Shaddy, Robert A.

Dr. Robert A. Shaddy is University Librarian and Chair of Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida Libraries. He received his M.A. in Library Science and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Missouri. His publications have appeared in journals such as The Book Collector, The McNeese Review, Library History, The Missouri Historical Review, and The Gissing Journal.

Books and Book Collecting in America, 1890-1930

2001 0-7734-7624-5
This study interprets the history of book collecting in America from the point of view of the collectors of the late 19th and early 20th century, the ‘Golden Age’ of collecting. It examines how, what, and most importantly why they collected, and how they read and interacted with their collectibles. It also incorporates an analysis of the ‘world of the bookman-collector’ with larger cultural occurrences related to the decline of Victorianism, modernization, the reaction by the American gentry, and rise of mass, consumer culture.

Essays on Books and Bibliophiles - Aspects of the History of Books and Book-Collecting in America

2003 0-7734-6642-8
The essays and bibliography in this volume provide a fresh, interdisciplinary approach to the history of books and book collecting. It includes a long essay on the phenomenon of bibliophilia and bibliomania and the intense, sometimes consumingly passionate feelings collectors held for their collections. Two subsequent essays, on book collectors in Missouri and on the scholar-librarian Randolph Greenfield Adams of the Clements Library, University of Michigan, serve as case studies and suggest further research possibilities for those interested in mining the veins and deposits in the history of books and book collecting. The collection ends with a Selected Bibliography on Collecting Books and Manuscripts during the “Golden Age” of Collecting in America, c. 1890-1930.