Robert Alfred Wilson (1922–2016)

Wanting to live an uncluttered life and collecting things don't go together. Yet most of us love to see and hold beautifully made items. I don't mind reading an e-book but I still admire good printing and binding and paper. At first Wilson's book was hard to slog through, the first half of the book, largely about how to acquire hard of find books, was a chore to get through. While reading it I found myself comparing Modern Book Collecting unfavorably to Books and Collectors by Maurice Dunbar. Dunbar's book made me think that I might perhaps want to be a serious book collector, Wilson's book told me I really don't want to get involved in all the book collecting entails.

In the second half of Modern Book Collecting the author gives the reader a good understanding of how books are actually made and provides the names of the parts. I found that useful. The lists of dealers and collectors were interesting but not so useful for me. The though of owning a few first editions is tempting, but I will try to resist. At least now I know what a first edition is and how to identify one.
… (altro)