Talk about your book collection


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Posted by Magnus Smith on February 27, 2013 at 14:10:23 user Magnus.

Would it be fun to chat about our own book collections on Tarboard? Not gloating of course, just good-natured pride meeting curiosity. I'm mad about my collection, small as it is, and would love to hear about yours!

You start with the Cape hardbacks, of course (don't you?!). This was when I was newly-wed and wanted something better than my old childhood S&A paperbacks to decorate the walls of my new home. I didn't care about first editions, or even dust jackets. I mainly wanted them to smell old. In those pre-ebay days one had to tour local bookshops to find them. A trip to the Lake District furnished me with some Roger Wardale books too.

I was happy for a while, but when ebay did come along, my AR mania happened to grow even wilder. I could afford the cheaper end of the spectrum, and pursued all the biographical/related works. Then on course the Mariner's Library could be built up, piece by piece. Sometimes I was prudent and read a library copy first, to make sure I liked the book before buying....but sometimes the greed of ownership, the joy of bulging shelves, took me over.

Then I expanded my remit to include books AR had read himself, and the collection grew very varied. I still kept my spending low, and had the sense to give up on auctions where the price was pushing past a tenner.

These sad days I'm on a zero-tolerance budget and consume only free ebooks. There is so much available in the out-of-copyright area that I haven't needed to buy a thing (well, the new Wardale book perhaps) in two years! I'm mainly reading stories with a tangible link to Ransome, so that stream hasn't run dry yet.

I have probably only got around 50 books in the core of my collection, that have a definite AR link (burglars take note; all cheap so not worth tracking down my address and robbing me). I'd love to have the cash to fill the shelves floor to ceiling, but it won't happen. Something about owning books overrides the natural dislike of greed I usually have...


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