Word meaning to destroy books

Is there a word or short phrase, which describes or implies the destruction of books or libraries?

Solution 1:

The word you're looking for is biblioclasm.

According to Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction, By Rebecca Knuth, it appears in the Oxford English Dictionary:

In the Oxford English Dictionary, biblioclasm is defined as "the breaking of books" and cited as first appearing in print in 1864 in a text on religious theory.

After a bit or research I found it on the Volume I (A-B) of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1913:

The quality is not good, but one can read:

Biblioclasm Destruction of books, or of the Bible. Biblioclast, a destroyer of books, or of the Bible. (Little more than nonce-words). 1864 T. Griffith Plea Scripture The Biblioclasm of the 'higher criticism' 1884 [illegible] Made bonfires of the Maya and Aztec manuscripts.. May these bishops expiate their crimes in the purgatory of biblioclasts.

The etymology would be the famous noun βιβλίον (little book, or just book) and the less known verb κλάω (to break). It's worth mentioning that κλάω can also mean to destroy, which is a common meaning in biology, like in osteoclast.

_{Note: If you want to coin a new word you can use bibliopyrosis, from πῦρ (fire). This seems to be completely new, since the Google search returns nothing.}

Solution 2:

Since biblioclasm is basically unheard of in the English language, and bibliopyrosis was literally unheard of prior to this question, I think the question deserves an answer that will actually be recognized:

book burning

noun

: destruction of writing or pictures regarded as politically or socially harmful or subversive or produced by persons whose ideas or acts are so regarded

^{(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)}

Despite the use of the word “burning,” book burning is used to describe the destruction of books for political purposes regardless of the actual method of destruction. The phrase is an allusion to the infamous book bonfires performed by the Nazis, but of course the large-scale destruction of books for political purposes is vastly older than that. It is widely understood, thanks in part to Fahrenheit 451 and other media, such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which includes a Nazi bonfire.