesn't mean the internet hasn't tried to come up with a term on their own. I've seen "parallel readers" (recently suggested in a Quora forum). "Polynarritivus," from a Bookstr article last year. And "poly-reader," from a 2010 NPR piece.

    Maddy Foley, How to Read More Than One Book at a Time, According to Reddit Users Who Do It, Bustle (Sept. 6, 2018)

    September 11, 2018