bookmanship

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Skill in, or appreciation of, the editing and production design of books

   Skill in, or appreciation of, the editing and production design of books; being a connoisseur of books; love of books.

   • As library school graduates appear only semiliterate in terms of the book as a physical, aesthetic object, such critics wonder what has happened to the role of bookmanship in library education.
   • Bookmanship is a way of life: you live to acquire books.
   • With their fine bindings, steel engravings, and handsomely printed pages, the annuals were products of good bookmanship.
2. 2

   Skill in using books

   Skill in using books; profiting from one's reading; erudition.

   • 1946 [2001] Holbrook Jackson The reading of books p.10 (University of Illinois Press, 2001) →ISBN Bookmanship is the art of adjusting literature to life.
   • The senior author of this article ... originated the concept of reference bookmanship to denote the ability to use reference books skillfully and creatively for the purpose of deriving the full information potential inherent in them.
   • Even our modern services, I fear, are at times suspect in this respect, demanding degrees of literacy and bookmanship increasingly not found.

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