Owning and Displaying Books
A great little article from The New York Times.
While I do not know if I’ll ever own a second house or vacation house (seeing as I am yet to own my own property as it is) I do dream of the day that I have enough personal space in my place of habitation to set up some nice book shelves and fill them with some of my favorite reads. I remember, while growing up, loving to go to my grandparent’s house in Deleware to browse through their multiple bookshelves. My grandmother particularly (though I’m sure my grandfather was involved as well) has amassed such a vast collection of books that she could probably open her own library and have plenty for patrons to check out. After my grandfather passed away and my grandmother moved to a smaller house in Vermont many of the books got packed away and have remained that way since. While home during one of my longer college breaks a few years back I tried to organize some of my grandmother’s huge collection of mystery novels using the shelving skills I’d acquired through working at my school’s library, unfortunately I did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked. I believe I have inherited much of my book collecting personality from my grandparents and coming out of school I know that I have quite a respectable amount of material of my own to display. I still buy books all the time too, which may seem strange considering that I work at a library and have an almost limitless access to free material. I will say that I think that there is something in the ownership itself that interests me and causes me to keep buying. It is quite materialistic and perhaps a little vain, as if saying “behold what I have read.” I cannot feel too bad though, because I am an avid book lover and the ownership in many ways seems as to be an assertion of what books are important to me. In my ideal dream of a future home I’d have enough room to have my own little library/study where I would place all my favorite works. Of course when and if I’ll ever own such space depends on many factors but I see no problem in imagining for the time being.
~Nathaniel
Tags: books, library, shelving
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January 4, 2008 at 11:29 am
Bibliophiles are fascinating, aren’t they? Years ago I worked at a bookstore with two longtime booksellers and we would all be GIDDY when a new book order came in, the parcel delivery guy wheeling in boxes while we rubbed our hands together in anticipation.
But, you’re right, there’s a difference between OWNING a book and borrowing one–and I simply must have my own copy of a book I love. Good post…