bookmanship

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.

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.