Month: July 2009

Why People Collect Books

This is a reprint of a blog post by Daniel Krots that was printed in the Carrol County news and is reprinted here with his permission. I think he writes a fine, thoughtful article. http://www.carrollconews.com/blogs/1250

There is no right or wrong way to buy books if the aim is the simple pleasure of reading. And since fewer than half of all Americans read a book once they graduate from high school, God bless that exceptional person for being a reader. But collecting books versus just buying and reading books is an activity that requires organization, purpose, and planning. Starting questions that collectors must ask are, "What am I collecting, and for what reasons?"

A few people indiscriminately collect "old" books as investments because they intend to resell them some day. That can be a disappointing strategy if profit is the goal because the age of a book often has very little to do with its value. Book dealers, collectors, and librarians, however, do use some broad time spans to establish dates of books with likely importance and value: e.g., all books printed before 1501, English books printed before 1641, books printed in the Americas before 1801 and books printed west of the Mississippi before 1850. Yet, even these dates are rough guidelines at best and are always subject to the overriding factors of intrinsic importance, condition, and demand.

"Intrinsic" importance really has to do with what is important to the collector himself. For example, I collect books written by Larry McMurtry. I suppose I have several copies of everything he has written, yet only a first edition, first printing Lonesome Dove--with a specific (and single) typographical error--is really worth much, and then only about $100. Still, there is something about McMurtry's style that I find truthful, lyrical, and elegant in a laconic way. I collect him because I like the writing.

Another collector is the "accidental" collector who begins reading someone like Sue Grafton and her "alphabet" series of mysteries. One day the reader notices that she has "A" is for Arson and "C" is for Crime but is missing "B" is for Burglar. Suddenly the reader has a mission. And, since Grafton is up to "S" is for Silence, we can only assume that our accidental collector will one day own all 24 Grafton Titles.

Some books are always in demand by collectors. These include early editions of novels by the trinity of American literature, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway (Faulkgeraldway in book-speak). There are also books that represent a transition point in literature such as Ulysses by James Joyce, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, or On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Certain books by these writers can be worth as much as two or three thousand dollars--or more.

Other collectors are people who are only secondarily interested in books, but who are interested in a particular subject such as the Civil War, certain makes of cars, or birdhouses, and on and on. No matter how esoteric or narrow an interest may be, a writer--and maybe several hundred writers--have written books about it. "Of the making of books there is no end" and thank goodness, for otherwise there would be no occupation for booksellers like me, or for librarians, writers, and publishers.

A lot of young people (and some not so young) have started collecting Harry Potter books. While I can't argue the literary merits of Rowling's oeuvre--I wasn't able to finish the first of her novels--I am quite certain that first editions/first printings of her books, especially UK editions, are going to be worth some serious money. I am always happy when I find one at garage sales, or in a jumble shop somewhere.

Conversely, Stephanie Meyer's vampire books, among them Twilight, as an example, will never be worth much, if only because the publisher printed about a zillion first editions/first printings on relatively cheap paper. The abject silliness of a book rarely enters into a bookseller's assessment of its future valuation since lots of profoundly goofy books are highly collectible. In Meyer's case, however, production factors plus stupid equal ho hum.

Books written by people who have never actually read a book--so called public intellectuals like Al Franken and Michael Moore on the political left and Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on the right--aren't worth any money at all less than 30 days after publication, and are functional doorstops by day 31. These "writers" are never collectible in the way that genuine public intellectuals, such as Ambrose Bierce, William F. Buckley, G.K. Chesterton, H.L. Mencken, and Mr. Dooley will always be.

Good bookstores are characterized by the number of informal collections it has amassed, and which are interspersed among the general run of books. Because I love Graham Greene, Stanley Elkin, Harry Crews, and Hillarie Belloc, to name just a few, I always have several of their books on the shelves--and they stay there because these writers are simply out of fashion. Even though they probably will never sell, I can't resist buying even more copies. If you find yourself in the same fix it is safe to say that you are a collector.

If you are interested in collecting books you should stop in and have a conversation with an independent bookseller. She or he will be very glad to help you get started on your collection--especially if you want to start in their shop!

Who am I and what do I know about book collecting?

james_russell_lowellEleanor Roosevelt

I am Debra Harrison, a lifelong avid reader and lover of books. I had always dreamed of being able to retire with a personal library. It is an old fashioned notion in a country where one half of the high school graduates never read another book after they leave high school. As I passed my 50th birthday, I started to realize that I should get cracking on that long time dream if I wanted to see it come true. My goal was to have a home full of books - books I had read and loved enough to want to reread and books new to me waiting to be read.

My view of reading is best summed up in the following quote: "It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." ~Oscar Wilde and my view of libraries (both personal and public) in this quotation, "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." ~ Jorge Luis Borges.

I started out at local used bookstores... just picking up whatever interested me. In one shop, I picked up a book on FDR (I have always been a big fan of Eleanor). As I stepped inside my home, I immediately starting looking through my treasure and a piece of paper fell onto the floor. As I retrieved it, I discovered it was a note from Eleanor Roosevelt to her cousin Alice telling her to enjoy the book! I was delighted. I started researching everything I could about Eleanor, Alice and even found out the name of the artist who had created the notecard the note was written on. He and Eleanor wrote a children's book together. With a bit of luck and perseverence, I was able to get a pristine copy of that book, Christmas : A Story by Eleanor Roosevelt, Fritz Kredel (Illustrator) ...

On another occassion, I picked up a copy of a book by James Russell Lowell - a person of interest for me for a long time. Inside that book is a handwritten poem from James Russell Lowell to Oliver Wendell Holmes on the occassion of his eightieth birthday. I found my luck to be extraordinary. I was now in possession of an (I am sure) unpublished poem of Mr. Lowell's in honor of none other than Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Needless to say, I continued to haunt used bookshops for treasure and discovered Ebay and American Book Exchange. I started collecting some of my favorite authors: Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, William Styron, Pat Conroy, Stephen King - all books (mostly first or fine bound editions) signed by the author. I was in heaven. I consider my collection to be quite remarkable - What collector doesn't.

There was a lot to learn: how to determine first editions, where to find reliable signatures to verify (to TRY to verify) authenticity. This issue was greatly alleviated with the purchase of special editions and fine bound, special editions. My library is growing (along with my credit card balance). I discover I can buy lovely leather bound books by Easton Press or Franklin Press of not only signed books but wonderful classic books at very attractive prices, I have a leather bound copy of The Glass Managerie, Gone With The Wind, the entire set of F.Scott Fitzgerald, the 3 volume set of science fiction's Astounding Stories and many more...

I had already been a breast cancer survivor and now was diagnosed with 2 additional cancers, not related to the breast cancer or to each other. More chemo, bald again - But by now unable to work. I am book rich but cash poor and there is still the darn credit card bill to worry about. My response to that issue is this website. I will be listing books from my collection for sale here along with information for the collector. Information I would have been thrilled to know about when I first began collecting.

Some of it may seem elementry for some of you, dear readers, but bear with me. I hope to make this a resource for a wide variety of collectors. Hopefully, no matter what your area of book collecting, you will find information here... So come back... Come often... And Enjoy!

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ABE The Place for Rare and Signed Books

Author:

Title:



Keyword:


 First Edition
 Signed
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Amazon Deletes Orwell from Buyer's Kindles!

In a move evoking George Orwell's 1984, Amazon used its computer system to enter the Kindle devices of customers who had purchased George Orwell's books and summarily deleted them from the devices and issued refunds for the purchase price. This "Big Brother" move was the result of Amazon discovering it was sold the books by a seller who did not have the rights to sell. The copyright for Orwell's books runs out in the United States in 2044. The copyright has already expired in other countries like Canada, Australia and Russia where websites give the books away at no charge. 

The New York Times, on July, 17, 2009,  quoted an Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, who said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.

Customers were outraged by the action. A high school student writing a report on Orwell's 1984 for class says that his copy of the book along with all his notes suddenly disappeared from his Kindle.

Amazon has said it will handle other such situations differently in the future.

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