For those of us with small collections...

So, I’m someone who has a rather small collection of Folio Society books and was wondering if anyone here is in the same boat, and enjoys a smaller collection? I won’t lie, I do sometimes envy those that can afford cool editions like the LE Dune or Philip Dick set, but honestly, I love having a smaller collection for many reasons...one is that I have young kids and try to devote as much time to them as possible. Another reason is what I call acquisition disorder. I don’t know if it’s a real thing or not but in my previous hobby I had issues with always trying to get “one more thing”. I would make this mental focus on that one item I wanted next and as soon as I had it, I felt short term satisfaction and then I was immediately on to the next thing I could put on the shelf. It’s almost like I made this mental movie of exactly what I wanted and how it would be in my hands, who I’d share it with, and how much joy it would bring me. I don’t want to get like this again. I want to purchase books that I truly love and cherish. Not trophies on a shelf. My brother has a major problem with this in his hobby now and it’s very hard for me to watch.

I promised myself that I would never get like that again and that is part of the reason I was so drawn to these books. I know that they are expensive and I can only afford a small amount of them so I will truly cherish them. I’m at the point where I really research and think hard before buying a book now. Anyway, I’m enjoying my small collection of around 30ish or so books. They are a lot of fun to look at, hold, and most importantly read. Anyone here in the same boat?

I can’t wait to pass these down to my children someday. Every time I read one of the books (which takes me a very long time but most people on here’s standards it seems), I make a little letter after each one to my children so that they can know my thoughts on the books and how they spoke to me with some additional wisdom to pass on. I think it’s something that they will really enjoy having someday.

I have a hundred-something and constantly weigh pruning it down. Some sales fodder that seemed interesting at the time but haven't left the slipcase since the shrink wrap came off. 'How the Mind Works' by Steven Pinker is the perfect example of this for me.

I like the idea of getting down to the essentials but then there are those books between that aren't must-haves but I'm reluctant to part with anyway. So I end up stuck in indecision.

I think a small, treasured collection is a beautiful thing, and the letter is a really neat idea. Congratulations.

I think books can be like any other material thing - if you’re not careful, you end up acquiring more and more to satisfy an insatiable need. And it’s exacerbated when you don’t have the financial means to comfortably build a large collection, but do it helplessly.

Writing a letter to your children with each book is such a sweet and lovely idea! I'm sure they will treasure it.

I don't know if I quite fit the description - I have fewer than 30 currently, but perhaps that is more due to being relatively new to the Folio Society, and also for financial reasons.

However, even before Folio, I usually try to only buy books that I imagine (sometimes incorrectly) I will want to go back to multiple times. I think it's a relic from my childhood days where I was allowed to buy several (mass paperback) books per year and had to choose carefully. During the term, the school library provided me an unending supply of new books, but the school holidays were always spent re-reading the books that I owned.

On the other hand, I do want to one day have a perhaps-not-so-little reading corner filled with books that I enjoy very much...

>1 warehouseisbare: I have about twice what you have. I also have small children who are my priority in my spare time so my own reading time is limited. My budget and space mean my collection will never be large but I am also content with that as what I have gives me great enjoyment. I admire your restraint when buying. The notes for your children are a great idea. It makes every book you read more personalised.

>3 U_238: A lot of people new to the FS do that exact thing. Myself included. In my case I’ve pared down and am much happier with my collection now that it’s smaller and fits my persona much more.

>1 warehouseisbare: Acquisition disorder is totally a thing. I prefer to name it by it’s much more palatable and quirky name of Collecting. Yes collecting. Read A Gentle Madness.

>1 warehouseisbare:

Some suggestions for developing an interesting SMALL collection of books:

1. Narrow your focus. Decide upon one or two niche areas, e.g., 20th century poetry, myth/folklore/fable, medieval history, fantasy & horror novels, etc., and acquire what you deem to be the finest examples of each genre, i.e., the books you are most interested in reading.

Conversely.........

2. If you decide upon developing a wide-ranging collection spanning many disparate areas and disciplines, acquire the one or two finest examples (based upon your opinion and tastes, of course!) in each specialty area.

After deciding upon which books you wish to acquire and read, obtain the most interesting and beautiful fine/private press edition of your chosen works.

Bottom line: Quality, not quantity.

Classic lit and history deserve nice folio editions in my library. Do I love Dune? Of course, but it is a $5.00 paperback sort of love not a Ulysses sort of love.

>7 dlphcoracl: Great suggestions ... however I believe highly unsustainable or even approachable for most in this day and age.

I'm an older guy ... so thankfully my generation was not full of the ADD/ADHD that currently exists in kids today. I have no clue how I would've navigated those waters.

Even being an older guy ... I still have issues looking at things on youtube ... and getting so sidetracked and rolling down that rabbit hole ... where two hours later i'm like ... wtf!!! How did I get here and how did two hours disappear already.

So ... I think most of us have that 'where's the next new/big' thing ... and how do I get it. There's so much access to information that every day I see something that I didn't know i wanted/needed pop up here in the forums or in facebook ads.

Definitely makes it hard to keep to a strict purchasing schedule.

My last two big book purchases were because of LT enablement. Both FS Limited Ed titles ... a year or so ago it was BotNS and in the last few days it was Philip K D Short Stories. Both beyond what I want to pay for a title ... especially one that I know nothing about the author/book.

But doing quick research while watching the flurry of activity over each title ... I thought ... 'I might actually like this' ... and soon it will be unavailable ... unless I want to pay three times the price on the aftermarket.

Enablement here on LT does not help your suggested theory of ... '1. Narrow your focus'

lol

>9 thisGuy33:

And that is precisely why I posted what I did!

If you have a very limited budget and/or a very limited amount of shelf space, you MUST exercise discipline and taste in SLOWLY building your collection and avoid impulse buying due to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). There is almost always enough time to investigate books of potential reading interest mentioned on LT by acquiring them in inexpensive paperback editions before spending considerably more for a fine or private press edition.

>10 dlphcoracl: yeah ... i've been really trying hard lately to move backwards in my thinking.

I love everything about premium products (especially books ... being that I spend so much time with them) ... but I do realize for the same cost I can get 10 nice books for the price of 1 really nice book.

But it's like anything ... once you are in it ... it's hard to turn back. Like after years of refining your palate for food or wine/spirits/beer ... it's really hard to go back to that generic food/drink.

I find my problem is ... since I have an affinity (as many of us on LT share) for quality books ... It sometimes trickles over into stupid purchases. For example ... every book I find myself interested in ... I end up researching to see if there is a 'fine' version of it. When in reality ... I really don't need 'every' book to be the nicest version.

But it's a mindset that I know I need to break.

May I also reflect on something I read in The Wealthy Barber. It talked about how quickly the euphoria over a newly acquired item diminished; how so shortly after it becomes yet just another thing you own.

I’ve found this to be exactly the case - for a long time I hunted down pretty hard to find folios, and essentially found all of them, and at good prices too.

Suddenly I had a bookcase filled with books that other people wanted much more than I did myself. They just felt like any other books.

One of my most valued books is the LotR trilogy set - a cheap set of paperbacks decades old that are the same versions of those I first read as a kid.

So please don’t think that once you’ve narrowed your focus, you need to have 30 letterpress printed, hand-set books made on mouldmade paper.

>12 U_238: agree completely. With everything ... the evaporating 'euphoria' comes quickly.

And if you analyze it ... it's such a strange human phenomenon. For days the anxiety and excitement stir ... then the purchase happens (and if you got a 'deal' it stirs at heightened levels) ... then the wait for the delivery is sometimes excruciatingly stimulating ... then you get it and it's all you hoped for and often more ... then for some time every time you pass the newly acquired 'thing' ... you still get that flash of adrenaline ... you touch it and smile.

But as the weeks go on something else becomes the new obsession ... and the last 'new thing' may still give you joy ... however the adrenaline flashes aren't quite as staggering.

There are however (for me) a handful of maybe 10 - 15 acquisitions that every single time (even after years of having them) ... make me smile beyond belief knowing that their trophy is mine to enjoy for a lifetime.

And then there are some I look at and say ... I probably should sell those.

lol

>1 warehouseisbare:

Well we all started there... under the old membership model I bought four volumes a year for a couple of decades.

I've acquired my first few limited edition folios and other presses recently as my 'chicks' get closer to fledging from the nest.

Like everything else, the key is to enjoy what you have while looking forward to your next discovery.

Folio Acquisition Disorder is a disease well known to members of this forum. I used to buy almost every FS book under the sun, even titles I knew I was unlikely to read. This caused me to consider my habits - for it a habit, almost a drug, producing temporary euphoria. I decided only to keep the FS books that meant something to me, the better editions and the books I loved. So I went down from 200+ FS books to my present collection of about 60. Of course I still have too many books in general - I’ve never counted but well over 1000 volumes, many of them fine bindings, antiquarian, LE’s, hardbacks and the like.

And yet I yearn for a small, easily managed collection but I don’t have the strength to do it as it means parting with too many books I love or think I will love, given time. We become prisoners to our possessions and they possess us. No matter how much we love them, we are secretly weighed down by them as well.

So yes, keep the collection small and focused. I wish I could do the same?

I have a relatively small FS collection as well. I first came across FS in Jan 2019 while searching for some Hardy books. I found a seller in my country who had 9 Hardy editions in a very matching format. I sent them price suggestions for all of them and they ended up accepting them. Those €5 Hardy editions are still my favourites of the bunch. After receiving those books, I got in touch with the seller and asked them to email me with their entire list of Folio Society books. They did and I spent the next few months buying up anything that seemed interesting to me. Buying directly from the seller (and not through eBay) lead to the seller saving some fees and me getting a small discount.

At that time, I truly felt a bit foaming-at-the-mouth crazy for FS books. I barely managed to restrain myself.

However, in 2020 I went through a self-imposed, partial book ban. I also ended up joining the FB groups. All that lead to me realising that this whole idea of collection at "any cost" is a dangerous game. And I could not just lose a lot of money, but also develop this tendency described so very well by warehouseisbare, where I derive more pleasure from/spend more time on the collecting aspect than the reading. And I always wanted to be a reader, not a collector of books.

This has lead to me getting rid of a lot of books (some FS, some not), which I know I will never read again...like Steppenwolf, I Robot, etc.

So, the goals of my collection are simple: buy the books I will want to read over and over again. Classics are high priority, after which come Fantasy and Non-fiction (mostly history). Another really important rule is to buy no double copies, even if I love the book. This is how I place and then take Middlemarch out of my cart every time I place an FS order. Since I have the George Eliot set, I can't buy the green Middlemarch currently on sale. Or the beautiful crushed silk bound one that was take out earlier. The only exception is if the books are in a different language.

Now I just buy directly from Folio Society and if something turns up nearby that I am interested in, I go for it. This group has enabled me in sometimes...like that wonderful Folio Archives thread. (Saw Mistress Masham's Repose there and found it close by recently so I got it. It's lovely!) But buying from the UK after Brexit is just too painful. And buying from the US is not really an option either with the shipping and taxes. So, in some ways, it helps keep my resolve of not needlessly accumulating books.

>1 warehouseisbare: And that whole letter in each book idea is really sweet. Your kids are going to be so delighted to get them. I still write letters to my parents and they to me. It is just different from emails/video chats/messages. So much more honest and earnest.

>16 sekhmet0108: I try to follow the same approach about duplicates too! Really want the new Middlemarch!

My approach is actually different because I have kids. I’m building a home library that is diverse. All stuff I would/have read. I might never get the chance to reread, but maybe in twenty years one of my kids will happen upon a random boom that I only got to read once and it will mean something to them. Things like letterpress don’t mean much to me, so I go for things like reading comfort ( I have 4 Billy’s with SF, Everyman’s Library and LoA books).

I have made some silly FS purchases in the past but none too crazy and tend not o buy very few LEs because I’m not someone who appreciates the upgraded materials. I also devote their awake time to my kids so read a lot less. One thing I like about this forum is that everyone has a different way of collecting.

>17 RRCBS: >16 sekhmet0108: My collection choices are generally in line with how you both go about it. Reading copies are my main priority though I have gone off track the odd time since I started but not too far thankfully. I buy books I like to read but sometimes I buy on someone's recommendation on this forum as I try to expand my reading horizons. My kids might have different tastes to mine when they get older so I also try take that into account. This makes collecting challenging when trying to keep choices with certain parameters but also rewarding.

I too really like the new Middlemarch but do not like the size for reading so I will be going for the earlier crushed silk version when I get the chance. Which proves the point that Folios back catalogue is so great that it caters for different tastes and needs.

>17 RRCBS: You make a good point on buying from the UK after Brexit. It has also affected my buying choices especially on eBay which I have not bought from since last year as Import Charges are automatically added to any book I would buy now which has been off putting. Though like you I also see it as a great restrainer in excess buying.

As someone whose personal library is way out of control, I sometimes theorise that I might be more able to control its growth by adopting these two rules:

Buying a book requires me to get rid of another book (i.e. one in: one out);

and

Cataloguing the books I already own.

Easy to consider but a lot of hard work to maintain these controls.

The library here still bears the marks of a depleting but remunerative job I did for a while forty years ago, when to help make life tolerable I self-medicated by buying books I was in no state to read, but which would cater to my projected needs and aspirations when a relative freedom should come my way. They're still largely inert on the shelves, but my liver's in a better state than it would be if I'd turned to gin instead. And lately - well, I still admit to sharing the motivation of the Contessa Valletri in Seton Peacey's Crutch,

"Had she denied herself anything, she would have felt she was wasting her opportunities, and would have been annoyed by that feeling".

It's strange for me to imagine downsizing to 30 books, as I've grown utterly distrustful for my own purposes of time's winnowing, and while I would retain very little from the last 60 years there still wouldn't be very many volumes of sufficiently "classic" status for Folio ever to have considered their publication.

I probably suffer from every diagnosed book disorder imaginable, and really suffered badly from FAD for a while.

When I first started collecting books, I was drawn to signed first editions and would search everywhere for any authors and upcoming book signings like a mad man, but I soon realised that I disliked the common hardback, and paying more for a signature, often especially when buying on eBay had me always doubting authenticity. Also, anxiety paid in with regards to all that dust jacket business and avoiding any bumps and crushed corners and stuff the worry of which costing me some years off my natural life.

So this addiction faded away when I found a signed Folio Society edition by Richard Dawkins on eBay and looked Folio up. This was back in 2009 and I was just overwhelmed by the quality and array of wonderfully illustrated books. Living in Denmark at the time I was not used to such luxury where the common English hardback was £30-40. So I ended up with signing up for membership, choosing the Fairy Tales set and ordered the Moby Dick LE with Kent Rockwell illustrations. It’s probably the best limited edition ever produced at that price and remains the jewel in my library. I wrote a touching piece about it here on LT a decade ago and received probably a handful of approving claps.

With this newfound interest, I like many here, fell for the sheer beauty and love for folio books. It was a pass time, a way of indulging my madness and love for the printed book without spending unreasonable amounts of money (to be debated). Folio with the four book requirement annually and generous renewal package as well as the coveted Autumn Prospectuses and 10 month instalment payment plan (was a class A drug to an addict and I was injecting myself with books like no tomorrow) was something that I looked dearly towards receiving. I loved the banter and enthusiastic discussions on LT. I even miss the occasional inflated prices in Australia discussion.

So my collection grew with the years.

But what made it really special was the Folio Society Devotees community here on LT, the special bond created between learned individuals and I dare say good friendships that exhibited much passion, honesty and love for books (and personal meet-ups with likeminded and esteemed individuals that I like to call dear friends). That feeling and discussion here was so good that I remember that I couldn’t wait to come home from work to read the newest posts or the newest releases or receiving the post from folio. It was both magical and exciting.

And my collection grew some more. But the magic somewhere along when membership model ended. Folio books were for me personally no longer interesting. Well before I used to be so infused in excitement that I would want to order the entire catalogue of the prospectus later it became less and less as one acquired more books. The offering and new released became less interesting

These shared experiences were unhealthy for my wallet but what fun I had collecting folio books. Money can always be made but I have fond memories. This passion led to other books of course that I like to call reference books. The more I read here and discussed and the multitude of private PMs back and forth I found new books that I just needed to acquire. Jeremy Paxman’s Guardian article didn’t help either:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/02/reference-books-jeremy-paxman

The Easton Press, Franklin Library, Limited Editions Club, private and fine presses, Kickstarter campaigns, Britannica, new history hardback releases, vintage Penguin and Pelicans, Churchill, T.E Lawrence, Antarctica, Captain Scott...to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield, and all that. It all adds up.

And the question remains am I regretful for these decisions? Absolutely not! My library of books were the main reason that my niece was mesmerised by my collection and started her passion for reading and poetry. She used to memorise the bindings and colours when she was younger and I was intrigued to see that she could identify and name any Folio Society limited edition by its colour and binding. She’s only thirteen now but has been able to recite poetry off by heart from a very young age that still astonished her school teachers, Yeats, Tennyson, Rupert Brooke, Dulce et decorum est, Wilfred Owen, I instilled a passion of reading on her and that’s all worth it. All the money in the world.

Physical books have that magic that a Kindle can never do. It can stir the young minds of children and leave a positive impression.

Also, I must admit the hunt was thrilling and satisfying, and it still is. And with more books now than ten years ago I am now fine tuning my collection and could definitely lose some Easton Press books, but so far I am happy with what I have even though I have books stored back in Denmark and the new acquisitions here in the UK, I am looking forward to the time that I can reunite my collection.

So no, 30 books will not suffice my curiosity.

>21 ironjaw: Thanks for posting the link to the Paxman article, Faisel. What a terrific piece. It makes me feel like dashing out and buying the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Dictionary of National Biography (rather ironically as this thread is about reducing ones book collection rather than expanding it).

Surely you don’t miss the Australian pricing controversy (with all due respects to Les Mis)? As I recall, the heat generated by that debate nearly got the Folio Society Devotees closed down and thrown of Librarything.

>21 ironjaw: thanks for the charming write-up. It seems we are engaged on the same journey, although I am somewhat less advanced along this path. Looking forward to the years of madness yet to come.

>16 sekhmet0108: It caused me a bit of ‘the shakes’ reading your post and thinking back to the week when my obsession began … it was exactly your ‘foaming-at-the-mouth’ craze … that I think I tried to suppress from my memory.

I remember finding a local used book store that every day would get boxes of new books from locals trading in or selling their old books. Living in a very populated area with a healthy mix of people from every class of life … there was always a large selection of fine press books. And this is where I first discovered EP and FS DLE’s and LE’s.

And for the first few months … every night I couldn’t wait for the morning to come when the book store would open … and every day I rushed with anticipation to get there before anyone discovered the titles I might ‘need’ in my ‘collection’.

I won’t bore anyone with the details … but I didn’t realize how out of hand it was getting. Like others said … it was quite like a drug. And I had multiple reasons pushing me to continue …the main one being … I used these books as research for my work (being a visual storyteller).

Somehow I found my way here to LT …

And as >21 ironjaw: mentioned … I have enjoyed the friendships and the entertainment of reading shared experiences. I too would (and still do) enjoy waking each day looking forward to seeing what my fellow readers/collectors are thinking/doing/reading.

It’s all a truly enjoyable and fulfilling experience and I am beyond thankful for every aspect of what ‘book life’ has added to my existence.

That said … I now try (often failing) to suppress my ‘need’ to get every ‘latest, new, pretty, shiny’ thing of the moment … which often is something I feel you all enabling me to want everyday all day.

So please … do you part … stop enabling me!

:)

And as >22 Quicksilver66: said … I give an overall thanks to everyone who shares links and thoughts … I have learned so much from everyone here offering their knowledge … it has led me down so many roads i might never have discovered on my own.

And continuing with my above theme … it has also taken so much from my wallet.

:0

I've been reading threads in this group for about four years without ever posting, and I think this is the topic which may actually get me to do so!

I first came across Folio society books in 2017 and fell in love with their quality. I'm a graphic novelist so I've got strong feelings about how images, visual design and text can combine to create amazing experiences. I also like the tactile aspect of physical books, their weight and texture.

That being said, I only have about ten folio editions, for a few reasons.
Firstly financial - while getting a nice quality book is high up in my priorities of things to buy when I have disposable income, I have to balance it out with all the other little luxuries I like in my life.

There's also an issue of space and stability - like a lot of people my age (I'm turning 30 this year!) I rent my home. For much of my 20s, I lived in a single room. Fortunately at the moment I'm living in a lovely little house, but I always know that I could be turfed out. It hasn't stopped me managing to gather a significant number of books, but I don't want that to grow beyond a number I could easily fit back into a single room again if necessary! So, I try to stick to the books I'm deeply in love with, the ones that I know I will pick up and read again and again. If something is new to me, I'll usually stick with an ebook or a library book. I get the feeling that ebooks aren't popular in these parts, but I would note that they are a gift for less privileged people - those without much money, those who live far from physical libraries, those without space for many books. (They're also great for accessibility for people with various disabilities, but that's another conversation.)

Finally, on a philosophical level I do love the idea of a huge Umberto Eco "antilibrary" representing intellectual possibility and curiosity, the things you do not know. I always try to keep a percentage of unread books around for that reason, I feel a library isn't a library unless it represents your own personal unknown.
But... I also have this nagging feeling that in the past few hundred years, Western society has got so bogged down with personal possessions. Most people have over 100 pieces of clothing, all kinds of gadgets and utensils in cupboards that are never used.
All these things take resources to create, and they don't simply vanish when we discard them.

Part of me wants to see books as a special category that don't factor into this, but I think they do. That's partially why I'm drawn to beautiful books that are made to last, rather than ones that won't be around in 50 years. I don't want my books to be be involved in that mentality, to become 'stuff', I want them to be beloved treasures. So, I try try TRY to acquiret them slowly and carefully, so that they are never a burden for me .

>22 Quicksilver66: My dear friend: Scandalous, and a bit of drama. Yes, we almost shut it all down! What else do you need :o)

I highly recommend the 11th edition, but do be patient and a set in good quality will eventually come up. My set was bought for less than £40, technically saving it as the seller wanted to throw the set in the bin. It had been in the family since it was bought directly from Britannica back in 1910s.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition






Here's to A Gentle Madness

>23 ubiquitousuk: You're welcome, my friend.

And who can say no to The Franklin Library's Tales from the Arabian Nights (1977), trans. by Richard F. Burton, along with "Notes from the Editors" booklet from The 100 Greatest Books of All Time:



and who can forget the beautiful Folio Society's Limited Edition Diary of Samuel Pepys (11 Volumes):



All you need is a fireplace, a comfy chair (probably the Eames Lounge chair) and a cup of tea :o)

>27 ironjaw: very jealous of your Pepys set! I would love to buy a set, though know that I would never get around to reading all of it and have the three volume condensed version.

>28 RRCBS: That's the beauty of Pepys. You can tip toe around and dip in and out, taking bits here and there. It makes much fun reading. This edition by the Folio Society is based on the landmark 11 volume hardback Matthews and Latham edition first published in 1970. It is the first in which the entire diary is printed with systematic comment. This is the only complete edition available; it is as close to Pepys's original as possible. Robert Latham was Pepys Librarian at Magdalene College, Cambridge.



Borrowing from Jonathan's (boldface) excellent reference catalogue with copious notes (that makes a great evening read. Yes, I do spend nights browsing his LT catalogue, sometimes with a Scotch on the rocks):

"This edition first published 1970–1983. See below for the publication/printing dates of individual volumes.

11 volumes: complete diary in 9 volumes; volume 10: Companion; volume 11: Index.
Volumes I–IX published 1970–1976; volumes X and XI published as a set in 1983.

Each volume:
Bound in green buckram with Pepys's bookplate device, comprising SP monogram, crossed anchors and ropes*, but without the accompanying motto, stamped in gilt on the front board. Gilt spine titles: book title within red label. Top edge stained green (faded to grey on some volumes). In dustjackets, with the portrait of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls (1600–1679), oil on canvas, 1666 (National Portrait Gallery, London) on the front.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Pepys_bookplate_1.jpg"

>26 hlgreetham: I'm a fan of the Kindle Paperwhite for travelling, and also for reading in another language: it's such a boon having inbuilt bilingual dictionaries and being able to just touch a word you don't know then have the English definition plus example usages appear instantly.

You're quite right that we do generally live in a grossly materialistic and wasteful manner compared to our ancestors. But if Samuel Pepys allowed himself three thousand books in his personal library over three hundred years ago, I like to allow that we may exclude books from the list of unnecessary objects that contribute to wasteful consumerism :)

P.S. Congratulations on extending a shoot above the surface here on FSD with your first post after so many years. May you grow, blossom and bear fruit, and certainly not be turfed out of your current patch!

>30 cronshaw: Interesting, what language, if I may ask, are you dabbling in? I'm a language nut on A Language Learner's Forum and have a growing collection of vintage Linguaphone sets. No doubt, I agree with the Kindle for accessibility but the feel is so different. I have the Kindle Oasis, and it's lightweight and doesn't tire my eyes as much as the iPad or Mac, and I have a hundred books there, mostly the Kindle Daily offers under £1 and I've read some but I also have a hardback book next to my night stand that gets more use, I'm afraid.

>31 ironjaw: I've used my Kindle for reading in French and Spanish mostly. There are quite a few classic works available on Kindle for free in those two languages, and you can download the Oxford-Hachette French-English and Oxford Spanish-English dictionaries (both excellent with comprehensive definitions and example sentences including idioms) to your Kindle. For German and Italian you can similarly access the equally excellent Oxford-Duden German-English and Oxford-Paravia Italian-English dictionaries, and use them to read numerous German and Italian classics also available.

(I must add that I have competence in neither German nor Italian but having studied German for two years at school almost half a century ago and Italian for a few months merely several years ago, and being attracted to the sound and structures of both, I titillated myself with the idea of downloading the dictionaries on to Kindle along with a few relevant freebie works in either language, thinking one day I may take up learning them again)

>29 ironjaw: so tempting...it’s always a set I’ve wanted. Couldn’t justify buying it right now, but you’ve definitely rekindled that particular dream!

Keeping in line with the original premise of this thread, I find it interesting that the Kindle (or any e-reader for that matter) was brought up naturally but not directly for the purposes of keeping a physical library small and trim. My library is neither small, nor has it approached the Pepys Limit, but I can attest to the idea of a Kindle helping to keep one's library in check. I'm more like ironjaw in keeping a larger library, preferring to being surrounded by a room full of books that represent knowledge, triumphs, unknowns, personality, etc., but at some point practical matters necessarily come into play.

For the past several years, I've been using the Kindle as a means for curtailing extraneous book acquisitions. Game of Thrones is a good example; I read the five books on Kindle, don't plan to read them again, and don't need a premium 10-going on-14 volume super set taking up valuable shelf space. The Kindle can be a great tool for accessing or even owning titles that you don't necessarily need or want in physical form. Not only do I recommend owning one, I recommend having several (i.e., don't trade your old one in if/when you upgrade). The different designs and features make them useful for different use cases. Some fit in pockets, some don't; travel durability, backlighting and dark mode, the aforementioned language capabilities, audio books capability, etc. - they're all terribly handy and can still dovetail with a physical library of any size.

>27 ironjaw: I had both the Arabian Nights and LE Pepys but sold them some years ago to make room for other books. Of course I regret it now - but not the Pepys quite so much for I replaced those with a beautiful 3 volume set on India paper nicely bound by Bayntun Rivière (published by G.Bell 1924), which has compensated for the loss of the Folio Pepys. These volumes have the virtue of being very compact and portable. The only issue with this set is the “naughty” passages have been expunged- but the text indicates where they are deleted and they can easily be looked up online.

That Britannica looks lovely but surprised to find it in what looks like a flexible binding - very attractive and compact. I like compact books on India paper.

Now Kindle is an ideal device for many of us and I have made room for bigger and more luxurious books down the years by throwing out paperbacks and putting them on my Kindle. Much of my Sci-Fi collection is now on my Kindle. I also use it for new books I would like to read but don’t want on my bookshelf. I find that new hardbacks in the UK are often poor quality these days and frankly I would rather have the Kindle version than these bulky and often unattractive books that are churned out by UK publishers. But if it’s a nice quality hardback, I’m more likely to buy it than the Kindle version

That’s why we acquire so many books and it’s difficult to keep ones collection manageable. We love the aesthetic qualities of our books - sometimes more than the content. Is this a disease of the mind? Probably - but what the hell!

>35 Quicksilver66: absolutely agree. I have given away several purges boxes of unsightly paper backs. I find I don’t miss them. If I really regret donating a book I seek out a nice version or get it on kindle. Trying not to buy paperbacks or cheaply made hardbacks has helped a lot and trying a kindle edition or even a free kindle sample helps immensely.

>36 coffeewithastraw: And reading books on a good Kindle can be a real pleasure. The text is clear and it’s fully portable. Easy to read on a long plane journey. I used to be Kindle sceptic but now I love mine.

>36 coffeewithastraw: a free kindle sample helps immensely.

This is, absolutely, one of the great benefits of kindle reading. I think they give you around 10% of the text, so it's quite generous for long books and for some (looking at you US self-help books) the first 10% is usually all you need. The only downside occurs for shortish books with very long introductions, in which case you only get a part of the introduction and not a word of the actual text. It happened to me the other week when I tried to check out the Butcher translations of the Verne books. I wish they'd sort that out but it's probably too much effort.

The Kindle doesn't satisfy my fetish for enormous and unwieldy tomes. I especially like traveling with them. Nothing like busting out my LE Canterbury Tales on the plane to the awe/physical discomfort of everyone within a four foot perimeter around me.

>39 L.Bloom: Make sure to get nice and comfortable, fully recline, and take off your shoes while doing so to achieve maximum results. ;)

>40 coffeewithastraw: Hahaha, pardon my elbows and my woven ribbon marker

>41 L.Bloom: Remind me not to sit next to you an aeroplane! I treasure my LE Canterbury Tales. One of the best Folio LE’s ever. The problem with reading books on an aeroplane is the paper crinkles up in the canned atmosphere.

>39 L.Bloom: "Nothing like busting out my LE Canterbury Tales on the plane to the awe/physical discomfort of everyone within a four foot perimeter around me."

How long do reckon your travel tomes will last taking such reckless actions as those?

>42 Quicksilver66: try taking a mechanical typewriter with you. The stare and disbelief you get are priceless. Not that I’ve done it, but an avid collector.

Hand made, self uncrinkling, acid free, archival, West Dartfordhamshireborough wove paper. Obviously.

>42 Quicksilver66: There is considerable irony in the fact that this thread was initially created for those with small, non LE collections but it is seriously enabling me to go hunting for a few LE’s!

>47 RRCBS:

Yes indeed. I was really hoping that the thread would focus more on those of us with the small collections. Not complaining really as I can see the joy in the posts from those with the large collections getting to chat about books back and forth. I guess I figured it would happen. In any regard, I appreciate reading everyone’s posts and as most people on here probably do have large collections, I understand. It’s been fun reading for me.

>26 hlgreetham: What a GREAT first post! I hope you will post some more in the future! I enjoyed reading your experiences and thoughts quite a bit.

I would say that it takes great discipline to limit one's library collection to 30 books or a smaller collection. I seem to remember our own in-house Dr Warwick stating that he removes one book out of his library if he chooses to add one. That's a way to be strict going forward.

I for one have so many broad interests, including creating a reference library (20 vol. OED, 30 vol 11th ed. 1910/1911 Britannica, 32 vol 15th ed. 2002 Britannica, future 60 vol. ODNB, 60 vol Great Books of the Western World, 51 vol Harvard Classics, just to name a few) which makes the library larger as a consequence. Obviously, with a library card, Archive.org, Internet, und so weiter you can access these services online, often for free.

But, as with Niles from the US TV sitcom Frasier, that wiped a chair with a napkin back in 1994, I too was prepping (years before COVID-19 struck) proper strict hygienic sanitary practice drills with my, often too tired, family:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHV7tyzdOG8

As a consequence, of said behaviour above, I would rather have my own reference library of physical books than borrowing from a public library. I say this, not to be snobbish, or something of that sort, but more because that I once borrowed a book from the public library that came with an unpleasant and disturbing surprise: a fragment of food that had turned mouldy between the pages. Yes, this at a tender young boyish-age had horrified me of everything that had a prefix of "public" in the word or sentence.

Nevertheless, if you're close to London and space is an issue or as the OP* suggests acquisition disorder (and I hope the OP forgoes my rambles off-topic) is the London Library - a paid service membership - to have access to a behemoth book catalogue.

*Oxford English Dictionary
OP: (In online forums or comment pages) original post (or poster).

A new word I learned, I know too late

>50 ironjaw:
Thought I was the only Mr Kleen; haven't borrowed a library book since I was 15. To me a personal library is an index to your brain. I can look at a book on the shelf read years ago and have an idea of what it contains, whereas its title alone often tells me nothing. And for every one of the 3000 or so volumes I still have I can remember when and where I bought it. It's not strictly useful information, but I'd hate to lose it.

>50 ironjaw: It definitely does take great discipline but it can be so rewarding as well for many reasons. As hlgreetham and others have mentioned, I feel many people (myself included in my previous hobby) have problem with wanting more and more personal possessions which really don’t give them true satisfaction and as soon as they have the next possession they are immediately on to the next one. It’s almost like a drug fix. I’m not saying this is everyone with large collections but I’ll guarantee it’s probably a lot of people. I’m trying to share the satisfaction of less is more but don’t expect to convince anyone :) Also, I’m not saying I have a strict 30 book limit. I just know I want to keep my collection relatively small on the whole no matter what my financial status. :)

Has anyone figured out what the median size collection of "actual books" is among LibraryThing FS Devotees? For example, I have 1101 "actual" books in my study (as opposed to "read but unowned," and Kindle and the like), of which 227 are Folio Society, 173 are Easton Press, 77 are Franklin Library, and the rest are a mix of Everyman's Library, Library of America, Lakeside Press, Heritage Press, Loeb, LEC, and ordinary hardbacks and paperbacks. I loosely characterize 713 of my 1101 as "collectible" in some way or another (generally meaning one of the aforementioned publications), with the balance being ordinary hardbacks and paperbacks. I suspect these numbers are on the low end for this forum. I see someone on LT has 96,000 volumes listed, but surely those aren't all "actual" books. Nevertheless, among FS Devotees, I'd bet the median size collection of actual books is on the high side.

>53 Betelgeuse:

I think any available figure would be too approximate to mean much. Taking my own books as an example, I see I've 2255 LT entries, but I'm fairly sure I've catalogued no more than two-thirds of the books: and some of those entries represent the complete works of an author, hence 15, 20 or more various volumes counting as one. Maybe in both those regards I'm more random than most Devotees, but other confusing factors exist, for instance I've noted that some LT members enter every individual short story in their collections.

>54 terebinth: Ah, I appreciate the point. And I didn't consider that some LT members enter every individual short story.

>35 Quicksilver66: David, I’ve just seen this handsome 1923, 3 volume set in India paper, bound by Hatchards and published by G Bell and Sons. Is this the one you have?:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324342651920

>50 ironjaw:
Yes, that is my policy, enforced by the limited space of an apartment, but I have just bought the Philip K. Dick Short Stories, and for them the rule will have to be 4 in 8 out as they are such huge books!

56 > Ironjaw

Yes - that appears to be the one Faisel. Hatchards bindings were usually done by Zahrendorf- one of the great London bookbinders. Mine does say 1924 though, not 1923.

>58 Quicksilver66:

I don't recognise the bindery, so perhaps you mean Zaehnsdorf? Excellent quality indeed, I was fortunate not long ago to pick up the Works of Charles Lamb bound by them, 12 volumes bound as 6, from World of Rare Books who can be quite the happy hunting ground as their pricing tends not to take account of bindings.

>59 terebinth: That’s right - I did mean Zaehnsdorf. A very difficult name to get right!

I don't aim for a small library or FS collection, although I do try to show some moderation, but I have started to identify a core collection of my most essential books within my library. So far ~70 books that are particularly important to me for whatever reason, and which I'm convinced I won't want to part with, have been included. Those books are the only ones that get my Ex Libris (sorry guys, I know this practise hurts some of you, but I promise that there are no real rarities in the collection), and I have a register where I write down why they were included in the core library, and make a note everytime I reread them. Keeping this part of the collection small, and taking the time to carefully add an Ex Libris and write down my thoughts on the book in question, does make me cherish them more.

>26 hlgreetham: "I feel a library isn't a library unless it represents your own personal unknown."

I love that statement.

When I was younger, I dreamed of having a library such as Belle did in "Beauty and the Beast". Although that dream died, as of a few years ago I still owned over a thousand books. Since then, I've slowly given, exchanged, and sold books away. It all started with FS Rainbow Fairy Books by Andrew Lang. I bought and collected them all. They sat in my bookcase and everyone who came over admired them. Indeed they were beautiful and well made. I read a few stories from each and they were hard to get through. I thought to myself 'why do I have all these books? For others to admire as if they were trophies?'. I decided to sell the entire collection and it paid for a wonderful family vacation that meant more to me than having nice expensive books. The memories we made will last forever. Now my library has turned into two sections: Books that I have read and would likely read again, and books that are on my to-read list. Everything else I exchange for credit at my local bookstore or give away. I understand the need to acquire books and have a large collection to display. I had the addiction for years but as I've gotten older, it doesn't mean so much to me anymore. I'd rather have a smaller collection and keep the books I really want and give the other books back for others to enjoy.

>63 Eastonorfolio:

Wow! Great story! Thank you for sharing!

Such a great thread - thank you all.

I come from a long line of book collectors. Nothing crazy in terms of rare editions or anything, just general accumulation and love of books and a home library.

In recent years, I've focused on slimming down my own collection. It's gone from over 1,000 to about 500. This was due to a few reasons, but primarily it was the point the OP made about keeping only the ones that I consider special in some way. What really helped get rid of the bulk was all of my dictionaries and references. The online dictionaries are so damn good these days (with etymology and usage tracking over the years and what have you) that I never ever could be bothered going through the rigmarole of lugging the books off their shelves.

I still do like books in my home. I'll never get down to 30, but I'm certainly keeping it around the 500 mark, and just swapping in and out books I've fallen in and out of love with.

The other thing that really helped in this process was to make a list on Goodreads that was my 'Dusty bookshelf' challenge. To read all those books I own but haven't read yet. It's quite a wake-up call. The list is around 100 books, and some additional ones I looked at and admitted to myself that I really didn't want to read the book ever. It also has focused my reading choices, and when I come across non-owned books that I need to read (for pleasure or work), I am much more honest about whether I need to purchase it or not, and what kind of edition I want.

Anyway, ramblings...

>66 Jeremy53:

Always interesting how variously we regard life's opportunities: in my case when an unfamiliar word comes my way in the course of reading, or a familiar one about which I'm suddenly curious, there's no chance of my being tempted to walk to the far end of the flat and fire up a computer when the OED's twenty volumes are almost at my fingertips. I find I already spend quite as much time as I could possibly want to looking at a screen. Magazines and the daily newspaper arrive in paper form, I rarely if ever consult their digital editions, and so far I've soon forgotten about any that have ceased physical publication.

I wouldn't dream of trying to read all the books here that I haven't read yet, there often turn out to be good reasons for why I've been reading others instead. I did find myself a while ago contemplating my CD shelves, a thousand or so discs, and reflecting that, not least since I've already spent 61 of however many years I have in which to be here, there were many I would never hear again. The thought prompted me to set aside an hour each evening and start listening to them all in the sequence in which they were shelved, more or less alphabetically within broad categories. I penetrated about as far as the centre of the "A" section in the first bank before quietly abandoning the plan.

>67 terebinth: I enjoyed reading this segment.

We all are acutely aware that our time is limited; we don't own our lives and lease the time we are here. It is evidently undeniable and a daunting fact of life that one might not get through those tomes of beautiful and interesting books that one scoured either the internet or those dusty second-hand books shops and made the decision that they would become a part of one's personal library by painstakingly carrying them home. I dream of books and often think that I should call-off buying for a whole year or two, or three and dig deep and read voraciously, before clicking that buy/bid-button, on eBay. while at the same time I am guilty of having more than two-thirds of my books in storage, packed in boxes in a country abroad. It's become easier to buy books than before. I curse thee: iPhone eBay app with your daily notifications and emails. Yes, I know I can switch off the notifications, but every so often I get back to the hunt.

I try to do the best I can and live the outmost as possible. Well I am trying now after lock down. I say that while, I have struggled myself with waking up at 5 am (ideal 4 am) in the morning, but I shall not give up. I've found that multitasking sometimes helps, having two or three screens while working or a book by my side for the occasional read or listening to an audiobook adds to getting through that behemoth that we all surround ourselves in despair: the to-be-read (TBR) pile.

I'm trying to become more efficient and to be honest am overly flabbergasted that Gladstone read 22,000 books during his lifetime (I would love to know how he planned his daily tasks). Maybe something insightful could pop up?

I would suggest another book (I know, I'm not helping) but I'm working through Atomic Habits by James Clear, which emphasis one the small minute things/habits/changes that when compounded can have a larger effect and outcome. Doing small things daily, and stacking them together, consistently, an hour, 5 min, 30 min, etc here or there will eventually lead to greater outcome. That 10 min each day when having your first cup of coffee in the morning, boom and you've read Da Vinci Code

>68 ironjaw: "That 10 min each day when having your fist cup of coffee in the morning, boom and you've read Da Vinci Code."

Another reason to be glad that I don't drink coffee!

That said, I always have a book at the breakfast table - currently I'm reading Arguing With Zombies, by Paul Krugman.

>69 Bob_Reader: Are there any photos of people's small FS collection?

Yes indeed. The Facebook group "Fans of the Folio Society" will satisfy the most avaricious appetite for photographs of Folio Society collections and many/most feature small collections. You could lose yourself in there. And it's a much better option than encouraging Devotees to fill the blank space with shelfies.

>71 folio_books: totally agree, it's not about the amount of Folios you have but how much pleasure they give you; I have a moderately large collection, but if starting again today would probably limit the extent of purchases I have made (not buying the biggest discounts in a sale if I'm unlikely to read them would be a good start)

>70 coynedj: Thanks, just corrected "fist" to "first" and of course I'm joking about Da Vinci Code.

>68 ironjaw:
"Gladstone read 22,000 books during his lifetime"

I call BS. Based on publishing capacity in the world at that time, average book size, sleeping, eating, working and any other non-reading activities, if that number is anywhere near accurate, the majority of those books would have had to have been Dr. Seuss-sized. And that assumes that there were even 22,000 unique books to read back then. He died at 88. If he could read right out of the birth canal, that's an average of 250 books per year. Ok, Gladstone...lol Maybe he wasn't finishing of them? Reading something or another for 22,000 days is a realistic venture.

>69 Bob_Reader:
Well, I must see these fortresses of shelves of books!!

>74 treereader: Kind of like what basketball great Wilt Chamberlin said.

>75 Eastonorfolio:
I didn't know Wilt was a big library guy! :-)

>74 treereader: "And that assumes that there were even 22,000 unique books"

Well, it does not say that they are unique. And it depends a lot on your definition of a book - are pamphlets books for example?. Plus most of what you think of a single book now was published in 2-3 volumes in the Victorian era. And "reading" may not mean reading every word - there are enough techniques to read fast (for whatever reason). Still a lot of books but not necessarily impossible.

>75 Eastonorfolio: wiat ....

... Wilt wasn't the best 'offensive' player ever?

:)

>77 AnnieMod:
I don't count something as having been read if it was just skimmed through. Sure, some people can speed read, retain, and comprehend, but not many. Let's give Gladstone the benefit of the doubt and assume he could. The only way 22,000 seems feasible to me is if the majority of his read "books" were pamphlets, novellas, poems, books split into multiple volumes, and other inconsequentially short works. And no, I wouldn't count a pamphlet as a book. If pamphlets count, then so do all of our emails and these posts on LT.

>79 treereader: But did they count for whoever made the 22K books claim for Gladstone? :)

PS: https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/news/volume/how-to-read-22000-books-by-amber-m...

The 250+ pages books are somewhat of a new times invention - these used to be split. Reading 200 pages per day? Not impossible.

Counting books will always be an uneven fight. A 80 pages play or a poetry collection are as much books as the 1000 pages books are when you count in books.

>80 AnnieMod:

I can accept a small collection of poems or a play bound into a single 80-page volume as a single book, just as much as a 1,000+ page War and Peace counts.

Part of my point earlier was that hefty books are a more modern invention - ironjaw and the rest of us shouldn’t beat ourselves up about not reaching numbers like 22,000 books when the very nature of what constitutes a book has changed so much since Gladstone’s time.

If he was alive today and tried declaring 22,000 books read, we’d all laugh at him. There’s just no way, not with what we think of as the average book. Conversely, if we started counting the things we read every day that compare in size to Gladstone’s Dr. Seuss-sized books, we’d all be hitting - probably surpassing! - that 22,000 mark by age 88. Just think - instruction manuals, Cheesecake Factory menus, programming code, Cliff’s Notes, emails, magazines, actuary tables, newsgroup threads, legal briefs, Wikipedia articles - all of our varied texts would have to count. As for serialized books, such as a Dickens original, it just seems ridiculous to count these as anything but a single book, then or now.

I’ve not read up on Gladstone’s history yet but I’m quite certain I’ll be far more impressed with his accomplishments as a PM than as an avid reader.

>74 treereader:

The list of Gladstone's reading in volume XIV of The Gladstone Diaries runs to some 325 pages, including some 21,000 titles and 4,500 authors, printed in double columns and in small type. It does indeed include many pamphlets, articles, essays, periodicals and sermons, but he also read Dickens, Thackeray, Jane Austen, George Eliot, etc., and especially Scott and Shakespeare, as well as works on politics and religion. He also read works in various foreign languages, including French, Italian, Greek and Latin. According to the editor of the Diaries, he "had a working knowledge of German" and "got by in Spanish"! The list doesn't include his reading of newspapers or his own works. He reserved a part of every day for reading, cancelled only in times of the highest crisis. He also annotated his books and made short indexes of the most useful or interesting sections at the end of books he considered important. Finally, the Preface mentions that, from footnotes in his own works, it can be seen that the list we have of what he read is incomplete!

See also Reading Gladstone by Ruth Clayton Windscheffel (2008).

>81 treereader: "I’ve not read up on Gladstone’s history yet but I’m quite certain I’ll be far more impressed with his accomplishments as a PM than as an avid reader."

Think again!

With no tv, radio, movies, recordings, the Victorians relied solely on the printed word. It doesn't do to underestimate how seriously some of them took it, and the pursuit of knowledge: https://wordandsilence.com/2019/03/21/the-best-job-application-letter-that-didnt...

Former U.S. President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt is said to have read three or four books per day. He was obviously a skilled speed reader, and I read (slowly) somewhere that he was able to quote passages from books years after he had read them.

>66 Jeremy53: Something in your post just brought this to mind. I'm currently reading A.C. Doyle's The White Company (almost on a par with Ivanhoe btw). There are some historical figures who are characters, including Edward, the Black Prince.
Back when the Folio Society was a membership organization and one had to buy four books a year, I bought some which years later I still haven't read. But there, still on the shelf with spine only a tiny bit sunned was the 1979 The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince which i will now read to complement ACD's historical romance.

>82 boldface:
>74 treereader:

Thanks, Jonathan, for pointing out Gladstone's Diaries and the index volume. I would surely like to browse that list and watching that episode the other day on Antique Roadshow about the visit to the library the curator did mention that when assessing his diary where he meticulously listed what he read it works out to 22,000 books, not that Gladstone said it himself, but that the researches have calculated this number based on all his accumulated reading. That's impressive and I would love to know more.

I do belive that it is possible, if one were to live like the Victorians. And this I mean, cutting out modern tech and distractions. I sometimes think about how much time I spend checking email, social media, and LT, radio and television, Netflix, all that combined and with a look on the iPhone of time used using the phone provides an interesting comparison figure. Let me check a moment. A yes, Screen Time it's called. Daily average: 8 hours, 27 min on the all devices (Most used 4 hrs, 23 min on LT, 3 hrs, 45 on FB, 2 hrs, 39 on eBay etc. Yikes!

I think you have to distinguish between speedreading -- a modern technique developed to extract salient facts from a document without taking in the whole -- and reading fast and fully.
You don't have to go back to the Victorians to find a population with reading as one of its few pastimes. As a war baby whose family wouldn't own a radio -- they made a dreadful racket -- it was reading or nothing for me on rainy days, Sundays and bomb alerts. As a teenager I had no difficulty reading 3 books a day, not because I had a giant brain but because I'd learned young to process information fast. I don't doubt the claims for Gladstone, and expect that he wasn't much of a rarity in his ability.
Incidentally I'm lucky to get through 3 a week these days.

Yes, I think it's consumption in the form what was current entertainment - then it was books, then came radio and computers and now social media and iPhones so people will spend their time on current entertainment or whatever is the fad of the day be it trolley watching on public parks or bird watching on the island of Skye

The Victorians were inexhaustible and Gladstone’s extensive reading is well attested. As Ironjaw and jayked point out, this was an age when there were fewer distractions and reading was the most readily available form of entertainment and knowledge. I suspect many Victorians would put us to shame with their extensive reading. Victorian writers were just as prolific. I’m amazed at the exhaustive labour of Dickens and particularly Trollope in writing so many “doorstop” novels. Trollope managed to turn out 47 long novels, 42 short stories and 5 travel books. And, although there are a few “lemons” in both Dickens and Trollope’s oeuvre (more in Trollope) the quality was, generally, consistently high.

If you add up all the time you spend watching TV, movies, playing video games, listening to the radio, listening to podcasts, or on your phone, that’s thousands of hours a year.

On top of that Gladstone would have had servants to do everything for him, so never did shopping, cleaning or any chores.

Technically he should have been running the country, but that was even less of a full time job than it is now.

I can well believe he read that many books.

Gladstone was an odd figure in many respects. As well as reading prolifically he spent time every day when on his estate chopping trees down with an axe as a form of exercise. Gladstone apparently loved this activity. He also spent time when in London seeking out “fallen women”, apparently to convert them. By 1854 he had spoken with about 90 prostitutes. Draw your own conclusions - but I think Gladstone was actually sincere in this endeavour. It’s remarkable he still found time to read, let alone run an empire.

>91 Quicksilver66: “let alone run an empire”

Yes, true and I agree. All those hours on secondary and tertiary forms of entertainment would add thousands of hours on books and help reduce the TBR pile considerably.

Do you all think as a society we’ve become less informed/educated compared to the Victorians?

>92 ironjaw: Difficult to say, Faisel. Education is obviously more widespread than it was in Victorian Britain so in that respect we are, as a society, better informed. But I have the impression that the average Victorian gentleman was more rigorously and thoroughly educated than many of their counterparts today.

>92 ironjaw: >93 Quicksilver66:
Wider but shallower I think. What I do believe is that the pursuit of a well-rounded education through reading and self-study for it's own sake is generally deemed of lesser importance now than it used to be. I suppose there could be multiple reasons for this, though the main ones are probably the ascent of capitalism promoting over-specialisation amongst the educated and the pursuit of monetary earnings over other forms of wealth, less time due to more distractions, internet allowing easy access to knowledge without effort, more information being generated in days nowadays than in months/years in the past etc etc. It's kind of sad, but I've met so many people in my life who are highly educated (in their fields), excel in their careers, are high earners, have all the outward signs of social status and success...and yet may not know even very basic facts about, say, history. Was it like that in the past? I'm not sure, but my feeling is less so (amongst the educated of course).

This is an old article, but if you haven't read it before it's a good, if rather scary, read. Specifically about what's been happening to our brains in the last couple of decades. It was originally written about the time smart phones were taking off, so if things were bad then they're a heck of a lot worse now.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/...

Btw: before anyone starts shouting, I'm fully aware that the readers of this forum are unlikely to align with the trend :-)

This prompt has been on the back of my mind for the last few days, but I've been waiting to comment directly until I've had a chance to compose my thoughts.

I think it is likely there is some hereditary predilection to the collecting urge. My father definitely had it (pitchers, stamps, science fiction paperbacks, history and politics books, etc.). And I can feel it in myself, at least a little, but I don't particularly like it. In Palahniuk's words: The things you own end up owning you. So I have accumulated guidelines to keep my collection tighter. Here are some of them.

1. Against completionism. No full collections of any publisher. No full collections of any author. Etc. If necessary I will intentionally leave a gap, like that old idea of Persian carpets always including an intentional mistake (I don't know how true that is, but I like the sentiment). Something like a trilogy or single story in multiple volumes is fine, as long as it doesn't feel like completionism, subjectively.


2. Has to be something I can read, want to read, and plan to read (again). If I'm not going to read it in the future, or use it in some way, why bother keeping it? (I know there are reasons, but I like the pragmatic gloss.)


3. I have a few rough foci. Some are broad, but they still help corral my attention. Wisdom literature, the best weird fiction, editions of Paradise Lost, several specific printers, the history of ideas, ...


4. Make a valiant effort to keep the wishlist 10 items or less.

My actual collection is probably around 300 books. My catalog here tells me 155, which is close to accurate for my books at home. Of these, 20 are published by Folio Society, with four more Folios on order from the secondary market at the moment and two on the wishlist. These two are still in print and are unlikely to sell out any time soon so I am waiting hopefully for the summer sale. The 155 figure ignores several shelves in an office not easily accessible at the moment.

I started reading A Gentle Madness recently, which makes the claim that book collecting is the only hobby to have a disease named after it. I am skeptical about whether that is strictly true (though I can't offhand think of a counterexample), but even if it is not strictly true surely it is probably at least loosely true.

>50 ironjaw:
Nevertheless, if you're close to London and space is an issue or as the OP* suggests acquisition disorder (and I hope the OP forgoes my rambles off-topic) is the London Library - a paid service membership - to have access to a behemoth book catalogue.

You don't have to live close to London. The Leeds Library, founded in 1768 and the oldest of its type in the country, is superb. It's enabled me to shed a fairly substantial section of my library, although I doubt it will ever qualify as 'small'. Working on it though!

>96 Willoyd: You don't have to live close to London. The Leeds Library, founded in 1768

And in Newcastle there's the Literary and Philosophical Society - the Lit & Phil - a youngster born in 1793.

>96 Willoyd: "You don't have to live close to London. The Leeds Library, founded in 1768 and the oldest of its type in the country, is superb."

How marvellous! You learn something new everyday. I was unaware of its mere existence.

>95 abysswalker: "No full collections of any author."

I acquired FS editions of all of Trollope's novels and have only read one of them. I hate modern fiction, so if I'm going to read novels (that I haven't already read), I'm running out of alternatives. Thus, I don't regret inviting all the Trollopes into my home. (Dad joke!)

On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of the authors I'm a completionist (or near completionist) about are authors whose books I read voraciously. I can't imagine leaving works by Dostoevsky or Dickens or Austen or George Eliot or C.S. Lewis or (even) Peter Longerich or Simon Schama unacquired and therefore unread just to curb my overall book-buying.

>99 cpg: oh yeah I'm not at all suggesting anyone else should follow my lead here. I realize my approach would be a silly constraint for many people.

I do think it is worth noting that one doesn't need to buy a book, granting it semi-perpetual claim on limited real estate, not to mention the drain on financial resources, in order to read it. There are plenty of libraries, both physical and digital. The copy of A Gentle Madness I am currently reading is a pdf, checked out from the lending library functionality at archive.org, which I believe should be available to pretty much everyone in the world, for free, legally. I am reading it on a tablet, which is not as nice as a good physical book, but is probably a nicer reading experience than a cheap mass market paperback. This is a book that I was confident I would enjoy, but probably doesn't deserve physical manifestation in My Collection (the proper noun).

Generally I try to reserve purchasing for something that I have already read in some form, where I have found a copy that I think is worth owning, where said copy is within my current budget, and where said copy is more appealing in the short term compared to something else on my wishlist that is also immediately available (a rather strict set of constraints). Or at least that's what I feel is the personal wise ideal. Being human, I break the rules now and then. I used to buy more books in a mode closer to exploring or grazing, but really you don't need to buy to explore, and now I have a surplus of paperbacks hanging out at the office, waiting to be donated or traded in to a used book store if I ever get around to it. Now I prefer to be more selective.

Doestoevsky is also one of my favorite authors, and though I haven't read everything he has written yet, I have read maybe half of it and will probably read it all at some point. Tangent: somewhat surprisingly, I still haven't found a copy of Crime & Punishment that I find aesthetically appealing. Pointers welcome! (I have already seen the LEC, Heritage, Folio, and Easton editions. I haven't gone on a concerted hunt for this particular book yet, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is some obscure gem, of which I am currently unaware.)

Really, my list of guidelines should also have something about quality of production, decent paper, etc., but I couldn't quite articulate the criterion briefly. I know it when I see it though, most of the time.

I am curious, what is your (perhaps rough) cutoff for "modern" fiction?

>100 abysswalker:

Thanks for the reply.

My feelings about public library books are pretty close to those expressed by ironjaw in #50. I am glad that I have a large university library nearby to use as a showroom to preview potential purchases, though.

As for e-books, I've had a Kindle and a Nook and an iPad, and I find that I still greatly prefer reading things printed on paper.

Unfortunately for me, I probably view "modern fiction" as starting with the Lost Generation, so that's about a 100 years' worth of novels I can't stand! There are exceptions, mostly genre. E.g., Sayers, Christie, Wodehouse, and (go figure!) Raymond Chandler.

>100 abysswalker: here is a new edition of Crime and Punishment from Beehive Books. It’s an interesting design. Definite different from anything else I’ve seen.

https://beehivebooks.com/shop/crime-and-punishment

I almost entirely never buy a paperback, almost regretting immediately the purchase. I would rather buy it on the Kindle but I guess my thoughts wander to the tatty paper and subpar production that I just can't enjoy it. I entirely agree with >101 cpg: that I would greatly prefer to reading it on printed paper but just can't borrow from a public library anymore.

>69 Bob_Reader:

Hey Bob! I have just a cheap Walmart tall bookshelf. I need to get something nicer for sure. I have other small collections but one thing that looks great on the shelf that both kids and adults are interested in are my kaleidoscopes. I have some very nice ones that are next to the books! The more you get into kaleidoscopes, you learn that there are a wide variety of types. Even just one nice one would get your shelf a lot of attention. If you want some recommendations, let me know and I can get specific suggestions for you. Two of my favorite kaleidoscope artists are Roy Cohen who is from Israel and sells a TON on Etsy. They average at about $100 each. I also love David Sugich’s Novascopes but they are quite pricey (start around $250) and require a flashlight to really bring out the best in them.

Etsy shop:


https://www.etsy.com/shop/royskaleidoscopes?ref=simple-shop-header-name&list...

YouTube video of one of David’s scopes:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty7vgIFx-74

I was also into strategy board gaming for a long time so I have some nice hobby gamer games on the shelf too that look good, I think.