libricide is the destruction, usually by fire, of large numbers of books. if you destroy a single book you're not commiting libricide (not that its a crime, usually), you're just, um, well, probably making a bit of a mess.
libricide usually takes the form of book burning, which can be an act of getting rid of the information in the books, but is usually, especially in modern times, symbolic of the 'lack of agreement' by the burning party (i don't wanna go to that party!) with the views the book portrays.
yes, the burning of books has been a part of human civilisation for a very long time, from in the beginnings of imperial china, where Qin Shihuang Di burnt many historical records, and buried many scholars alive, to bolster his percieved historical importance, to the book burnings today by some obscure religious groups, apparently with nothing better to do than burn things they don't agree with.
the act of libricide that sticks most in my mind is the burning of the library of alexandria, one of the largest and most important libraries of the ancient world. there are too many sources that state how and why and who burnt it, some stating it was julius caesar by accident in 47 - 48bc, after setting some fireships into the harbour to destroy his archrival pompeys ships, and the fire made it to land.
others state that the library of alexandria (in these sources called 'the serapeum') was destroyed by a apparently vicious christian mob in 391ad, who were burning anything that disagreed with the bible, and killing priests and priestesses and pagan scholars, who were helped by theophilus, the christian patriarch of alexandria.
i was told this story when i was little, about a large christian mob who, out of hate and ignorance and fear, destroyed what i imagined as the intellectual centre of the ancient world. what i got from that is that religion can be a powerul thing, and that education is very important to be sure that power is used for more constructive purposes than burning things.
other sources say the muslims did it, in 640AD, because there could only be two categories of information there: that which did not agree with the koran, which made it heresy, and that which did, which made it not important enough to keep, since it was in the koran. however, it mentions a 'john of byzantium,' a historical figure that was dead a long time before this alleged happening so it is probably fiction. however muslims did burn an indian library in 1193 at nalanda. it was so large it burnt for three months before it was destroyed. nobody was able to stop it, because the muslims wouldn't allow them.
hmm, this post is getting a bit long. if i wrote everything i though about libricide here, i'd be here for a very long time.
well, other instances of book burning include:
the rabbi nachman of breslov burnt a book shortly after writing it. his followers mourn the loss of that book to this day, and search for clues as to what was in there.
the guy who made up superman burnt the very first superman comic, out of despair it would never be sold and published.
a badly damaged guru garanth sahib, an important book in the sikh religion, is cremated in a ritual similar to cremating a dead person.
for a list of historical book burnings, go here
for a look of modern book burnings go here. i can't help but think this website taking the piss from actual book burning groups, though. heres another one. they're both american baptist churches, i tried to find more varied sources, but thats it. heres a kinda funny one, a forum thing.
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