In our daily trolling for quality links to add to this blog's massive lists of bookish resources, we came across a post that struck a particularly resonant note. In a world of constant change and ever shorter attention spans, it addresses directly the question of why slow down and gather together a bunch of books:
"Although we are in the minority as regards the general population, there are still a great many of us. You might not think of yourselves as collectors, but you carry the virus. It may be latent, but be warned, it is chronic. There is no cure. The good news is that this disease, book collecting, gives pleasure and adds dimension to your life.
Those of us in the second group add another dimension, an aesthetic one, to our appreciation of books. We see books as physical objects of beauty and romance. While many of us do not necessarily define ourselves as book collectors, we love the look and feel of our books. Even if some of us do not understand first edition collecting, we have a shelf of treasured books, or even a library full of them.
We tend to take care of our books in the same way we care for the other valuable objects we own, like paintings or posters. We see our collections as extensions of our interests, perhaps as a record of our intellectual and artistic experiences. Something about having a book on the shelf gives pleasure; owning books enriches our lives.
Since collectors value books as beautiful objects, the books’ condition is important. A lovely copy is more appealing than one that has been used and abused. One of our favorite book collectors says that she can read any book from cover to cover without leaving any evidence of having done so. While there are not many of us who can do this, all collectors take care with their books. Beginners may write their names in their books, but they would never purposely deface them, any more than they would carve graffiti into a sculpture or draw a moustache on a face in a painting.
For a collector, a book’s edition is likely to be even more important than its condition. A Hemingway may always be a Hemingway, but a first edition is a world apart from a cheap paperback reading copy. There may have been a million copies of The Sun Also Rises printed over the years in all editions, but there were only 5,090 copies in the first edition. Only a few exist, fewer still in their original dust wrappers. There will never be any more copies of the first edition.
The underlying reason to collect books lies in the duality of the experience. Not only do collectors take pleasure from the intellectual content of their books, but they also enjoy the process of assembling their collections. At its most fundamental level, book collecting is an extension of the hunting-and-gathering instinct that has fired mankind’s progress from prehistory. The thrill involved in finding a beautiful first edition is palpable, even for those of us who have been involved in the chase for many years."
To read this post in its entirety, go to the right hand column under Passions & Perils and click on Firsts....
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