So, it sounds like two issues:

(1) Ongoing crashes (2) Restoring bookmarks

First, have you shut down and restarted your system since this problem started? This would help free up any file locks on Firefox settings/data files.

Crashes

If you have been getting the Mozilla Crash Reporter form, your Firefox may have logged some data that would help track down the cause of the problem. You can submit that data to Mozilla and share it with forum volunteers to see whether it points to the solution. Please check the support article "Firefox crashes - asking for support" for steps to get those crash report IDs from the about:crashes page, and then post some of the recent ones here.

Also and/or meanwhile, could you test in Firefox's Safe Mode? That temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features of Firefox that might make it more prone to crashing on some systems.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the option/alt key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any less crashy?

Restoring Bookmarks

Firefox stores numerous compressed backups of your bookmarks. You can try the steps in the following article to restore one of them:

Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer

However, if you have been getting the error message mentioned in the title of the following article, that issue will need to be resolved first:

Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message

If there are no backups listed on the Restore menu, did your Firefox perform a Refresh? That would move your entire profile folder, including the bookmark backups, to your desktop inside an Old Firefox Data folder. Do you see anything like that?

Thank you for your response. I can't bookmark anything now. I have gotten many crashes for over a week. I installed an update about 2 weeks ago. I did move the bookmark backup to my desktop but was stuck trying to get it installed. I am falling asleep trying to fix this & will need a nap to refresh my brain soon.

If you can't bookmark anything new, could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

Ran disk utilities before rebooting. Started firefox in safe mode. I got my bookmarks back up. It remains to be seen if I cured the crash problem. Thank you for your support.