Bibliotaph

/ˈbɪbli.oʊ.tæf/ noun

Definition

A person who hides, buries, or hoards books and keeps them from being read or shared.

Etymology

From Greek biblio- (book) + -taph (tomb/burial). The term was coined to describe the opposite of a bibliophile—someone who 'entombs' books rather than celebrating them.

Kelly Says

Bibliotaphs are the villains of book culture—when wealthy collectors lock rare books in private collections where scholars can't access them, knowledge itself becomes imprisoned.

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