1booksforreading
Hello everyone!
I was asked, and agreed, to administer this group. As a member of several forums on LT, I am wondering about how we would define our group here. What makes us different from Fine Press Forum, for example, or from George Macy Devotees group, etc.?
It feels that the challenge with “Book Collectors” group is that the focus might be too broad or general. Maybe people are already discussing what they want in other groups and do not need to do it here?
Or is it an advantage that we are not limited to a specific narrow topic?
Please, let’s hear your thoughts about what you all feel this group is about and what discussions here might be unique for this forum. I will try to incorporate your thoughts into description of our group, and, for us, it might be helpful to know, too, what we like sharing here.
I was asked, and agreed, to administer this group. As a member of several forums on LT, I am wondering about how we would define our group here. What makes us different from Fine Press Forum, for example, or from George Macy Devotees group, etc.?
It feels that the challenge with “Book Collectors” group is that the focus might be too broad or general. Maybe people are already discussing what they want in other groups and do not need to do it here?
Or is it an advantage that we are not limited to a specific narrow topic?
Please, let’s hear your thoughts about what you all feel this group is about and what discussions here might be unique for this forum. I will try to incorporate your thoughts into description of our group, and, for us, it might be helpful to know, too, what we like sharing here.
2wcarter
I think it is for the discussion of interesting, quality books that are not fine press, Folio Society, LEC etc. but still desirable and of interest to collectors. Publishers like Taschen, Phaidon and Thames & Hudson spring to mind.
3Crypto-Willobie
And themed collections?
I collect James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, James Stephens and other early fantasy.
I also 'collect' academic Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama. This may not seems 'collectible' but many of my items are signed (found them that way, or got them signed) or inscribed.
And other minor collections...
I collect James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, James Stephens and other early fantasy.
I also 'collect' academic Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama. This may not seems 'collectible' but many of my items are signed (found them that way, or got them signed) or inscribed.
And other minor collections...
4bacchus.
On top of >2 wcarter: suggestions, first editions, old book collections, discussions around archiving, taking care and storing one's collection and lots (and lots) of shelfies.
>3 Crypto-Willobie: I'd personally love to see that early fantasy collection.
I believe the term "collectible" should be left subjective.
>3 Crypto-Willobie: I'd personally love to see that early fantasy collection.
I believe the term "collectible" should be left subjective.
5jhicks62
I agree that "collectable" should be subjective.
It'll be fun to see how people define themselves and their collections!
It'll be fun to see how people define themselves and their collections!
6Keeline
I tell people that I collect books because I can't rely on libraries near me getting or retaining the books that interest me. This has resulted in a 9,000+ book collection. After a while it becomes a habit of getting the books I want rather than traveling to a library or waiting for ILL or worrying about returning it on their schedule.
Sometimes I have heard the definition of "antiquarian books" as ones that are sold by antiquarian booksellers. It is circular, yes. In a similar way, collectible books are those which people collect.
I do think there is a distinction between a "collection" and an "accumulation" of books that might be someone's TBR ("to be read") stack. A collection has goals and a direction. It is curated, with some planning.
Using the LT "collection" field, I have several major categories of books. Some are subsets of others because of the nature of the books I collect. Some books fit in multiple collections. The LT system makes it possible to treat these as a group for viewing and reporting purposes. Then I can use "tags" for additional filtering possibilities.
Is this the kind of discussion desired for this thread?
James
Sometimes I have heard the definition of "antiquarian books" as ones that are sold by antiquarian booksellers. It is circular, yes. In a similar way, collectible books are those which people collect.
I do think there is a distinction between a "collection" and an "accumulation" of books that might be someone's TBR ("to be read") stack. A collection has goals and a direction. It is curated, with some planning.
Using the LT "collection" field, I have several major categories of books. Some are subsets of others because of the nature of the books I collect. Some books fit in multiple collections. The LT system makes it possible to treat these as a group for viewing and reporting purposes. Then I can use "tags" for additional filtering possibilities.
Is this the kind of discussion desired for this thread?
James
7booksforreading
>6 Keeline:
"Is this the kind of discussion desired for this thread?"
Yes. At the risk of sounding stupid, I am just trying to understand what interests fellow members like sharing and discussing in this particular group and not in others.
Thank you all for your comments!
"Is this the kind of discussion desired for this thread?"
Yes. At the risk of sounding stupid, I am just trying to understand what interests fellow members like sharing and discussing in this particular group and not in others.
Thank you all for your comments!
8Glacierman
>6 Keeline: "I do think there is a distinction between a "collection" and an "accumulation" of books that might be someone's TBR ("to be read") stack. A collection has goals and a direction. It is curated, with some planning."
Dead on!
(Emphasis mine)
Dead on!
(Emphasis mine)
9rocketjk
>6 Keeline: & >8 Glacierman: "an accumulation of books"
Is this like a murder of crows? Ha! I crack myself up.
But generally, I would agree that there is a difference between accumulating books (or, to put it another way, creating a personal library) and keeping an eye out for or even going in particular search of particular kinds of books, whether one takes that to mean books from particular publishers or authors or those published by particular companies or in particular eras. I have several such collections: a collection of books about baseball, books about American history, books about military history, books by Joseph Conrad, and books published by Modern Library. I also have a collection of short story anthologies. Some folks might say that only the Modern Library and Joseph Conrad sets are actually "collections" and the others are simply sections in my personal library. When I go into antique stores, for the most part the only thing I look for are whatever books might be on offer. I look for older books for sale at reasonable prices that I've never heard of on topics, whether fiction or non-fiction, that look interesting to me. Does that make me a collector of such books?
Is this like a murder of crows? Ha! I crack myself up.
But generally, I would agree that there is a difference between accumulating books (or, to put it another way, creating a personal library) and keeping an eye out for or even going in particular search of particular kinds of books, whether one takes that to mean books from particular publishers or authors or those published by particular companies or in particular eras. I have several such collections: a collection of books about baseball, books about American history, books about military history, books by Joseph Conrad, and books published by Modern Library. I also have a collection of short story anthologies. Some folks might say that only the Modern Library and Joseph Conrad sets are actually "collections" and the others are simply sections in my personal library. When I go into antique stores, for the most part the only thing I look for are whatever books might be on offer. I look for older books for sale at reasonable prices that I've never heard of on topics, whether fiction or non-fiction, that look interesting to me. Does that make me a collector of such books?
10booksforreading
I have updated the group's description based on your input (and I copied partial sentences from a few of your posts above - I hope that it is OK). Please let me know if you feel that the description seems accurate for this group. If you have suggestions for changes or additions, please let me know also.
11Keeline
In order to see how the description was presented, I ended up on the page that lists the post subject lines going back to 2007 or so. Some of them I felt an urge to add too but it seems wrong to bring back a thread that might be 15 years old.
James
James
12rocketjk
>11 Keeline: "In order to see how the description was presented, I ended up on the page that lists the post subject lines going back to 2007 or so. Some of them I felt an urge to add too but it seems wrong to bring back a thread that might be 15 years old."
I don't see why it would be wrong. I say go for it if you feel that urge. Maybe folks who weren't around here for the original posts and conversations can get some insight and/or enjoy the revitalized conversations.
I don't see why it would be wrong. I say go for it if you feel that urge. Maybe folks who weren't around here for the original posts and conversations can get some insight and/or enjoy the revitalized conversations.
13Crypto-Willobie
Agreed. Old threads often have good material in them that not everyone has seen.
14Bernarrd
I have been collecting books since around 1974 or 1975, but my earliest collecting was mainly paperbacks. I started seriously collecting around 1979 or 1980, not long after I finished college, when I bought a First American Edition of The Hobbit. I collect early Fantasy titles in many different types. I originally started collecting J. R. R. Tolkien when I was fairly young, and then branched out into the works of Lord Dunsany, William Morris (fantasy works) and other early fantasy writers. Over the years my collection has expanded into Juvenile Fantasy as I see how many titles written for a younger audience, later became an influence on the output of many authors. I like to explore little known works of Juvenile Fantasy to see if I can find works that were an influencing factor. And over the years my interests have expanded into other areas of the Fantasy field like Lost Race, early Werewolf novels, Occult Detectives, Ghost Stories, and other areas of speculative literature. I have over the years read quite a few bad books looking for a few good titles that have become relatively forgotten over the years.
A few years ago I started searching for works published by F. Tennyson Neely that could be considered Fantasy. He did publish a few great Fantasy pieces, but he also published a number of other titles with just some Fantasy elements. Sometimes it can be hard to track down the titles that he published that are actual Fantasies. And other titles that are mentioned as having Fantasy content really have very little in them to support that claim. I have at least most of the Neely titles that I own listed in my Library Thing catalog. But not all of those titles can be considered fantasy.
I also have a fairly large collection of Children’s books and juveniles besides my Juvenile Fantasy collection. I own a number of classics, plus a number of the works of better illustrators. I have collected Howard Pyle, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Gustaf Tenggren, W. Heath Robinson, Willy Pogany, Johnny Gruelle, Harry Rountree and a number of others. I also enjoy juvenile adventure titles like the Swallows and Amazon series by Arthur Ransome. Anything that could be called kids having adventures. I also have small groups of books bought basically to research titles that can be hard to identify in a First Edition. I can’t say if much will ever come from this research or not. I have recently been buying the Babar books by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff in the hope of identifying the First American Editions of these titles which were not marked in any special way by the publisher Random House. The earliest Babar titles published by Harrison Smith & Robert Haas are not much of a problem.
And I also have a small collection of books published locally or regionally that cross my fields of interest. These books are basically Children’s books, Fantasy, and in some cases Mystery. So even though I call this my collection, I would guess it is actually several collections in one, and at least a part of my collection is a working collection. And while many collectors insist on buying books in only Very Good to Fine condition, I am willing to make exceptions, condition wise, for books that I consider important. Like a book signed as the “First Copy” by the author to his wife. In some cases these books are in less than stellar condition, but I think they are important and should still be considered collectible. And with older Children’s and Fantasy titles sometimes you are lucky just to find a copy of a certain title, so as long as the condition is reasonable it fills a void, at least until a better condition copy can be found. My 40 plus years of collecting have taught me there are times when I should not be so particular about the condition of some books.
A few years ago I started searching for works published by F. Tennyson Neely that could be considered Fantasy. He did publish a few great Fantasy pieces, but he also published a number of other titles with just some Fantasy elements. Sometimes it can be hard to track down the titles that he published that are actual Fantasies. And other titles that are mentioned as having Fantasy content really have very little in them to support that claim. I have at least most of the Neely titles that I own listed in my Library Thing catalog. But not all of those titles can be considered fantasy.
I also have a fairly large collection of Children’s books and juveniles besides my Juvenile Fantasy collection. I own a number of classics, plus a number of the works of better illustrators. I have collected Howard Pyle, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Gustaf Tenggren, W. Heath Robinson, Willy Pogany, Johnny Gruelle, Harry Rountree and a number of others. I also enjoy juvenile adventure titles like the Swallows and Amazon series by Arthur Ransome. Anything that could be called kids having adventures. I also have small groups of books bought basically to research titles that can be hard to identify in a First Edition. I can’t say if much will ever come from this research or not. I have recently been buying the Babar books by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff in the hope of identifying the First American Editions of these titles which were not marked in any special way by the publisher Random House. The earliest Babar titles published by Harrison Smith & Robert Haas are not much of a problem.
And I also have a small collection of books published locally or regionally that cross my fields of interest. These books are basically Children’s books, Fantasy, and in some cases Mystery. So even though I call this my collection, I would guess it is actually several collections in one, and at least a part of my collection is a working collection. And while many collectors insist on buying books in only Very Good to Fine condition, I am willing to make exceptions, condition wise, for books that I consider important. Like a book signed as the “First Copy” by the author to his wife. In some cases these books are in less than stellar condition, but I think they are important and should still be considered collectible. And with older Children’s and Fantasy titles sometimes you are lucky just to find a copy of a certain title, so as long as the condition is reasonable it fills a void, at least until a better condition copy can be found. My 40 plus years of collecting have taught me there are times when I should not be so particular about the condition of some books.
15Crypto-Willobie
I just now encountered this LT wiki. Some of it is relevant to what we are talking about.
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/THE_BOOKS_IN_YOUR_LIFE
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/THE_BOOKS_IN_YOUR_LIFE
16booksforreading
>14 Bernarrd:
Thank you so much for sharing your collecting interests! I personally think that the fields of Fantasy, juvenile adventure, fairy tales, etc. are all interrelated - if one likes one of these fields, the chances are that other similar genres will be to that person's liking.
I am over 50 years old, but still enjoy reading fairy tales (currently going through Calvino's collection of Italian Fairy Tales), and I have always enjoyed reading Fantasy. In the last 30 years or so, I have been going thought a list of "more serious" novels and philosophical works that I do enjoy reading, but recently, inspired by my own children, I do not feel ashamed to return again to a nice healthy dose of Fantasy and Science Fiction works. :)
And mystery books have always been some of my favorite, too.
Thank you so much for sharing your collecting interests! I personally think that the fields of Fantasy, juvenile adventure, fairy tales, etc. are all interrelated - if one likes one of these fields, the chances are that other similar genres will be to that person's liking.
I am over 50 years old, but still enjoy reading fairy tales (currently going through Calvino's collection of Italian Fairy Tales), and I have always enjoyed reading Fantasy. In the last 30 years or so, I have been going thought a list of "more serious" novels and philosophical works that I do enjoy reading, but recently, inspired by my own children, I do not feel ashamed to return again to a nice healthy dose of Fantasy and Science Fiction works. :)
And mystery books have always been some of my favorite, too.
17booksforreading
>15 Crypto-Willobie:
Thank you so much for this link! I was not aware of this resource.
Thank you so much for this link! I was not aware of this resource.
18Crypto-Willobie
There's always new stuff at LT even if it's old stuff...
19SteveJohnson
Aha, so we are wary of the "Accumulatti"!???
I do have several collections of fine press books or the WestVaco American history Christmas editions they did for 50 years. But I also have a decent amount of shelf space devoted to multi-volume sets of author's works, ideally leatherbound, e.g., Dickens or Scott or Prescott or Plutarch. I discovered estate sales in the NYC area many years ago, where 2-3 times a year you will stumble on someone who had a real library of several thousand books on many topics. So sometimes the collections form after the fact after you find things you did not expect to find. My 50-volume set of bound volumes of Harpers magazine (about half of what they published from 1850 until 1900) started off innocently enough as a couple of volumes that had great illustrations and interesting stores. But then I found a few more and a few more and voila, now they are in boxes because we moved and I can't find space for them!
I do have one little collection like that that I'm pleased with: Books/magazines published during WWII, but not directly about the war. One is a calendar published by Tiffany in 1944 (not sure if it was after DDay) with photos of empty streets in Paris, done in a blue duotone. Then there's a 1945 edition of Paris Vogue, the first one they published after liberation, chock full of fullpage ads for the classic Parisian brands, done on a shoestring budget just to show that Paris has alive again. There's a "field guide" to spotting aircraft, both friendly and enemy. And, a Duden-style dictionary from 1943 published in Munich with phrases a German officer might need to know in some 12 languages that just happened to be the countries the Wehrmacht was occupying at that time or hoping to occupy (England). The illustration for an airplane is of a Geman Stuka dive bomber. I also throw in one from WWI of French phrases for an American soldier, including illustrations of their flags and emblems of rank.
I do have several collections of fine press books or the WestVaco American history Christmas editions they did for 50 years. But I also have a decent amount of shelf space devoted to multi-volume sets of author's works, ideally leatherbound, e.g., Dickens or Scott or Prescott or Plutarch. I discovered estate sales in the NYC area many years ago, where 2-3 times a year you will stumble on someone who had a real library of several thousand books on many topics. So sometimes the collections form after the fact after you find things you did not expect to find. My 50-volume set of bound volumes of Harpers magazine (about half of what they published from 1850 until 1900) started off innocently enough as a couple of volumes that had great illustrations and interesting stores. But then I found a few more and a few more and voila, now they are in boxes because we moved and I can't find space for them!
I do have one little collection like that that I'm pleased with: Books/magazines published during WWII, but not directly about the war. One is a calendar published by Tiffany in 1944 (not sure if it was after DDay) with photos of empty streets in Paris, done in a blue duotone. Then there's a 1945 edition of Paris Vogue, the first one they published after liberation, chock full of fullpage ads for the classic Parisian brands, done on a shoestring budget just to show that Paris has alive again. There's a "field guide" to spotting aircraft, both friendly and enemy. And, a Duden-style dictionary from 1943 published in Munich with phrases a German officer might need to know in some 12 languages that just happened to be the countries the Wehrmacht was occupying at that time or hoping to occupy (England). The illustration for an airplane is of a Geman Stuka dive bomber. I also throw in one from WWI of French phrases for an American soldier, including illustrations of their flags and emblems of rank.
20rshart3
Just scanning the thread titles makes me interested! My husband & I live surrounded by books, and one of our favorite pastimes is visiting used bookstores. We are not especially interested in fine books, nor are we completists, though we own a lot of most favorite authors or subjects. Our library is organized by various genres and subgenres. I'm a retired librarian and love organizing and reorganizing books. I can get excited about topics like the pros and cons of illustrations, or weeding and collection development. I would prefer a broader, rather than closely defined, group definition, unless it goes really off the rails (is that a good metaphor for a book group? Maybe "beyond the scope"?)
21rshart3
>8 Glacierman: On the "collection" vs "accumulation" distinction: there's a good point there, but I think it might be stretched in terms of this group. How many people are there who own thousands or even just hundreds of books, who have bought them all randomly? I suspect that such people tend to be buying in categories that interest them most which become -- collections. Of course, we tend to have tsundoku all over the place, too.
Oh, I love this! Let's start a thread on accumulation-of-books-we-haven't-read. :-)
Oh, I love this! Let's start a thread on accumulation-of-books-we-haven't-read. :-)
22rocketjk
>20 rshart3: "unless it goes really off the rails (is that a good metaphor for a book group? Maybe "beyond the scope"?)"
"under the printing press"?
>21 rshart3: "Oh, I love this! Let's start a thread on accumulation-of-books-we-haven't-read. :-)"
I love having a ton of books in the house that I haven't read yet. I enjoy perusing my shelves, speculating on which ones I might choose to read soon. Like many people here, I just love finding interesting books in bookstores and thrift shops and garage sales, etc. I guess that would count as random book buying. What they have in common is that they're of interest to me! :). (See >9 rocketjk: for more details on what I own.) The tension, on the other hand, comes when I've read a book. I hate the idea of simply jettisoning a book once I've read it, even if I don't plan on reading it again. That's unless I didn't like the book, in which case, off to Goodwill it goes. But I like having a collection of books I've already read mixed in harmony with those awaiting my attention.
"under the printing press"?
>21 rshart3: "Oh, I love this! Let's start a thread on accumulation-of-books-we-haven't-read. :-)"
I love having a ton of books in the house that I haven't read yet. I enjoy perusing my shelves, speculating on which ones I might choose to read soon. Like many people here, I just love finding interesting books in bookstores and thrift shops and garage sales, etc. I guess that would count as random book buying. What they have in common is that they're of interest to me! :). (See >9 rocketjk: for more details on what I own.) The tension, on the other hand, comes when I've read a book. I hate the idea of simply jettisoning a book once I've read it, even if I don't plan on reading it again. That's unless I didn't like the book, in which case, off to Goodwill it goes. But I like having a collection of books I've already read mixed in harmony with those awaiting my attention.
23Keeline
Since we are starting to talk about our collections, perhaps I may share some of the items that we have gathered.
When I think of our collections of a little more than 9,000 books, I know some of the major categories. Of course some are subcategories so just looking at the counts on the list of collections is a little confusing. This tree structure (metaphor borrowed from a Linux tool) may help. These are just some of our collections.
Behind me in this photo are Edward Stratemeyer (most of the top 3 shelves) and early Stratemeyer Syndicate series. The short case on the right has Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Dana Girls. The latter 5 Tom Swift series are in a case on the far right. Tom Swift Sr. is in a case out of frame on the left. Other Syndicate series are upstairs, including the Bobbsey Twins. We couldn't fit them all in our living room but we now get to enjoy some of our more important collections for my research work.
James
When I think of our collections of a little more than 9,000 books, I know some of the major categories. Of course some are subcategories so just looking at the counts on the list of collections is a little confusing. This tree structure (metaphor borrowed from a Linux tool) may help. These are just some of our collections.
series books (2,652)Instead of a tree it becomes more like a complicated Venn diagram.
|-- Stratemeyer Syndicate (1,315)
|---- Tom Swift (301)
|---- Hardy Boys (158)
|---- Nancy Drew (136)
|---- Bobbsey Twins (97)
|---- Kay Tracey ()
|---- Dana Girls ()
|-- Stratemeyer (325)
|---- Rover Boys (75)
|-- Montgomery (159)
|-- Trixie Belden (133)
|-- Three Investigators (66)
|-- Oz (23)
+-- Freddy the Pig (12)
mysteries (1,184) -- * some mysteries are also series books
+-- bibliomysteries (221)
fantasy (671)
sci fi (407)
|-- Time Travel (732) -- * not all are classified as sci fi in the catalog or generally
+-- Verne (320) -- * technically not all Verne are sci fi, most are not
illustrated classics (232)
|-- Dent-Dutton (48)
|-- Unicorn Press (42)
|-- Windermere (36)
|-- David McKay (11)
Behind me in this photo are Edward Stratemeyer (most of the top 3 shelves) and early Stratemeyer Syndicate series. The short case on the right has Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Dana Girls. The latter 5 Tom Swift series are in a case on the far right. Tom Swift Sr. is in a case out of frame on the left. Other Syndicate series are upstairs, including the Bobbsey Twins. We couldn't fit them all in our living room but we now get to enjoy some of our more important collections for my research work.
James
24rshart3
>23 Keeline: Beautiful setup, and complete with cat!
25Glacierman
>24 rshart3: Well, yeah. Where there are books, there must be cats!
26booksforreading
>23 Keeline:
Impressive!
And beautiful shelves with books. I love it!
>21 rshart3:
Sounds like a great topic of conversation! Thank you. :) I will start a new topic when I have next few minutes...
I love being surrounded by books and being in places that are full of books, like old cramped bookstores, etc.! Regarding reading... Some time ago, I started a reading list of books I plan to read, and it is getting longer all the time, but my problem is that I get books faster than I can read them. My excuse is that I do not ever purchase books I would not want to read. :)
Impressive!
And beautiful shelves with books. I love it!
>21 rshart3:
Sounds like a great topic of conversation! Thank you. :) I will start a new topic when I have next few minutes...
I love being surrounded by books and being in places that are full of books, like old cramped bookstores, etc.! Regarding reading... Some time ago, I started a reading list of books I plan to read, and it is getting longer all the time, but my problem is that I get books faster than I can read them. My excuse is that I do not ever purchase books I would not want to read. :)
