Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Anne Rice Sells Personal Library

I have to wonder a bit why famed author Anne Rice decided to sell 7,000 books from her personal library. I know that Rice has changed, both as an author and as a person, over the last two decades, so perhaps these are books she is simply no longer interested in having around her.

According to The Portland Business Journal,  Powell's Books, based in Portland, made the purchase:
Powell’s has begun marketing the books online (http://www.powells.com/section/from-the-library-of-anne-rice/) and, after a spell, will distribute the titles to its stores for retail sales. The books will contain a sticker noting that they’re from Rice’s personal collection.

 Rice’s tastes apparently ran from philosophy film history to metaphysics and theology. Many of the books are either signed by or annotated by Rice herself.
The books don't seem to be terribly overpriced (at least that's the case with the ones on the first page of the link, noted above) and it would be interesting to have one of the books Rice annotated.  I might just do a little unplanned shopping in the next day or so.

8 comments:

  1. thank you sam,,I am buying some,,even the sticker of hers is worth the price...I got the civil war one with your forefathers in it.

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  2. I had no room for the books. They came out of my libraries in New Orleans in three different houses. I now live in one house, and the books has been in storage for five years. The house is which I live is filled with thousands of books that I do use all the time. They weren't sold. The books sold included many duplicate copies of books I loved, duplicates bought for apts in New York and Florida, during my high earning years.
    I'm one person in a smaller house now, and downsizing even more.

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  3. Mark, that's a great book...one of the most readable overall Civil War histories I've ever read.

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  4. Ms. Rice, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question. I am a great admirer of large personal libraries and I always wonder what has happened when I hear of someone disposing of something so personal. Your library must have been a massive one and what you are doing makes perfect sense. Mine is much smaller, at less than 2000 total volumes, and I'm already facing a problem with space...choosing which to keep is a chore.

    Thanks again.

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  5. How wonderful that Ms. Rice herself was able to answer the question. I'm sure she has plenty of books around even after giving these up. I divested myself of my library a few years ago for various reasons and am just starting to rebuild it again now.

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  6. It was gracious of her to respond, Kathleen. After all, this is really none of my business. :-)

    But, as a book person, I was really itching to know what was going on.

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  7. How cool to have Anne Rice stop by.

    I would be interested in a personally annotated copy myself. I may have to take a look at Powell's site.

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  8. That was a nice surprise, for sure, C.B. Let me know if you find something over at Powell's.

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