Shelfie Tuesday

 

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Books: Objects of Art vs. Reading Material

While out on an errand a couple of days ago, I made another quick stop at my local Half-Price Books. As a buyer, I've always appreciated the diverse offerings of Half-Price Books but, as a seller, there's no way I'm going to let them rip me off ever again. Anyway, it was only my third visit (second to this store) since early March - and I only allowed myself a window of 15-20 minutes inside while avoiding people as much as possible.

My desire to avoid other customers ended up with me spending more time than usual in the "nostalgia" section of the bookstore. That section is generally filled with over-priced and worn out books from the fifties and sixties, but it also includes a lot of special editions that are printed especially for collectors. Stuff from publishers like the Folio Society, The Franklin Library, Easton Press, etc. Some of the books are bound in leather, some come in slipcases, and most of them include some really wonderful illustrations on high-quality paper. They are, in fact, rather beautiful, little pieces of art.

And that leads me to my question. Do book lovers buy these limited editions only of the books they've read and admire or do they buy them more as collectible art objects? These books are generally pretty expensive, especially the ones that are signed by authors and illustrators. They can go for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each, especially when word gets out that a particular edition is almost sold out. 

As for myself, partially because my available shelf space is nil, I can't imagine buying a book I already know deep down in my heart I won't be reading - or at least aspiring to read. But out of curiosity, I recently joined a Facebook group called "Fans of the Folio Society" because the pictures being posted there are so beautiful. The group is extremely active and friendly, and I've really enjoyed my two weeks there looking at the pictures and learning about the books and the mindset of those who love them so much. 

I even came home with my first Folio Society book, one appropriately enough titled First Folio. It is a collection of the forwards to 15 of the First Folio books published in the 2000s, and a few of the forwards are written by favorites of mine such as Colm Tóibín, A.S. Byatt, Peter Ackroyd, Jonathan Coe, and Julian Barnes.It is my understanding from the group I mentioned that the book was a Folio Society giveaway to subscribers back in 2008 when it was published. And, believe it or not, I enjoy reading book forwards and never skip over them, so I do "aspire" to read this one someday. (And it helped that it only cost five dollars.)

I'm not exactly hooked on the idea of collecting this type of book, but I'm intrigued enough to consider adding a few, especially if I can find them in used-book bookstores. I own three others of the type, all three having been signed (Margaret Atwood, E.L. Doctorow, and William Styron), already and I find something especially nice about handling such high quality books every once in a while. But every one of these I would place on a shelf would mean another book being placed out of sight, and I struggle with that enough already.

So how about it? Do you collect books as objects, pieces of art, or only as reading material? 

Still on the Shelf

One of the very few benefits stemming from all the Covid-19 downtime I'm experiencing these days is the opportunity to study my home library at my leisure. One of the volumes that hollered for attention this afternoon is this 1867 edition of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. 

I remember buying this one sometime in the mid-eighties along with similar volumes of David Copperfield and Our Mutual Friend. Because all three volumes were published in 1867, I am assuming they were part of a larger set, but these are the only three titles I've ever seen. As indicated inside each of the three little books, I paid a whopping $10 for each of them. 

All three of the books are signed and dated by their original owner, a lady with wonderful handwriting by the name of Hattie M. Barnes.

As shown on the title page, the set was produced by Boston publisher  Ticknor and Fields.

The books all contain numerous "original illustrations" that are still covered by the little tissue paper inserts that have nicely preserved them for the last 153 years.

Despite how proud Hattie M. Barnes must have been to own the books, I hope that she had the excellent eyesight required to read the double-columned pages of small type contained in them - of which there are 480 in this volume. 

(Click on the photos for larger images.)

Straight from My Bookshelves: Feet, Trains, Boats, and Automobiles

Some of the books on my bookshelves have been there so long now that they have just become part of my everyday background. I'm so used to seeing them there that I don't actually see them anymore. But even though I know that I'm unlikely to read most of them ever again, I also know that I will not part with them until the day that becomes absolutely necessary. 

One particular section of my smallest bookcase caught my eye this morning. I really enjoy reading books about long journeys, be they accomplished on foot, or by bike, boat, train, or car. I have more than a dozen books of this type - and just handling them today gives me the itch to get back on the road as soon as this virus-thing is finally over.

Here are a few of them: 

This 1988 book is British writer George Meegan's account of what turned into a walk of almost seven years. It started at the southernmost tip of South America in January 1977 and ended on the northernmost shores of Alaska in September 1983. In case you're wondering, that's a total of 19,019 miles. Meegan's Japanese wife joined him for some of the walk - but got pregnant twice along the way and had to go home to Japan.

Another one from 1988 is Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster. This one is usually billed as the author's train ride all the way from the scorching Gobi to "the frozen wastes of Manchuria." Interestingly enough, though, because Theroux did not want to experience jet lag, the trip actually starts on a London train to Mongolia with stops along the way in Paris, Warsaw, and the Soviet Union. This one made me a Paul Theroux fan for life.

This 1983 Paul Theroux book may have been the one that started me acquiring my small collection of "trek books." I actually read this one in 1983 while traveling around the country on a BritRail pass along with my wife. That's probably what made the book so memorable to me, because I have to admit that I tried to read it again a few years later and found it a little too negative for my taste. I may give it a "third try" just to see what kind of reaction I have to it. 

There have been some brilliant road trip books about the U.S., too, and one of my favorites is this 1997 book from Mike Bryan. Personally, my road trips are almost exclusively accomplished via America's backroads. Bryan takes exactly the opposite approach on the road trip he describes here - staying on Interstate Highways the whole time. It didn't convince me to change my trip planning methodology, but it was a fun and insightful read.

Peter Jenkins is best known for some of his own "long walk" books, but this 1995 book in which he travels America's Gulf Coast by boat is one of my favorite's of his (probably because I'm pretty familiar with much of his route). Jenkins started his trip in the Florida Keys and ended it when he reached the Mexican border. Because you can't make that trip without passing through Louisiana and Texas waters, I found this one pretty intriguing. It's fun to see what kind of impression your home area makes on any outsider, but especially an experienced traveler like Jenkins.

It was fun flipping the pages of these books again. And now I wonder how long I can resist re-reading at least a few of them.

Share a Bookshelf Wednesday

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I'm a little bored this morning, and that got me to thinking about one of my favorite things to do...browse bookshelves wherever and whenever I find them. I love watching television interviews of various "talking heads" mainly to freeze-frame them long enough to study the bookshelves behind them. And I love looking at pictures in magazines to do the same because you learn a whole lot about a person by checking out the titles they own and take pride in. Of course, some folks are not above "salting" their shelves in order to portray the precise image they are striving for, so the impression given is not always a true one. But it's still fun to take a look.

In that spirit, I'm sharing three of the thirty-two shelves in my study. If you enjoy browsing them, let me know and I'll share more shelves in a few days. 

There's Still Something in the Water

I wonder what everyone is looking at.

I got to chatting with the guy working the Target book section this afternoon about all the similar book covers I've been noticing and was surprised at how quickly he agreed. Well, after I told him that I had posted a few pictures of the books last week, he got this great idea to display them together. As I was leaving the store, I saw him begin the process of moving all the tags so that they would match the new Mystery & Suspense display he had created. 

And there are more like this...many, many more.

(Click on the image for a larger version.)

Lost in the Stacks

I'm rather honored that Danielle over at A Work in Progress added my bookshelves to her "Lost in the Stacks: Home Edition" feature today.  Danielle's post includes multiple pictures of my books and shelves along with my answers to her questions regarding the shelves and how I handle my book collection.

If you're interested, here is the direct link to A Work in Progress.  I've followed her "Lost in the Stacks" posts for a while now and always find them fun...loving to snoop the book collections of others, as I do.  Too, if you are interested in sharing your own shelves, I imagine that Danielle would like to hear from you.

(Thanks, Danielle, it was fun.)

What Your Bookshelf Says About You

A Portion of the Shelves Devoted to Old Favorites

I've confessed my weakness before for trying to read titles off of the spines of books appearing on bookshelves that just happen to be behind people whose pictures are posted in online newspapers and magazines.  I do the same thing when I spot shelves in Facebook photos or on personal blogs, regardless of why the pictures were posted in the first place.

Many of you have admitted to the same addiction.  Well, good news...now there's a website for people like us.  Peter Knox and Graham Coursey have created Share Your Shelf, a site where people can post pictures of, and describe, the bookshelves in their lives.  Admittedly, while there are definitely some interesting photos there, it is not quite the same as peeking over someone's shoulders who has forgotten exactly what is behind him when his picture is being snapped.  Good stuff, nonetheless, so do take a look.  You might even want to share your own shelves there.

Mostly Joyce Carol Oates and Ruth Rendell, Two Favorites

This is some of what Peter Knox had to say about the website in this September 7 article on The Guardian website:

Only a bookshelf can truly hold a reader's history and future at the same time, while the present is usually found in a book bag or on a nightstand nearby. A lifelong reader myself, I've always had an obsession withseeing a person's bookshelf, to get a sense of what they've brought inside their home and their head. Bookshelves are universal in that almost everyone has one, and unique in that no two collections are the same. They reflect much more than just the book-buying habits of their owner. Titles are easy to acquire and even easier to sell off or leave behind, so if it's worthy of your shelf space, I want to know why.

[...]

And a Wide Shot Catching Most of One Wall

A bookshelf's organisation, or lack thereof, can show that practicality and discoverability is the priority when shelved alphabetically by author (as is the traditional way). But if it's arranged by colour or trim size of the book spines, the owner obviously prizes appearance and display above finding the right title quickly. More likely the shelf is representative of how the reader sees their own collection: frequent favourites at eye level,grouped together according to genre/topic/theme and other commonalities.  

The article concludes with Knox's personal tips on organizing bookshelves.  Over the years, I learned his tip on having "a growth strategy" the hard way...several different times, in fact.  Unfortunately (or, perhaps, that should be fortunately), I have again reached the point where adding a new book to the shelves almost certainly means removing another one first.  I suppose that's the best way of ensuring that my shelves reflect my  reading taste most accurately - but it does make for some painful decisions.

(Feel free to snoop and comment.  Just click on the pictures to see them full-sized.)