The Philobiblon is a collection of essays concerning the acquisition, preservation, and organization of books written by the mediaeval bibliophile Richard de Bury shortly before his death in 1345. The purposes of the Philobiblion were "to encourage the pursuit of learning contained in books; to justify the time and money de Bury spent on them; and to give practical advice for the formation of running of a library. Written in Latin, as was the custom of the day, it is separated into twenty chapters, each covering a different topic relating to book collecting.