Maybe I'm the only person who loves collecting books more than actually reading them. 😂

Don't get me wrong, I really love reading, but the feeling of collecting books is a completely different kind of happiness.

I don't know why, but imagine someone coming home after a terrible day at work. On the way, they suddenly notice the moon, stop for a moment, and just look at it. That little moment makes everything feel better.

That's exactly how I feel when I look at my books.

Sometimes I just sit near my bookshelf, look at the old books I've already read, open them, smell their pages, and remember the time I spent reading them. That feeling is unbelievable.

Maybe it's every book lover's story, or maybe it's just mine.

Does anyone else feel this way? I'd really love to hear about your experience with collecting books.

Hey book collectors!
I’m looking for suggestions on how to safely store a collection of books for approximately 2–3 years.

The books are a mix of novels and art books, including some larger hardcover books. The photos show roughly half of the collection.

They’ll be kept in a climate-controlled storage unit, and none are particularly valuable or rare. I’m mainly concerned about preventing moisture damage, warping, or other deterioration while they’re in storage.

Suggestions for a particular type of storage container?
Are there particular ways I should pack or stack them?
I’d appreciate any advice from people who have stored books long-term and had good (or bad) experiences.

Thanks a lot!!

In honor of the publication of his 15th Hap and Leonard novel, here is my Joe Lansdale collection, filling 2 1/2 shelves.

I went to my local Comic con this past weekend and picked up some books $.50 each. If you have any information on them Feel free to leave it in the comments. I just picked them up because they were pretty cool covers.

After 15 days of fighting with the last-mile delivery company that couldn't manage to deliver my package, I finally received my latest purchase: this first printing of The Double Helix in quite good condition. I'm still processing the fact that I paid 20 bucks + 20 extra bucks for shipping to Europe.

My wife was gifted a “first edition” of Salem’s Lot by my mom. The listing on ebay says “Salem's Lot by Stephen King, Ist Edition, Gutter Code Y38, HC DJ”

When we got the book home we found none of the indicators that it was a first edition. I’ve contacted the seller and they’ve explained to me that it IS a first edition, just not the first printing…. To me, then it isn’t a first edition. For it to be considered a FIRST EDITION, per King’s website, it would need to meet the following criteria:

https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf

It doesn’t meet any of those qualifications.

Is it dishonest to list a book as a first edition without actually being a first edition? If it’s not a first edition it’s just an early printing at best, and shouldn’t be described and sold as a first edition, right?

A 340-year-old manual for dealing with people, and much of it is still relevant.

This is the first English edition of Baltasar Gracián’s The Courtiers Manual Oracle, or, The Art of Prudence, published in London in 1685.

Gracián was a Spanish Jesuit whose original Oráculo manual appeared in 1647: 300 short maxims about judgement, reputation, self-control, ambition and how to navigate other people without making a complete mess of things.

Some of it reads less like seventeenth-century moral philosophy than slightly ruthless modern career advice.

“Have a special care not to make ostentation of every thing, for you’ll soon come to want admirers.”

“Some new thing is to be kept in store, that we may appear with to morrow.”

And, under “Not to die the death of a Fool”:
“Some die, because they feel, and others live because they feel not.”

Even the first maxim starts with the proposition that it now takes more to make one wise man than it did seven in ancient times. Apparently everyone has always thought they were living through an unusually difficult age.

The book later acquired some formidable admirers — Schopenhauer actually translated it into German.

The binding on this copy has had a fairly hard three centuries, but somehow that seems appropriate for a book about surviving the world.

Rather excited to find this Fighting Fantasy book for £1. It was in the little charity books section of our local supermarket.

Now, it's not worth too much (6th printing or so) but I can't stress how remarkable it is to find one of these books where no one has filled in the character sheet!

I started collecting this English translated series about 2 months ago. Excited by how many I’ve found in that time! All of these come from either book stores, thrift stores, one book fair, one major FB marketplace score, and one free little library (which I frequently donate to). The three I’ve highlighted here are recent acquisitions.

Still looking for my grail: a collection of short stories called “Eye of the Heart”, edited by Barbara Howes.

I recently bought online ASOS after finishing clash. I got this paperback version (pic related). However, it is extremely bad in terms of quality. The book is really small and I have troubles opening it up fully. Also, the pages are extremely thin, almost see through. I returned the book and I am waiting to get my money back. What is the best version or paperback edition of ASOS? I really can't justify spending money on something that has garbage quality

Really excited to read this after I finish The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.

Found in small mountain town in Idaho!

Hey, all.

During the pandemic, I started collecting the books of Frans Masereel, the Belgian woodcut artist. It started with a couple of his wordless novels in 2020 and kept growing until, this September, I had what I believe is comprehensive coverage of his work from 1918 to 1930. That came to 73 pieces in total: his own woodcut novels, French and German novels he illustrated, almanacs, exhibition catalogues, pamphlets, and a good number of periodicals. Most of them came from European rare book dealers, and most are in German or French.

The periodicals were the most interesting part to collect. A single issue of a 1920s literary magazine is easy to overlook, but Masereel’s woodcuts are scattered all through them, so I ended up chasing runs. I have issues 1 through 6 of Das Inselschiff (Volume 1, 1919–1920), Nos. 2 through 7 of Les Cahiers d’Aujourd’hui (1921), eight issues of Junge Menschen from 1926, and all five volumes of the Masereel-illustrated Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland.

A lot of the pages had yellowed over the last century, so after scanning (some at 600 DPI) I cleaned and rebalanced them so they read clearly. Everything here was published in 1930 or earlier, so it’s all public domain in the US now, and I’ve put every scan on archive.org for anyone to read for free.

A few highlights:

The Sun (1919): https://archive.org/details/img010_202309

25 Images of a Man’s Passion (1918): https://archive.org/details/img018_202310

Story Without Words (1920): https://archive.org/details/Story_Without_Words_by_Frans_Masereel_1920

The City (1925): https://archive.org/details/img046_202310

The Idea (1927): https://archive.org/details/The_Idea_Frans_Masereel

Calamus, Walt Whitman’s poems in Léon Bazalgette’s French version, with 10 woodcut plates: https://archive.org/details/calamus-walt-whitman-frans-masereel

The Work of Frans Masereel (Het werk van Frans Masereel), 1930: https://archive.org/details/het-werk-van-frans-masereel-just-havelaar-1930

The full collection, all 73 pieces: https://archive.org/details/@holdoffhunger

And if you’d rather just flip through the art, here’s a PDF with all 2,089 images, one per page (789mb): https://archive.org/details/frans-masereel-career-1918-1930_pdf

Please enjoy!

It's nice when the complete set shows up all at once in the bargain bin! This is Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet in charming matching Dutton paperbacks. Doubly lucky because paperbacks that the Strand Bookstore is buying now and setting out are being priced at $3, while these came from their warehouse and were acquired long enough ago that they were priced $1 each.

I only see it listed for $500 and up but maybe I just don’t know where to buy books (I’m not a book person)

Is this a natural discoloration of the page or are they spores?

Recently picked John Browne’s A Compleat Treatise of the Muscles, first edition published in London in 1681.

It was written for working surgeons at a time when anatomy was learned through dissection, demonstration and books like this rather than anything resembling a modern medical textbook.

Several of the surviving plates have old repairs and the book has clearly had a fairly hard life, which somehow feels appropriate for something that may well have been used by generations of working surgeons.

Browne himself was a practising surgeon and later worked at St Thomas’ Hospital and for the royal household (Charles II). His book was successful enough to go through numerous later editions, although its history is slightly messy — both the text and illustrations owe rather more to earlier anatomists than Browne was always willing to admit.

Still, there’s something extraordinary about handling a book that was teaching human anatomy nearly 350 years ago. The engravings are equal parts beautiful and unsettling.

I like to find books that stay identical or exactly the same as the first edition. That makes older books harder to find as revisions and edits take place. I've seen the PDFs that say they have the complete set but I like physical books and they have to be hardcover. Paperbacks are disgusting to me as they can easily be damaged (would love perfect binding). I've seen some sites say the total page count was around 4,100 pages or so for all 7 volumes and when I look on everyman's library, they only list 4 volumes. I want to read these books.

Edit: Page count is 4,215

Edit: Thank you everyone! I have received so many suggestions and I think I have made my decision. I need to save up for most of the suggestions. Will post a photo when I have at least one.

I have a few books I'm planning to listing for purchase and some of them are signed but that are personalized. If you were buying would how would you feel about it? Should I mention they are signed but personalized as a disclosure, or just not mention that it's signed.