H.J. Massingham (1888-1952),
Letters to X (London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1919), p. 131:
I am aware that the bibliophile is an easy target for smart marksmanship. He is a dullard, a dotard, a grub, a pedant, a pettifogger, a second-hand observer of life, a potterer, an etiolated mole burrowing from REALITY, a palimpsest, a caterpillar feeding on the leaf. As if one little 18mo were not a greater reality than a score of Stock Exchanges and a dozen Wall Streets! Alas, I am not yet mellowed to passive resistance. I feel truculent over my loves. I would like to beat two stout folios like cymbals in the market-place and drone a jeremiad over the sciolism of this generation. Sweet are the uses of antiquity!
Luc-Albert Moreau (1882-1948), Le Bibliophile
