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One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

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Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#41

Post by returningfory2 »

jacquesm wrote: post #23

I just helped clean up the estate of an uncle of mine that died. He'd collected an absolutely massive amount of books during his lifetime. Besides that he played the violin and had collected an equally impressive amount of music books. I managed to save some of the rare works but I could find absolutely no takers for the bulk of the books, at any price or even for free. That generation is leaving behind an enormous a…

> That generation is leaving behind an enormous amount of paper and it is mostly going to waste.

But what is really the problem with this? (Assuming the paper in the books is recycled, to be clear.)

I disagree with the idea that books are generally precious objects. At this point in time we have many more books than we need, and many of the books in existence simply will never be read again.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#42

Post by mister_mort »

contingencies wrote: post #28
jacquesm wrote: post #23

I just helped clean up the estate of an uncle of mine that died. He'd collected an absolutely massive amount of books during his lifetime. Besides that he played the violin and had collected an equally impressive amount of music books. I managed to save some of the rare works but I could find absolutely no takers for the bulk of the books, at any price or even for free. That generation is leaving behind an enormous a…

Here in Australia one of the charities runs huge book fairs every few months where vast amounts of literature are loosely organized in to subject sections. It's all volunteer labor and I believe the proceeds go to homeless people and victims of domestic violence. I have acquired some awesome old maps this way as well as rare and interesting works. Unless aggressively digitized, most of the data will become unobtainiu…

I'm curious about this - do you have the name of the charity in question?

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#43

Post by petercooper »

rramadass wrote: post #26

Man, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I just love books, have a large collection of my own (though obviously not on the scale of the article) and am always on the lookout for offbeat books (old/new/whatever) on any subjects that i find interesting. With Internet Archives/Project Gutenberg/etc. you can of course have your ebook versions but there is nothing like having a hard copy in hand. The right book at the…

The right book at the right time can often be transformative opening up your mind to new ideas/possibilities and leading to better knowledge and wisdom.

I agree. I'm a bit of a used book shop dweller and collector of oddities myself and I'm often struck with this sort of inspired feeling after reading the most random old thing that might otherwise have ended up being recycled. There's so much human experience packed into old books that simply isn't available online at all. Kudos to anyone who makes a serious effort to collect and archive even a slither of it (not me - anything I have will end up in the trash when I die).

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#44

Post by ghaff »

returningfory2 wrote: post #41
jacquesm wrote: post #23

I just helped clean up the estate of an uncle of mine that died. He'd collected an absolutely massive amount of books during his lifetime. Besides that he played the violin and had collected an equally impressive amount of music books. I managed to save some of the rare works but I could find absolutely no takers for the bulk of the books, at any price or even for free. That generation is leaving behind an enormous a…

> That generation is leaving behind an enormous amount of paper and it is mostly going to waste. But what is really the problem with this? (Assuming the paper in the books is recycled, to be clear.) I disagree with the idea that books are generally precious objects. At this point in time we have many more books than we need, and many of the books in existence simply will never be read again.

I've been taking quite a few bags of books down to my local library for their annual book sale. I still have a ton but trying to winnow things down a bit.

So I give them a chance at a new home but having been at the sale on the second weekend I have no doubt that a ton end up pulpled.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#45

Post by nl »

fancyfredbot wrote: post #12

Being a collector is an affliction. A huge house given over to his collection while he relegates himself to the groundskeepers cottage. A lifetime acquiring money to grow the collection. I hope selling it gives him some peace.

There's a big difference between being a collector and a hoarder.

In general a collector gets joy from their collection, whilst a hoarder finds it distressing.

From the outside both might look similar, but from the article this person both seemed to enjoy it _and_ make a successful career from it.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#46

Post by pfdietz »

returningfory2 wrote: post #41
jacquesm wrote: post #23

I just helped clean up the estate of an uncle of mine that died. He'd collected an absolutely massive amount of books during his lifetime. Besides that he played the violin and had collected an equally impressive amount of music books. I managed to save some of the rare works but I could find absolutely no takers for the bulk of the books, at any price or even for free. That generation is leaving behind an enormous a…

> That generation is leaving behind an enormous amount of paper and it is mostly going to waste. But what is really the problem with this? (Assuming the paper in the books is recycled, to be clear.) I disagree with the idea that books are generally precious objects. At this point in time we have many more books than we need, and many of the books in existence simply will never be read again.

This is an example of a general phenomenon: people keep objects that used to be valuable, just because they used to be valuable (but no longer are).

Think of collections of fine china that you never use, antique furniture, pianos, artwork, old electronics, personal relationships, etc. You either spent money at some point to get the things or someone in the past spent a lot of money on it. Tossing it becomes a repudiation of that past value, a painful admission the value has decayed away.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#47

Post by pfdietz »

pjc50 wrote: post #35
pavlov wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for your loss. It's sad that his collection didn't get the full attention it deserved. > "the housing company only gave us two weeks to vacate the place" It's a very good idea for a collector to own a place to keep the stuff. The British book collection mentioned in the article is housed in a former youth hostel in the countryside. That kind of place can be surprisingly affordable to buy... But of course it's t…

> It's a very good idea for a collector to own a place to keep the stuff. Perhaps, but even for valuable things like musical instruments the floor space ends up being far more valuable than the objects. Hence the relentless march of waste disposal. It's very sad but a core fact of modern life that land is money. (the phrase "housing company" implies that the collector did not even own a house for himself, let alone t…

Used bookstores are increasingly online now, through abebooks or similar. In-store traffic has become progressively less important. This I think it was has really led to used book stores closing their doors. As long as the owner of the used book store can travel well enough to acquire books the business can sustain.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#48

Post by ghaff »

petercooper wrote: post #43
rramadass wrote: post #26

Man, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I just love books, have a large collection of my own (though obviously not on the scale of the article) and am always on the lookout for offbeat books (old/new/whatever) on any subjects that i find interesting. With Internet Archives/Project Gutenberg/etc. you can of course have your ebook versions but there is nothing like having a hard copy in hand. The right book at the…

The right book at the right time can often be transformative opening up your mind to new ideas/possibilities and leading to better knowledge and wisdom. I agree. I'm a bit of a used book shop dweller and collector of oddities myself and I'm often struck with this sort of inspired feeling after reading the most random old thing that might otherwise have ended up being recycled. There's so much human experience packed…

There used to be a great used book store in Harvard Square but I suspect they sort of overextended (opened second location) at the wrong time though don't really know the story. There's another basically hybrid store--used books are in the basement--but I have to admit I haven't been in there for a while.

That area used to be a cornucopia of book stores generally but that's mostly gone.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#49

Post by remus »

akk0 wrote: post #15
fancyfredbot wrote: post #12

Being a collector is an affliction. A huge house given over to his collection while he relegates himself to the groundskeepers cottage. A lifetime acquiring money to grow the collection. I hope selling it gives him some peace.

What a strange read on the situation. The man combined his hobby with his profession and is now retiring a millionaire. Best I can tell the guy must feel like he's had a rewarding, satisfying life so far.

> The man combined his hobby with his profession and is now retiring a millionaire.

Worth noting that the £1.5 million valuation is in the ball park of what the building is worth on it's own.

I think the parent's point is that while the collecting itself can be very rewarding it's far from guaranteed anyone else will find value in the collection. It does feel a shame to dispose of such a piece of work, but the real value is likely more in the collector than the collection.

Re: One of Britain's largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed

#50

Post by fancyfredbot »

Freak_NL wrote: post #34
fancyfredbot wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's entirely possible he may loved every minute! I don't know if the fact he's financially successful affects my read though. It's certainly obvious he had money but unfortunately I don't think the money precludes an unhealthy obsession. Infact it might make it worse.

Unhealthy in what way? The article mentions that he is (or was) an active seller as well as a buyer. His lifestyle doesn't seem particularly unhealthy either.

My impression was that buying and storing books had become a compulsion. The article mentions that "he sold books primarily so that he could acquire more for himself". It also covers how he "deployed every little sliver of real estate" to 1.5 miles of shelving. To me this sounds like an obsession. It's possible that indulging the obsession made him happy but my understanding is that this is unusual.

It is perfectly possible I got the wrong impression here. I don't know him. All I can be sure about is that this was the impression I got reading the article.

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