How to Start Book Collecting as a Hobby

————————————
————————————
Hardcore Literature Lecture Series
————————————
————————————
————————————
0:00 a rare bookstore visit
1:10 my latest first edition
2:20 how to start book collecting
3:00 three prerequisites for collecting
3:20 book collections as investments
4:00 finding your personal passion
4:40 should you collect Shakespeare?
6:20 collecting what you love
7:50 the sport of book collecting
8:20 collecting American dime novels
8:00 stray from the well-beaten path
9:00 learn everything about your subject
9:15 collecting detective fiction
9:45 creating your master list
10:00 go slow and choose first editions
10:50 what makes a collection valuable?
11:43 collecting Everyman's Library
12:40 John Keats book collection
13:23 collecting a book from every year
14:20 collecting original serialised periodicals
15:10 collecting popular fiction and comics
15:40 collecting Victorian yellow-backs
16:20 poetry chapbook collecting
16:41 good collections have a story
16:50 collecting works with patron dedications
17:20 collecting literary forgeries
18:00 collecting hobby books
18:20 collecting multiple translations
19:00 collecting historic translations into English
19:35 collecting significant biographies
19:50 author-specific collections
20:00 collecting Stephen King books
21:59 collecting Harold Bloom books
23:00 collecting contemporary books
24:45 why collect first editions?
26:00 the philosophy of book collecting
26:20 why collect signed editions?
27:00 should you read your rare books?
27:40 collecting as act of love
28:28 what books would you collect?

[williampage]

Hello Benjamin, I am a bookseller and a collector. Just wanted to let you know at one time, before modern printing, 1st editions were valued because the earliest imprint of a press book was considered to be the clearest. Subsequent editions were less sought after as they were more likely to have small imperfections because of the wearing down of the type. This is also true in limited edition press books where each book is numbered. So in a limited edition of 300, number 4 is more sought after than number 267. I am enjoying your videos. Thanks.

[jnc]

Benjamin, this topic reminded me of an early experience that opened my eyes to the world of book collecting on a scale that had been unknown to me. I still find it amusing to recall visiting New York with my parents in late 1986 when I was a teenager because of one notable excursion. I was left alone in my room in our Manhattan hotel on a rainy day that November and wanted to find a "used/rare" bookstore nearby. In very fine print in the yellow pages was some place called H. P. Kraus (that was it, no further description). OK, I thought that this would do because it was so close. I'll just walk over there. The buzzer on the door was the first indication that something was very different about this "bookstore" at 16 E. 46th St. The second was the nonplussed almost baffled expression on the face of the person who answered the door. She (Kit Currie) had the most refined English-British accent I had ever heard in person. “Would you like to see a catalogue?” she asked. “Yes, thank you.” I saw around the room floor-to-ceiling glass bookcases and another younger woman (who I learned was H.P. Kraus’s daughter) at the back of the room. (Thinking-Wow.S__T!, Jay...what have you gotten yourself into??)

I think she (Kit Currie) enjoyed showing catalogues to a lone 16-year-old kid who literally walked in off the street that dreary gray day. This experience was my introduction to Western illuminated manuscripts and incunabula. I could not afford anything, but I later received a copy of Kraus Catalogue 173: The Fifteenth Century.
I think my persistence resulted in my name being placed by Mrs. Folter, HP’s daughter, on their catalogue mailing list until the decision was made to close the 46th St. location about 2002. My last visit there was in 1995. Mrs. Folter graciously arranged for a magnificent copy of the Speculum Doctrinale of Vincentius Bellovacensis [printed in Strasbourg, The R-Printer (Adolf Rusch), before 11 February 1478] to be brought out from the vault ahead of time. I wanted to see the “beautiful original South German monastic binding of blind-stamped pigskin over bevelled wooden boards, panelled with double and triple rules, 5 large chiselled brass bosses on each side, with clasps and brass catches, Ms. Exlibris of the monastery of St. Mang at Füssen with their 15th-century paper title-label and separate shelf-mark on front cover; bookplate of the Starkenstein family of Switzerland.”
We talk of coffee table books, but this superb and massive specimen of late medieval bookmaking was the size of a small coffee table and weighed about as much.
There are few “bookstores” of that ilk left in the world today.
Jay

[rifqah_hanaa]

I have two small collections of non-fiction books that are very dear to me...cookbooks and home decorating books from the 60's and 70's. I feel like a time-traveler as I delve into how people decorated their homes and what they ate. Also, I was born in 1969, so seeing many of the interiors and reading certain recipes brings back wonderful childhood memories. I've even come across recipes in Southern Living cookbooks and realized with a start that it is a dish my mother or grandmother used to make. And cooking from them and eating the results is quite literally the icing on the cake! ;) I also have an interest in collecting first editions of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novels, and Madeline L' Engle's juvenile fiction. I have a copy of her book A Ring of Endless Light signed to me personally and it's one of my most treasured books.

[nomadismileseeker]

I have been binge watching a few of your videos and it has gotten me excited at 45 to start hitting the classics and enjoying the paradise that is reading!

[janedoefamily]

I don't have a very large budget. So, my book " collection" consists of several shelves of books with Thrift Books stickers on their spines. They aren't very handsome looking, but I do love having my own little library from which I can pick out my reading material. I do enjoy seeing other people's antiquarian book collections, though. ☺️

[dfull]

Is it just me? I don’t care as much for the “first edition” type as I do what the edition looks like. For instance, I’d rather have a whole library of Easton press and Franklin library rather than spending hundreds and thousands on rare beat up first editions.

[asher_oak]

Don’t know how I missed this video all week!

I collect children’s collections of fable, fairy tales and/or poetry from the late 19th c to mid 20th c. For me it’s more of a personal endeavor, but I do try to find high quality editions. I’ve chosen this niche because:
1. I have small children and love sharing these classic tales with them, much better than most of the modern twaddle. 2. They remind me of my beloved nana, who had a few collections of nursery rhymes from her childhood in the early 1900’s that I discovered on a high shelf as a teen and fell in love with. 3. The turn of the century was the ‘golden age’ of illustration here in the West, and is absolutely unmatched. Many of these illustrations are found in these children’s classics, and I am a nut for great pen-and-ink illustration.

Great topic, Ben!

[DUFMAN]

I recently started collecting the blue Pelican non-fiction books of the 40's, 50's, 60's that are now of course out of print. I find the subject matter incredibly diverse and interesting, and the aesthetic quite charming. They aren't particularly rare obviously, but it's such a big collection that i won't run out of books to collect for years to come. I have around 10 so far, all purchased for a few dollars each at op-shops and second-hand stores.

[karenbird]

I am a librarian by education. I have had two careers, one as a librarian, the other as a Systems Administrator (UNIX is my second language). I would say over the course of my life, I had acquired 3, 000 books. Six months ago, we moved to a smaller home, about half the size, and I had to literally divest about 75% of my physical books.
I went through a decision process for each book, and although it was difficult, I kept the ones that meant the most: A Riverside Shakespeare, an Edgar Allan Poe, a beautiful new Everyman's Library Edition of the Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope, a 1942 hardback edition of Louise and Aylmer Maude's translation of War and Peace, and a few out of print books. All the rest I gave away, including The Great Books of the Western World that my father gave me when I was four, because I replaced all of them with Kindle books.
The only book I miss is Harold Bloom's The Best Poems of the English Language, but I believe I will be able to replace it with e-books. I gave the book away to a young aspiring poet, so I hope the book will be encouraging.

[jeffborchers]

Hey Ben! Book collecting is one of my favorite things. I have a weird way that I go about it. Estate sales! I collect only classic books. It's hard finding first editions, first printings, but I love getting close. I have found many first editions, with later printings. For me, it's honestly such a joy to pick through estate sale books and get home and start doing the research. I have landed a few 1st printings this way! I will keep the best version of each of my favorite books. Many are not even first editions. Ill keep the oldest printing and best condition title that i find. I will often buy duplicates of the classics I love and take those to the classic book shop in my home town and trade them in for in store credit and grab an old book that ive wanted for my book shelf. I usually only pay about $1-5 per boook. Also, I collect book shelf decorations.

[Karlof]

OMG. Siddharta was recommended to me by one of my classmates in College. I read it that Summer and I have never forgotten the effect it had on me. Really glad to see you love it too.

[spriggansiedeutsch]

A very helpful video! I enjoy collecting copies of books that really thrilled me when I first read them; books that left an impact on me.

[jeff]

This topic makes me think of the film The Ninth Gate where Johnny Depp is hunting down a rare book. Inspiring and excellent as always my friend.

[colinbradbury]

What a great video. I’m a photographer and I collect photography books so yes, collect what you love!

[WhaleMilk]

I have two different niches when it comes to book collecting: I collect early editions of Faulkner Novels (I recently found a first edition of The Mansion for $75 which was such a good find) and I collect major literary works in their original language. I think the great part about this is that I have two different niches, one is much more difficult, and one is much easier, and I can pretty much add to it whenever I like. My Faulkner collection is much more difficult to add to, but is so much more rewarding when I do find and purchase that First Edition I've been clamoring for, but that doesn't mean my world language collection is less valuable. I've always found my world languages collection keeps me in the hobby, because of the fact that it's easy, and if I am feeling like I want to grow my bookshelf, I can find a piece that I want to order in it's original language, and I get that dopamine hit of adding to my collection without going through all that much effort to get one of those books.

I also think there needs to be a sweet spot for having a collection niche. I think Faulkner lands right in there, where he's popular enough where his early editions are in circulation, but not so popular that they are impossible to find or are way out of my price range. He might edge slightly towards the "too difficult to collect to be worth it" side of things because he did not sell well while he was alive, but I think that's the perfect setup for a collection niche that is difficult but also extremely rewarding.

[TheThinkInstitute]

This is helpful. As somewhat of a book collector myself (I'm cataloging my books as I write this), I've found it challenging to narrow down my specific niche.

[tumblyhomecarolinep]

Hello, my husband collects old fishing and sailing books. He has amassed a huge collection including a first edition confessions of a carp fisher by BB. Every book is much loved and reread regularly. The fishing ones are gentle and the sailing ones are adventurous. I don’t really have a particular collection except I love old illustrated books and any book that has a personal message written inside e.g... ‘to Betty on her 21st birthday, love from Aunty Forsythia’. There is no worth in it but I just love thinking about the recipient opening the book and why that book was chosen as a gift.

[UbiquitousBooks]

Definitely people should read the rare books they buy. I can't think of anything more sad than a book's content forever trapped between its covers because its owner is too scared to handle it.

[pamelatarajcak]

My most treasured book, for both sentimental reasons and because it is probably worth something monitarily, is a first American edition of the Jungle Book. Sentimental not because I love Kipling so, but because I inherited it from my uncle. So I'll never get rid of it. I have a tiny antique collection besides, that.

Otherwise, due to spatial reasons I can't really be anything but a magpie and not be overly focused. Though I'd like to acquire some nice Austen's just so I can use my paperbacks for annotating.

[jeremybreneman]

The original first edition Stephen King covers were the ones I knew as a teen in the 80s. My sister collected them and each cover I found so fascinating, especially Carrie and The Shining. They were true pieces of art!