I have now been a collector and an accumulator of books for fifty years and a book dealer for over seven of those years. I have built complete collections, but this must be defined as outlined later in this musing. I have built partial collections and lost interest. I have tried to build a complete collection but have hit an unscalable brick wall. I have accumulated books in certain areas and thank goodness I have stopped that! I have always been attracted to books that looked interesting and seemingly priced way below market price. This is what dealers thrive upon, but even as a collector I couldn’t just leave a book on a shelf that looked too good to be true. When Raven & Gryphon Fine Books was created, I transferred about half of the books in the personal library to the book business. The largest accumulation of books, horror literature and horror film books moved into the business as well as many of those great “one-offs” that I bought along the way. The two priciest books in the business came from that category.
The Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri, Published by T. Cadell Jun. and W Davies, London, 1802.
$8,000 asking price, purchased for $10 from a second-hand dealer in 1975.
Barflies and Cocktails, Harry and Wynn, published by Lecram Press, Paris, 1927.
$7,500 asking price, purchased for $62 in an antique mall in 1999.
I always liked horror novels, such as Dennis Wheatley, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and over the years accumulated hundreds of books of this ilk, but I had never thought of it as a collection. I did not target collecting all of the works of one author, and it would be ludicrous to try and collect all horror related books in the world. Gone over to the book business.
The Holy Terror, H.G. Wells, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1939. Signed.
In 1975, I went into a small second-hand shop and found one of these “one-off” treasures – a signed H.G. Wells novel, which I bought for a dollar. Oh, I thought, he is a famous author and I started to collect his books just because I found a good one. I didn’t even know if I would like to read his books, and since I couldn’t afford the science fiction stuff at the time, I accumulated lots of his social works, which you couldn’t pay me to read. Through this misguided adventure, I realized that the best advice I can give to a budding collector is “Collect What You Like”. Almost all of the Well’s books went into the business; I kept my first edition of The Island of Dr. Moreau, because he hit a genetics nail on the head.
Well, I started to collect the books of authors or topics that I liked. I enjoyed The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy and I have completed the collection of all of his titles – read them all. He was an American living in Ireland. I decided to collect both the British and American first editions. Then I thought that I should collect foreign editions as well. Thank goodness common sense slapped me across the head before I went far down that path. From this collecting experience, I determined that the most sensible approach would be “to follow the flag” – nationality of the author.
After I started collecting Donleavy, I walked into The Odd Book in Wolfville for the very first time. I asked the proprietor, Jim Tillotson, if he had a first of The Ginger Man, He said yes, and retrieved a paperback book. I said that it couldn’t be the first edition since it was not a hard cover book. He was a bit offended, and I did not buy the book – a beautiful copy and not expensive. At home, I did my research. Jim was right. I eventually bought a first edition, but at a much higher price.
So, here is my First MUST for a collector:
Know more about the books and author/topic than anyone else. The only exception may be a specialist dealer. I have had a great relationship with Jim over the years; he is a very knowledgeable bookman and a fine gentleman. His successor Jim Gow, is cut from the same cloth.
After a short period of time, the publisher of The Ginger Man, The Olympic Press, Paris came out with a hardcover, that is scarcer than the softcover. J.P Donleavy came to a Toronto international author’s festival, and after his reading I approached him for a signature on the hard cover book – his eyebrows went up and he said that this was a rare one, indeed!
When I started to collect the first editions of Donna Leon, an American living in Europe and publishing in both Britain and the United States, I started collected the American first editions. But her sixth book was never published in the United States, so I realized that her loyalty was to the British publisher – so I switched.
If you are an aspiring collector, or a collector, you should adhere to the Second MUST for a collector:
Define the parameters of the complete collection. What does success look like? How do you know when you have completed your collection, or collected the core books of your quest. Is it possible for you to put the whole collection together?Are the books available and can you afford to buy them? Don’t start collecting Shakespeare’s first editions unless you have vast pockets – and that may not be enough. Here are three examples from my collecting experiences:
First – I have collected all of J.P. Donleavy’s first editions, both American and British. He has passed on so there never will be anything new. The thrill is gone. The books sit on shelves that I glance at once in a while. Some collectors dispose of collections once complete and move onto something else. Collecting is addictive.
Second – I have been collecting the printed works of the illustrator, Beresford Egan, for decades. I have all the core works. What I search for now are collections of correspondence, that usually have his drawings and trying to find copies of elusive dust jackets and bookplates that he has done. No worries about cost since I have the important works, a good thing since prices are rising rapidly. The collection will never be complete since I can still find the unusual that makes the collection more unique than it already is.
Third – around the same time I started to collect Egan I started to collect all books from the Fanfrolico Press, published by Jack Lindsay, and mostly featuring the art of his father Norman Lindsay. I have almost everything but the jewel for any Fanfrolico collection is “ Hommage to Sappho” published in London in 1928. There are 70 copies only. There is currently one copy on Abebooks, and it is priced at US$13,500 or C$19,000. I can’t afford to buy that book – I need to redo the roof first. I did not realize when I started the collection that an item would be out of my ability to acquire. This reality hit several years ago, and the wind was taken out of my sails. I have not bought any other titles and have lost interest. Just today, decided to move the almost complete collection to the book business. I’ll do well because the Fanfrolico books, because of the works of the Australian artist, Norman Lindsay, have rapidly risen in price.
Understand your collection area better than anyone else and make sure that it is possible to obtain the cornerstone pieces and if you can continue to add the unique titbits that ensure you can always better the collection. You will never get bored.
Happy hunting.