I know some people here are avid readers and have very extensive book collections. I was wondering how much of your collection was hardcover and how much paperback? My small but treasured collection of books are mostly paperback and almost all of them are yellowing and falling apart at the binding. It's kind of unfortunate because if I want to keep my nice collection I'd end up having to re-buy almost everything. Hardcover editions for some of these books are near impossible or very expensive to buy. Isn't there some project underway to digitize all the books in all the major libraries? That'd be something. Anyway, I was just wondering how you keep your paperbacks in good condition. Seems like just reading them once, you start to mess the books up... and if you're not gonna read and re-read them why bother having a book collection at all?
I have a pretty large collection of books, mostly hard cover. For years, I bought only soft cover editions (and still do, occasionally), but I've gotten to value having a nice collection on my shelves. I don't have anything really valuable (I don't think so, anyway). The most expensive books in my collection are a set of Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series (Gorky Park, Polar Store, Red Square), a series that garamet put me on to---I've spent more getting these because they're now out of print. I have first editions of all of them. I tend to buy books that I believe will be of use or enjoyment in the future, so I do not buy many softcovers since they don't last. For books that come mainly in softcover--Star Trek novels, etc.--the best I can say is don't bend the hell out of the spines when you read them. You can read almost any book that's in the public domain on the Internet now. Google Books lets you search through almost ANY book--including new ones--but not read the ones still protected by copyright. I'm kinda intrigued by these new digital books (like the Kindle by Amazon), but I wouldn't want my collection to be entirely digital; I'm hoping booksellers will do something like GIVE you (or sell you for a small amount) the digital version if you buy the hardback.
I have a nice collection of baseball-related books (about 100 or so). About 65 are hard cover. I also have a good collection of US History and Presidential biographies. I have quite a few science-related books (mostly genetics, microbiology, and zoology). I got rid of most of my Star Trek books.
I have a large book collection. All hardcover. I don't collect paperbacks. I like to have some books to lend or give away. I don't lend out any of my hardcover books. But then again I don't get many people asking anyway. Paperbacks all go to shit. You might have some value in an autographed copy. I try my best to always buy first editions. I also have a number of autographed books. I have a few rare books that I purchased from used book stores.
Hardcovers generally are much better, but sometimes they are prohibitively expensive. e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Concluding-Unscientific-Postscript-Kierkegaards-Writings/dp/0691073953 at least for me, anyway.
I have a few thousand books -- every room in my house has bookshelves that are bulging. Most are paperback -- I don't find that they degrade very quickly if stored upright on a shelf. I prefer paperbacks for reading (more portable, light weight, easy to stuff in a coat pocket, etc.) and price. I'm not really sentimental, so I'm always giving away books. I always encourage guests to pick something out to read and take it with them if they aren't done at the end of the visit, and I also tend to suggest books to take for the plane. All I ask is that they pass the book along to somebody else -- I don't usually care if I get it back or not.
My collection is probably 90% hardbound, with the rest being larger softbound books and a handful of paperbacks that I've kept. The majority of the paperbacks I own are the old Best of Trek books (mostly bought at used book stores). I don't have any books that are particularly valuable other than R.P. Hunnicut's history of US armor series. I have all but two of them: the most recent volume, which I haven't gotten around to buying and an out of print volume on US heavy tanks from twenty years ago which is very hard to find. The volume on the Sherman is probably the most valuable book I own. The cover price was $95, IIRC, and copies of the now out of print book sell on eBay and other places for as much as $500 in some cases.
My book collection is probably half and half hardcovers/paperbacks. But some of the paperbacks are 30 years old and still in reasonable condition, because I look after them. As Gul said, if they're kept upright on a shelf, they keep better. The few books I have that have degraded, I notice tend to be from the same publisher - Fontana - so I can only assume they skimped on the glue in the late 70s/early 80s. because in each case it's the glue that's gone.
Hmm. I think I have around 500 books all told, the vast majority of which are paperbacks. I have all my Tom Clancy books hardcover, most of my Stephen Kings, and all my recent Laurell Hamiltons. Otherwise, when I buy books I buy softcover. Standard or trade paperbacks.
I had a HUGE hard and paperback collection for years. But when my (now-(ex) and I moved into a new appt. a pipe burst and flooded the room all the books were, still sitting in boxes, unpacked. They were ALL soaked and warped and ruined. (Plus the water was smelly.) Had to trash them all. Years of collecting. $1000's of dollars. Many out of print. (And if I had just left them in storage a bit longer... ) Now I have built it back up a bit, slowly, but it's small.
Books are heavy and difficult to move. If I lived in a permanent residence I might have a lot more I think. As it is I try to convince myself to part with the ones I have.
I have what I thought was a fairly extensive collection, about three hundred maybe, but compared to some of you... Anything I know is worth keeping is bought in hard back if I can find it. If not, I'll gladly buy paperback (some of Ayn Rand's non-fictions are the most recent in this category.) Anything that isn't worth keeping, well, I can't bring myself to destroy a book by trashing it. It still represents knowledge and/or a story. So, anything I can't give away gets put in a box and given to our local Goodwill Store. They have a pretty nifty section of used books. Oh, and I usually keep at least one good book and one throw-away book of the moment in my bag that goes everywhere with me.
I have a lot of books, probably about 300 to 400. I prefer hardbacks and try and get first or signed editions where I can. However, I do not shut the door to paperbacks either and generally buy those book in paperback which you don't tend to get in hardback.
I humbly commend to you the Loeb Classical Library series for hundreds of quality hardcover translations of salient works from ancient Greece and Rome. Caesar, Strabo, Livy -- the list goes on. Just search on "Loeb Classical Library" at Amazon.com.
I have a large collection of paperbacks filling one bookshelf, and a small but treasured hardback shelf in a cabinet next to them. I find paperbacks travel better, for reading while riding/waiting/walking through city streets.
Good thing for studying the primary sources. I've got the first volume of Caesar's commentary on the Gallic War (hopefully, it'll help sharpen my Latin).
So, it sounds like most of you don't have too much trouble keeping your paperbacks in good condition. Maybe my collection is ruined because I got most of the books when I was a kid... I probably didn't handle them right when I was reading through them.
Super fun time gadget bag. I've got to lighten the load though. It's heavy as fuck. Three spare pens, business cards, flints for my zippo, a spare zippo, spare Bic lighter, two packs of cigarettes, 4GB USB dongle, six 2GB SD cards, power strip, cell phone car charger, spare cell phone home charger, USB cell phone synch cable, spare cell phone battery, spare charger for bluetooth headset, bluetooth headset, tiny 12v DC to 120v AC inverter, hand sanitizer, USB transfer cable, 5ft of Cat5 cable, breath mints, legal size note pad w/pen, the two aforementioned books, 17" laptop, power cable for laptop, extra battery for laptop mouse, bluetooth dongle, UMPC, external battery for the UMPC, power cable for the UMPC, camera, spare batteries for the camera, OC, two spare magazines, handcuffs, spare handcuff key, ASP. And that's just my walking around bag. You ought to see the bag in the truck! But, you know as well as I do about putting things in bags when an automobile is your office.
