I've always taken pleasure in collecting items, such as postage stamps, old keys, china ware, etc...
But nothing compares to the extreme pleasure I find in turning the pages of old books. My grandfather offered me my first old Anatomy book (from which he studied, 80 years before), when I entered the University. I loved it so much, that I tried to build a bigger collection. Turning those 100 year old pages, soften and brownish by the years makes me dream and wonder on what thoughts might have crossed the minds of previous readers.
Slowly I progressed to own more than 500 old medical books, from the 17th century, to the present. I enjoy comparing different versions of the same description. It's great to check on how human theories and observations evolve.
No internet site, no interesting conversation would give me such pleasure as turning those soft pages and dreaming on past thoughts.
The world stops.
Last week, my next door neighbour had a fire in his kitchen, when I was reading in my study, surrounded by books. I noticed nothing. The fire brigade came, they rang my bell to check if I was home. I heard nothing. This is getting dangerous.
By now, it's become a strange mania or addiction.
But I would like to know other researchers' opinion. Would others share the same problem? I am the nerd of the century?
I would appreciate your opinion.
Thank you, Iva! We'll have to keep in touch!
I have a sort of crazy apetite for ancient Science book or second hand Art, but I often spend more than I earn for month, on books.
Hello, Maria.
Rich? No. Old fashioned or square? Maybe. Interesting and helpful? Yes (but I would say that - I love books). A sufferer of OCD? I certainly am!
What makes you ask the question, Maria?
I have a couple of books exceeding more than one century, especially bibles.
Cheers
That is nice hobby.
It seems to me that if the books were not so expensive and were not taking so much space I would also buy a lot of books. Reading of the real books is more comfortable than the reading books from the screen.
Good luck with your addiction!
Dear Maria,
I just entered. Old books, wonderful discovery. You won´t get rich, but you are full with excitement, closing your doors and read very alone. I´ve some of these jewels. Shakespeare 1853 and somemore diamonds. I love them!
I've always taken pleasure in collecting items, such as postage stamps, old keys, china ware, etc...
But nothing compares to the extreme pleasure I find in turning the pages of old books. My grandfather offered me my first old Anatomy book (from which he studied, 80 years before), when I entered the University. I loved it so much, that I tried to build a bigger collection. Turning those 100 year old pages, soften and brownish by the years makes me dream and wonder on what thoughts might have crossed the minds of previous readers.
Slowly I progressed to own more than 500 old medical books, from the 17th century, to the present. I enjoy comparing different versions of the same description. It's great to check on how human theories and observations evolve.
No internet site, no interesting conversation would give me such pleasure as turning those soft pages and dreaming on past thoughts.
The world stops.
Last week, my next door neighbour had a fire in his kitchen, when I was reading in my study, surrounded by books. I noticed nothing. The fire brigade came, they rang my bell to check if I was home. I heard nothing. This is getting dangerous.
By now, it's become a strange mania or addiction.
But I would like to know other researchers' opinion. Would others share the same problem? I am the nerd of the century?
I would appreciate your opinion.
Dear Maria,
Congratulations! This is great! I like very much books. Rare books are a special world. They have their own history. It is even a pleasure to touch them.
Dear András,
and to smell and read them. And to show them to some friends.My best books were bought for little money, because the bookseller saw my enthusiasm (I was a student without any money). The prise was incredible. My full respect for this guy some decades later.
This is a great question. Many thanks for sharing it.
Rare books have been one of my interests for years. Unfortunately, many rare books I came across as a student and a bit after that were beyond my reach. So instead of acquiring the originals, I found I could find many reprints of rare books that were within my reach.
At first, I concentrated on dictionaries, especially the very early editions of the Oxford English Dictionary in its original printing and binding. There are beautifully books with smatterings of how the English language used to be. On top of that, Samuel Johnson was a genius and quite open in defining words. For example, in the 1816 edition of
Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language in which the Words are Deduced from their Originals and Illustrated in their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers, in Two Volumes, London, 1816,
Johnson defines the word Diary
Di'ary, n.f. [diarium Latin] An account of the transactions, accidents, and observations of every day; a journal.
[In sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men make diaries; but, in land travel, wherein so much is observed, they omit it. Bacon]
You are all great sweet nice people!
I wonder what my nephews, god-children and their children's children will think of the old fool in the family that should have earned a lot of money and only left them piles of worthless dust, and some ought-to-be-precious antiques that were eaten by worms, or caught in a fire...
Dear Hanno,
In that time it was easier to buy old and rare books than these days. I think one needs a lot of chance or a lot of money to buy such books. Even “ordinary” old books are worth of a fortune.
An opportunity of reading old books is to read scanned and digitalized books. So I could have a nearer look at Systema naturae by Carolus Linnaeus.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Pires,
Thanks for your question, and good for you! I have my own collection of old books. These need not be rare or valuable to be worth collecting. I have a treasure of 19th-century American and British books which I have specially collected over a good number of years. I look for original editions, and often enough, they are quite inexpensive.
I know of a famous author who wrote that one should never read a book less than 50 years old. The idea is that the world has not had a chance to digest anything newer. I find it difficult to keep such advice, but it does create some needed perspective on the constantly churning demand for the "new."
H.G. Callaway
It is a good thing to preserve history and culture. Only limitation if you have money and space to keep this great hobby
A good topic! But it is really not an easy "yes" or "no" question.
I think most scientific researchers (science lovers, knowledge lovers) like to collect information and this makes them spiritual rich; so, more or less they collect the carries of information------books is one of the carries and old rare books are special ones.
Most people collect things they know with certain value orientation: either with spiritual value or material value; for example, no one collects what they think are rubbishes.
I collect many carries of information from different areas too. I enjoy the process of collection, no only information gaining but also a special sense of achievement（financial and knowledge appreciation, my own future plain, …）; I also enjoy the result of collection, they are like a pool, I can sometimes swim here and there to appreciate different information（old memories, needed knowledge, imaginations, …）. If people can find something useful in my collections after I die, that would be happier------"richer".
Dear Maria,
Collecting old books and old manuscripts are fascinating and a work of a very astute and curious mind of a scientist to know how the pioneers of knowledge understood things and developed the principles we study and use today. You will discover how difficult and awkward at times wrong their formulations and formats were and observe the chronological changes and transformations made to become what they are now. Therefore in doing so, you are not only reach but wise.
If, in your case, reading experience and experience of life go hand in hand, you'll get rich using old (and many recent) books.
I have transferred the most valuable part of my collection half around the earth. Now, I can enjoy them in line with perceptions described in the link below.
Conference Paper Mubil: Creating an Immersive Experience of Old Books to Supp...
The collection of old books and manuscripts is the collection of history and culture. What better way to preserve what is valued in times past. Please keep collecting and treasuring the amazing books
I think this practice is probably one of the very best ways to pay respect to those who have gone before us. I envy people who have this type of 'addiction'. To me, it would be a joy to have such a 'problem.' Stay problematic and keep on hunting for those hidden treasures any way and any where you can. Those now-immortalized others would probably thank you dearly for looking them up, perusing and collecting their works, and being remembered - and perhaps even hearing their voice. An added bonus if they are $valuable$ as well - but their true richness may still be in their human content.
Great work Dr Maria Bettencourt Pires it is really good thing to collect the efforts of our Previous generation, like you many are not their that is why we lost many of scripts wrote on palm leaf all medicine details for various diseases was initially written on palm leaf no one is ready to collect and protect ins ted they burnt it in fire not with the least available resource and data present siddha medicine is framed
No harm! Go ahead! It is actually a treasure, if managed properly. Few precautions you may take:
1. Be selective
2. Not at the cost of new literature
3. Make available to other interested for reading, etc.
I am actually a thorough bibliophile so my collecting of old and rare books is partly self fulfillment. Nothing feels greater than sharing a rare text or elusive first edition with a friend who appreciates the art of books and book collecting.
Dear Maria, if that pleases you, then you have to continue doing it, despite our opinion!
The only 'constraint' that I could imagine is that rare books have a big price...
Dear All,
I think even facsimile books can conserve the air of old times.
Hello Maria,
what a wonderful 'addiction'. I am more an informational person less interested in precious things. When it comes to books (or almost every object) my relationship torwards them is pretty pragmatic. I almost abuse my books by making notes, using text markers and folding pages. But to be honest I have been always such a bad child. Even before I could read I took my moms books and poshed them with own skretches. So you might say I am more self-addicted *g* It is really some bad behaviour and maybe bad planing that I cannot value objects which surround me, yet able to give them up so easily. And you might say I am one of that "all is fading" persons. I think it is an admirable trait of character that some people like you are able to conservate those objects that people like me wouldn't even care about. If it wasn't people like you people like me wouldn't even have a hint what earlier books were like. But what would be really great; If you maybe find the time to digitize your preasures and share them with others. It is maybe the informational person speaking now. But I think books make no sense if not shared, if not read and absorbed to learn from them and come up with new ideas even if it was for the sake of gathering knowledge how people in former times did think.
morete than the old books, I like their content. Sometimimes you find astonishing similarities with the current idea, in particolar in the old scientific books (see Ernst Mach, Angelo Mosso and so on).
I am also a bibliophile, I have collected a huge amount of books! Over time I developed an intuition: When a read the table of contents, I know if the book is for me or not. Lately I started collecting eBooks. Finally I believe that this "mania" involves some kind of sickness as well. Finally the descendances will clean up the mess!
Books are invaluable because they contain knowledge, history and culture. It is a rare trait that you have but it is worth cultivating. How about digitising some of the books to preserve them. I have a collection of literature books belonging to my late dad which i cherish because of the comments he made on the pages when he was in university in late 1960's.
Hello everyone,
I am not an avid reader…my reading ends in technical domain…so I don’t know what collecting books make you…but still…
In my opinion every book that we read, it becomes our part. I read a few books, which I even could not even complete…I felt them rubbish even after fist few pages…same time there are so many books that I read again and again…
I feel…getting involved in a book (or movie or music etc) depends on your interest and quality/content of the book…not with the age or rareness of book (my opinion)…But there are some old good books (may not be rare) which worth to read/retain…if they are rare and in demand they may make you rich also (even if you just keep them and not even bother to read)…also they can increase your knowledge to a next level and increase your interest tremendously about that particular subject…but by no means I can find a single reason for not keeping them (till you get some negative powered supernatural woo doo book:-)…in my opinion it’s a good habit and sometimes may give a priceless treasure for the coming generations in the form of a lost information….
@ Maria…That fire incident may happen with anyone if he/she is doing something of great interest...Not listening the repeated n loud request of my wife from kitchen when I am watching some of my favorite movie is a very common reason of fight (from my side) between us…she tells me maniac or addicted in her anger also…but I never felt so…It happens…its natural...that’s all… and more importantly I enjoy it (movie as well as sometimes her shouting at me also)…
Regards
Dear Maria and friends, I salute all collectors of good old books on this thread. I am thankful that I inherited my dad's collection, all in 2 cupboards at home. Someone entered my home from the roof recently. A hole was made in the asbestos cement ceiling. Someone saw the cupboards, but didn't come into my house. The books weren't valuable in monetary terms. KNOWLEDGE CANNOT BE STOLEN!!
Thank you dear Miranda, for a wonderful anecdote that says it all.
Thank you all, for your wonderful answers. Unfortunately, I am usually sound asleep, when the rest of the world is awake, and could not reply to the each of the wonderful comments that apear overnight.
This is a delightful thread to follow. I thank you all for your marvellous contributions.
Yes, books are a wonderful integrating part of many of us. and they may reflect our character.
But they can also become a burden, when they cover most of the walls in a household. (In my case, this includes the kitchen, where I keep old rare versions of cookery books, and most of the dictionaries and encyclopaedia, that keep me amused when I cook (and often become so distracted that I ruin meals)
Books are heavy to carry, books need constant care, to remove dust and humidity, and sometimes treatment against worms and parasites (it is difficult to decide on which product to use, for this prevention, in the rarest copies, because of the danger of poisoning to the hands that read them.
But it's good to know that robbers wouldn't care for them.
I hate going to some people's households and realise that books are used as decoration and have rarely been read.
I do read them all, and I love it when I discover interesting hand notes from previous readers.
The strangest thing that happened to me as a compulsive book buyer, was the fact that I accidentally got to discover a 19th century medical practionner, from the South of my Country, who was an book collector with very much the same interests as mine (Medicine, Arts, Arts History...) I came across two interesting books in one shop, three more in another. They were all strangely cheap, because they were covered with interesting side hand notes... By now, I have bought more than 20 of this man's books. I took notice of his name, to contact the family, soon to find out that he was a man of great culture, that left a huge private library that the family is selling piece by piece, destroying the collection. By now, there are no more left. The family tried to sell the whole collection to the town hall, but they offered a small amount instead of investing in the memory of such an interesting personality.
I only wish I had been able to meet the man in person... I have so many questions to address him, and a few answers to some of the questions and interesting remarks, that he hand-noted !
I'll keep alert to his signature on books, because they are the mark of a humanist whose memory should be kept alive.
This is a lesson to me. As I get older, I'll try to offer my collection to the University library, before some strange children dismantle my memory.
Maria, you must be a genius, and not a simple nerd. It is believed that only people with passion and idiosyncrasies like yours can be creative. Normal human beings can not be creative. This shows your passionate commitment to a kind of inquiry. It might have been a product of the values that got internalized in you by observing your grand father working and respecting medical books, which you have taken to a next level. Personally, I catch some kind of allergy if I read even a 20 year old book, and have to take antihistamines to save myself from a more serious attack of the allergens. So I keep myself away from them. Somehow, I do not fancy such kind of comparison too. I had bought Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1978, which became obsolete in the internet era. Last year, I gave away all the 35 volumes to my neigbour as there was no place to store it any more. All your replies to the threads of others show how great and a remarkable human being you are--very different from most normal people. Keep on pursuing the great hobby that you have. I am very sure, many of your students are bound to learn immensely from your passion.
Maria
I am not a collector, but I do accumulate. My accumulations are the things I have not finished or fixed. I also have lists of things I have not started. I have two old rifles from late 1800 that I have been restoring since 1962, so that might be a start on a collection. Is one broken clock a collection? I suppose I could call it an antique. I could say I have collected books since I have started writing three, but I have not finished any (none past the first chapter). My wife threw away a lawnmower when I was away getting parts for something else I have not fixed. I have a sculpture I started in 1996 and a painting from 1973. I looked in the bottom of my sock drawer and found three watches. The battery had corroded through one. I should mention flashlights. I have them everywhere in case of an emergency. I even found one that works. My wood shop has an extensive collection of furniture parts that I collected along the roadside. Each could be made into something unique.
I will add to the list, but I promised to start painting some cabinets.
Dear Maria,
I tried to answer you yesterday but I was using a cell phone and it cuts the message, changes words and it was not able to upload an old book for you. But I got some here that may be interesting for you to see. If you like them, you can download and print. May be they are of some help for your anatomy classes if you want to highlight the development of this science
Leonardo Da Vinci.
http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=cb4c06b9-02f4-49af-80ce-540836464a46&type=book
Etiopic bible
http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=316a6f8f-ef1b-4d9b-9c46-90084fcb2bc8&type=book
http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=717467b4-d660-4c31-b70b-dcbe118876e7&type=book
http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=0354faf0-a67a-11db-87d3-0050c2490048&type=book
https://archive.org/details/atlasandtextboo01thomgoog
https://archive.org/stream/atlasandtextboo01thomgoog#page/n6/mode/2up
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/browse.html
The links below needs to be copied from http to false to be read. They look as if they were two different lines, but they are not.
https://books.google.com.br/books?id=za01AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA377&lpg=PA377&dq=the+lancet+anatomy&source=bl&ots=CgDYrYPG_y&sig=oW_aBSyq8-B_eLYrL04WO1e63oU&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ei=JMPYVPHvF8OrNsHcgcAH&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBjgU#v=onepage&q=the%20lancet%20anatomy&f=false
The link below needs to be copied from http to false to be read. It looks as if it were two different lines, but it is not.
https://books.google.com.br/books?id=ES0AAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA384&lpg=PA384&dq=the+lancet+anatomy&source=bl&ots=muHomoaxCM&sig=hQqlkyFOCe0i8yvNFrEJf6iqX1c&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ei=5MPYVNm0DYSWgwTD7ICIAQ&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCTgo#v=onepage&q=the%20lancet%20anatomy&f=false
Vilemar
In my opinion, if you love doing it, you should continue. I love to teach, so I teach, I feel happy. I think it makes you rich, rich in culture, that is good!
Dear Maria, we re now two. I do love to collect rare old books, too.
In any case, one thing is loving to collect old rare books, and quite another, very different, thing is reflecting about it.
Our real loves and pleasures, our authentic passions and wants - I believe - cannot be entirely justified by rationalizing about it. In ou case: it is plainly a matter of delight, of pleasure.
I appreciate your habit. It is good habit to me, though can not be measured by money dear Maria.
When a blind boy joined the school, the pupils asked the teacher in surprise:
“How can he learn if he's blind?”
“A person is only blind without books\ , and our new pupil can read with his hands. He has special books with little raised bumps instead of letters,” the teacher explained.
To begin with, the children made fun of the boy, but he paid no attention. He remembered everything after hearing it just once, and soon the other children started asking him for help with their work.
The blind boy spent his spare time reading. The teacher wrote out as many books in Braille as she could. Sometimes the teacher even read books out to the boy herself, and they discussed what was written together.
Once, in the middle of class, the teacher felt a stabbing pain in her heart, and slowly collapsed onto her chair. The pain didn't go away, but the teacher kept going until the end of the class.
Suddenly, the blind boy cried:
“Our teacher's not well – we need to get a doctor straight away.”
The children leapt up from their seats. The doctor arrived, and took the teacher to hospital on a stretcher.
“How did you know that the teacher wasn't well?” the children asked in amazement.
“Her voice was shaking, she went white and kept stopping in the middle of sentences. That's how I knew.”
“So you can see?” one boy asked.
“I can't see, but I can feel. For example - Anthony, I felt this morning that you were sad. You probably got into trouble at home.”
“Yes, that's right. But how can you feel if you can't see?” Anthony asked in wonder.
“Books taught me to feel,” the blind boy explained. “When a person feels, in a way, he or she feels. Remember what our teacher told us: A person is only blind without books .
A rare book collector knows that story and appreciates all of the book’s struggles and successes.
I inherited a large number of books, on all topics, from the late 18th century onwards. It is a treasure from which I would not part. To read about the 19th century is one thing, to hold and read a book held by others two centuries ago is quite another. Who needs time machines? Who ever feels the lack of company? And how wonderful to learn about something you never knew existed! How can a lover of books ever convey the bliss to someone who does not read (not cannot read, but does not read)? It is like trying to explain the colour green to the colour blind. Let them call me names, let them laugh at me, they lead life, but miss one of life's greatest pleasures....
In Elias Canetti's Auto-da-Fé (Die Blendung) the protagonist is taking his books for a walk. Every day another book. So if you think you are a nerd, just read this book. I gues most of us love books and a lot of our money went into buying books. Second hand book sellers on the internet make books available for me, that I was searching for a long time. It seems I'm buying more old books now, then new ones. (the ones I am interested in, I have to write a review to get a copy ;o)
The pleasures of owning a big book collection, to be able to start research projects at home and to still find books that can help me with my work now, but that I have bought years ago, or that I have inherited are worth it.
Unfortunately, I do remember war time when some neighbors were forced to sell old book in order to survive. Some others made a profit selling this book to embassies or individual that were member of different international organizations.
Dear Amir, thank you for your comment. Quite sensitive and cautious.
Gathering rare old books is a luxury that conditions such as democracy make it possible. In war, such luxuries are to be abandoned, and life -survival- comes as the real and only priority!
Obvisiouly book robbery is not that flashy than art robbery. Such a shame...
Dear Amir, having to sell my books for survival would cost me more than eating the cat, as I learnt to have often happened during WW II !
That would hurt.
Thank you all for your wonderful comments ! I can't stop reading and re-reading you all in this thread.
You are all indeed very special people that I feel honoured to count as good friends!
You are a special lot!
Thank you !
And how silly of me to have questioned on book loving on RG. Of course we all love books. We are researchers, we all need books and reading! Otherwise, we'd be inventors. (there's no InventorGate!)
Dear Maria,
I think that humankind exists because it stores knowledge and can operate with this strange substance. The process of storage became very powerful when the available till that moment knowledge became big enough to make it possible for humans to write what they know. There is noting more important than a book in this process of knowledge-civilization development.
I am unfortunately one who is supposed to use very much computers in the everyday life. There are no common points between a book and what we find on a screen. The book is made for the human being - for the memory, the perception, the mental map, and for the capacity to have a notion, a conclusion, a feeling about the entire all.
I wonder how the yang generation can manage without books. What I discover is that they do not manage, according to my criteria. But this is already another conversation - this one about what does information mean and can it exist outside of the brain/mind/whatever one calls this that we have in our heads.
Der all,
I don´t want to get rich by my books, I just love and relish them.
Ah! Dear Hanno ! But you are a rich person ... because you read and because you have culture. To me, you are a millionaire !!! ;)
Maria
Back to the list of accumulations. I have accumulated a few books, including a set of the works of Charles Dickens translated to German. Most are not old, meaning younger than me. I have book written by a famous physicist that was given to me. It is a first edition, signed by the author. It is sealed in plastic. What good is that? Who do I ask if I want to actually read it? Like Hanno, I am not going to get rich from my books, but I certainly use them.
I can imagine the feeling you have reading in your collection. But the only thing I tend to collect is T-shirts from events I have attended. There are the 12 from operas I worked in. My heirs will have to throw them away. Maybe I will, since I neither wear nor look at them. Really, I understand you loving your books, but I don't collect.
Dear Mary,
You're not a nerd , nor obsessed by old books, just you're a woman possessing an exquisite spirit that knows how to capture the magic that emanates each of this yellowed pages, when you read, or just turning those soft pages. There is nothing in the world that can compare to our personal library, especially when we have the privilege, as is your case, to possess such gems of human knowledge. At times I guess that find myself sitting in one of the hexagonal rooms of the infinite library (Babel) of Jorge Luis Borges, searching the catalog of catalogs, to discover the secret that is hidden in that eternal books, because surely in they, we should find the key to understanding ourselves.
Regards,
Dante.
I simply do not understand how a response to your worry can be stated any better than what Dante just wrote. Beautifully stated Dante~ I think you speak what must be said here.
As I have often told various people - my students mostly but also folks at parties, I am a nerd by inclination and profession thank you! And old books are such a lovely thing to to be nerdy about too. Kudos to you Maria and long may you enjoy this pleasure.
I think it's amazing that there are still some people who find value in collecting books. There's a magical feeling you get from reading hardbounds, that you don't get from reading ebooks and tablets. And because the books you collect are rare, it's a way for you to learn information that isn't available elsewhere. It's a way for you to expand your perspective, and in effect, reach out to other people in newer ways than you ever could before. I think that hobby is beautiful, in my book. (Yes, pun intended.)
No, books are also made of contents and shape, outfit. All these features are important and amazing.
Yes, Hanno, I have soon learnt the richness and artistic characteristics of different bindings from the 18th and late 17th century.
And I love the old original parchment covers of early 17th century.
By now, I can easily guess the age of a book, when handling the cover and quality of paper. It is in fact easier than analysing the age and region of a wine, as my father usually does with no problem, to everybody's astonishment)
Thanks to your question, dear Maria, I discovered that the collection of old books is a real art. There are associations and markets dedicated to this issue, and even on the web there is the possibility to cultivate this passion. In addition, there is also a market value of ancient texts. Very prosaically, I have a collection of football history almanacs published from 1977 to 2000. I would like to know if they have a commercial as well as emotional value.
Dear Ierardi,
I don´t know anything about market values of such personal collections. For me there is only one value, my emotion and the fictive value for my soul. Please don´t sell your collection, one day you will be sad about the losses.
Yes, dear Enzo !!! Please don't let go of any collection.
Maybe some distant relative, as great - grand-children's children will be able to discover that he is very much in love with his ancestral relative, because he knew how to appreciate sports, especially if, by then, football doesn't even exist anymore. You should catalogue and wrap them all tightly, with a message for future grandchildren.
I never met my paternal grandfather, but I worship an aquarell that he painted when he lived in China, and I hope that I'll be able to safeguard that family treasure for future generations.
I do know that my grandfather was the first librarian in the city of Macau that sold European books in China, and I'm very proud of this. The Portuguese Bookshop of Macau still exists, and someday, I hope to visit.
Addiction, to collecting old rare books, is a good habit provided they are utilized. Their utilization may come through reading them & relating them to the issues of today or through selling them after few years to museums or in auctions. To this day, I regret that I have not bought an old rare hand-written decorated book which was for sale in the city of Bursa (Turkey) while visiting it 31 years ago. Its price then was about 30 $ but I did not buy it because I did not have a job yet after finishing my PhD in the U.K in 1983 & I was waiting for one. Had I bought it then, I would have sold it, in this decade, for not less than 300,000 $. Another missed opportunity!
Dear Concha ! We have to meet!
I also kept my 1956 copy of Bambi ! I love to read it over and over, when I feel stressed and overworked.
Dear Nizar!
Don't worry. The book is yours in good thoughts.
It would have been much worse to think that you had spent all your money to buy it, and then sadly lost it, or had had to sell it for little money if you didn't get your first job...
I simply cannot find the courage to sell any book.
(just the thought gives me physical ailment!) I have a whole shelf of duplicates, that I bought out of distraction, and it is there , waiting for someone to convince me to sell them or to give them away ...
I take the same approach with my drawings. I simply could not sell artistic work. I prefer to offer, and I prefer to draw for gifts. But I could never sell.
Dear Maria,
Collecting books in addition to distraction is culture and intellect!
I have 3 small collections:
postcards;
miniature cribs;
miniature furniture.
I think every collection is laudable! You're right!
Best Regards,
Vanessa
Miniature cribs and furniture are certainly worth collecting !
Old keys and key-chains are funny but the boxes are too heavy to transport. I wonder what to do with those...
The one thing I'll keep forever is my stamp collection. I enjoy coming back to my cathalogues, and rearrange them, and to come back for information on historical facts they represent. But I only have two or three postage stamps with real value. All the others are there to keep company, and to bring light and colour to my thoughts...
The books I bought new in high school and college which I still have are now "old and rare," as am I.
Would someone correct me on this? I think furniture must be 50 years old to be considered "antique." Cars must be 25 (?). What about books? Is there a number of years for them to be considered antiques? Or are books not classified as antiques but simply "old and rare"?
Dear John. You are certainly not Old, but I consider you a RARE precious gem, on RG.
I've accostumed to think of antiques being more than 100 years old... But I'm European. My country is 800 years old.
Maybe this view doesn'ty apply to the United States. The most precious gems in my book collection come from the 17th century ()1650 is the oldest date I have in memory)
Our own age is another question. I used to think, in my youth days that an elderly person would be over 50. Now, that I'm 50, I expect elder people to be over 85...
things do change. Please do keep young at heart !!!
Dear Maria, collecting old books will make you interesting and helpful to someone in need of an old book. When I was a kid, I used to buy old books, read and sell them back to the same store. Just a little sum of money for a lot of knowledge and reading pleasure. Now we have online stores for old books. Surf and know more about where we can get old books here. Probably you have such book stores in your place.
http://www.bukulama.com/
https://www.facebook.com/JUNK.bs
http://www.ezbooks.com.my/
Dear John,
if your books originate from your past, they are "old and rare" and their value of course is your personal impact not some cost on the market. Try to keep them like I do and some times I open these old textbooks or books from my youth and start to read them again. You won´t believe it, but at the moment I´m rereading Selma Lagerlöfs "Die wunderbare Reise des kleinen Nils Holgersson mit den Wildgänsen" and I relish every page and adventure. (btw, I´m not 7 years old but more than 70).
Dear Hanno ! You are a special person to treasure, that makes us richer by the day! (I forgot to say that I also enjoy collecting great rare special good friends !!!)
This is my recommendation for your next reading delight:
(es gibt meine gross-gross-mutter!)
Thanks, dear Maria, but I prefer "Pu der Bär" and Anna Jürgen"Blauvogel" as next youth literature.
Dear Miranda !
You are a special gem, too !
Thank you for your valuable interesting links, that I'll keep in mind.
This is for John, as an example of the parallax errors you can get into, when considering age and time from different perspectives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax
and hurray to dear Nelson, who recomended me this author, a few months ago. I got it on eBay, and I'm loving every line I read, even if I can't read Spanish...)
Dear Maria, so do I, but please in German. My first time to read and love it was at my 6.th year.
Now that I have scaned my entire Library, I 'd like to know your opinion on your own favorite books and authors.
That's the original, Hanno !
We should try and read the originals, the right language of a text has it's own special music. Even if don't understand every word, the sounds will go through to your soul. That's important.
Thank you, dear Concha!
The sounds of languages often say more than the meanings of written words themselves...
Astérix is indeed untranslatable. Even the names of the characters have double humoristic meanings, that only work in French.
I love calling Idéfix to my dog.
But I also enjoy the flavour of some great translations.
I own a copy of one of the first French translations opf the Lusiadas.
I'll try and scan it here, because it is a lovely rare interesting precious gem of my collection....
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