author
Otto F. Ege
1888–1951
Best remembered as a passionate teacher and collector of book history, this American bibliophile became famous—and controversial—for breaking up medieval manuscripts so individual leaves could be studied and collected more widely.
1 Audiobook
The Story of the Alphabet
by Otto F. Ege
About the author
Otto F. Ege was an American teacher, lecturer, bookseller, and bibliophile born in 1888. He studied design and art education, and later built his career in Cleveland, where he served at the Cleveland Institute of Art, including as a professor and dean.
He is most closely associated with the history of manuscripts and early books. Ege assembled teaching collections and portfolios of original leaves from medieval and early printed books, believing that rare materials should be available for study by more people rather than locked away in a few institutions.
That same work also made him one of the most debated figures in book history. Because he separated manuscripts and books into individual leaves for sale and study, he is often described as a "book-breaker" or biblioclast. Today, scholars and libraries continue to study his legacy both for what it preserved and for what was lost.