<p>In <em>A Splendor of Letters</em>, Nicholas A. Basbanes continues the lively, richly anecdotal exploration of book people, places, and culture he began in 1995 with <em>A Gentle Madness</em> (a finalist that year for the National Book Critics Circle Award) and expanded in 2001 with <em>Patience & Fortitude</em>, a companion work that prompted the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer David McCullough to proclaim him "the leading authority of books about books." In this beautifully packaged edition, Basbanes brings to a close his wonderful trilogy on the remarkable world of books and bibliophiles.</p>