bibliotaph

Etymology

From French bibliotaphe, from biblio- + Ancient Greek τάφος (táphos, “burial, tomb”). By surface analysis biblio- + -taph.

Why this word is great

BIBLIOTAPH — [Noun] One who hoards books, often keeping them unread or inaccessible. From French bibliotaphe, from biblio- ("book") + Ancient Greek τάφος (táphos, "burial, tomb"). Unlike "bibliophile" (who savors the written word) or "bibliomaniac" (who compulsively amasses volumes), the bibliotaph interred knowledge alive. It is the scent of yellowing paper trapped behind glass, the weight of untouched first editions stacked like bricks in a mausoleum, the quiet tragedy of spines uncracked for decades—proof that possession is not love, but a kind of suffocation.

noun

One who "buries" books, typically by hoarding them unread, hiding them, locking them away, or otherwise shutting them up and keeping them from use“He was, by his knowledge of the intellectual value of his store, a little bit of a bibliotaph: we have reason to think he had this feeling to an extent he knew nothing of himself.”