The Private Library - Book of the Year 2023

I am picking The Private Library by Reid Byers as the first-ever Books About Books Book of the Year winner. I feel like I should have set up a drumroll or some sort of fanfare… maybe next year…

Note: This post may contain affiliate links and is a follow-up post from yesterday’s list of category winners for the Books About Books Book Awards.

Anyway, before I made it out of the ancient world, in the first few chapters, I knew that The Private Library was unique and would be a treat for any book lover to read. What made this book my favorite of the year was how accessible it is. From the get-go, two things are obvious: one, Reid Byers has done his research, and two, Reid Byers loves books and having books in the home.

The book is filled with dates, old names, historical places, timelines, architectural drawings, and origin stories. But for all that scholarship, the book is never a dry read. Its contents are sliced and chunked so nicely that there is no chance of getting bored.
I, too, am passionate about books in the home and have read many books on the topic. Two favorites are Henry Petroski’s The Book on the Bookshelf and Mark Purcell’s The Country House Library. As wonderful as both those books are, they lack Byers’ quickness in recounting the specifics when sharing a historical tidbit. The book really is wonderful.

One more thing I really and truly appreciated about The Private Library is that it is a book written for today’s book collectors and bibliophiles. The book is filled with great photos of shelves, rooms, steps, ladders, bookcases, etc. Many of these date back to the 1800s or earlier, but at the same time, the author has a firm grasp on what it means to think about books in the home in 2023.

There are mentions of LibraryThing, GoodReads, computers, tablets, etc. It is true we’d all rather be left alone surrounded by our books, but there is no denying the power of the online book community. In fact, be sure to check out page 133 to see how bookish folks have been sharing lists and catalogs of their collections since the 1500s.

I feared that I would oversell The Private Library, but I feel as if I’ve just scratched the surface. To get the details, you’ll have to get the book!

So that wraps my first-ever slate of winners selected for the Books About Books Book Award. I did not expect to do this, but I had fun, and it was a great exercise to go back through all the books I read this year to find the gems. Maybe 2024’s slate will be even better since I know to be on the lookout.

Happy New Year, and I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season!