Books about books (...call it book-ception 🤓)

Nonfiction about the history, development, and impact of books, literature, storytelling, knowledge, reading, archives, information, and related subjects. Always open to suggestions!

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created by ayzrules

last updated July, 2026

84
31 books
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The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts

The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts

Christopher de Hamel

Paper: Paging Through History

Paper: Paging Through History

Mark Kurlansky

How Queer Bookshops Changed the World

How Queer Bookshops Changed the World

A.J. West

The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History

The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History

Edward Brooke-Hitching

Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

Katie Mitchell

Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile

Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile

Sharlee Glenn

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves

Glory Edim

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

Farah Jasmine Griffin

Salvage: Readings from the Wreck

Salvage: Readings from the Wreck

Dionne Brand

The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

Ross King

Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller

Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller

Oliver Darkshire

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

Christopher de Hamel

Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers

Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers

David Trigg

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II

Molly Guptill Manning

The Library: A Fragile History

The Library: A Fragile History

Andrew Pettegree

Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age

Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age

Dennis Duncan

A History of Reading

A History of Reading

Alberto Manguel

What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading

What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading

Leah Price

The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read

The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read

Stuart Kelly

The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time

The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time

Keith Houston

The Untold Story of Books: A Writer's History of Publishing

The Untold Story of Books: A Writer's History of Publishing

Michael Castleman

The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives

The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives

Adam Smyth

Banned Books: The World's Most Controversial Books, Past and Present (DK Secret Histories)

Banned Books: The World's Most Controversial Books, Past and Present (DK Secret Histories)

D.K. Publishing

Library: An Unquiet History

Library: An Unquiet History

Matthew Battles

Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing

Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing

John Brookshire Thompson

The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read

The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read

André Schiffrin

The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World

The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World

Selena Wisnom

Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge

Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge

Richard Ovenden

Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II

Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II

Elyse Graham

Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin

Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin

Megan Rosenbloom

Comments

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amelianotthepilot

this was exactly what i was looking for thank youuuuu

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ayzrulesOP

Ahhhh yay! Glad this list is helpful 💖🫡

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amanda_the_tangerine

I love a meta list 😂 and I think Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers would fit perfectly here! It's a book about paintings and pieces of art that include or were inspired by books, and the effect that books have had in the visual arts world

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ayzrulesOP

oooh - thank you for the suggestion! i've added it, that sounds like a fascinating book

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ruiconteur

this sounds so cool!! i might steal this for one of my lists too 👀

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amanda_the_tangerine

Oooh, for the art history one?

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ruiconteur

yeah! i'm gonna try to get my hands on a copy so i can dig through the contents page first

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deleted

Ayz: yo I heard you like books so I got you some books about books /ref

excellent as always, friend! 🫶

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ayzrulesOP

we can only hope that one day someone will write a book about books about books! hahaha thank you for checking this out! :D

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kishmish

My recent favorite of this kind was Salvage: Reqdings from the Wreck by Dionne Brand. I also enjoyed Read Until You Understand by Farah Jasmine Griffin. From my TBR, there’s Well-Read Black Girl ed. by Glory Edim (& I think her memoir Gather Me is also heavily about books?) This is such a wonderful list concept, as always, ayz! 💖

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ayzrulesOP
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ahhh you're too kind!! thanks so much for these suggestions, i've added them! (I’ll do some research on Gather Me as well, that sounds so interesting! Let me know if you have any other recs from her as well, would love to check it out 🙂‍↕️)

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fichannie

omg i love your mind and i love how meta this is 🙂‍↕️

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ayzrulesOP
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Edited

🫶🫶🫶🫶 ahhhh tysm phiaaaaa omgomgomg

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venividilegi

Such a nice list! Already had some lined up to read. Will sure be looking into the others!

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ayzrulesOP

aww yay, glad you enjoy this!!! i have a bunch of these saved/TBRed so i thought i might as well make a list haha

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ruiconteur

love your mind 🫶 gonna tbr so many of these you have no idea

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ayzrulesOP

YAY would love to read your thoughts on like, any of these

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ruiconteur

i might start with the wwii one you were reading! also i went digging through my library and found two books that might fit this list: meeting with remarkable manuscripts and the bookseller of florence

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ayzrulesOP

!!!! Thanks so much, adding them both!

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amalgama

Great list as usual 🙂‍↕️

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ayzrulesOP

hehe thank you so much!

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wavybaby

Lovee this list!! Found some titles from my library that could be relevant: Prose to the People by Katie Mitchell and library on wheels: mary lemist titcomb and america's first bookmobile!

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ayzrulesOP

ooooo both of these sound so interesting! thank you, i've added!

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