1. A person who keeps the accounts of a mercantile concern, public office, etc.
1555. Act 23 Phil. & M., vii. § 4. The parties to the bargaine shall come to the open place appointed for the toll taker, or for the booke keeper and there enter their names in the toll takers book.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes (1850), 109/2. Melancholy ghosts of departed book-keepers, who had fallen dead at the desk.
2. One who hoards books; a book-miser. rare.
1884. Julian Magnus, in Harpers Mag., Nov., 828/1. The old-fashioned book-keeper, who fears his precious books will be hurt by using.