Do you read your books?

An odd question, I know, however I have a friend who collects Folio Society and Easton Press Books, among many others. He does not read his books, but rather buys a reading copy of each, not touching his originals, so as to "maintain their value." I wonder if others know of folks who do this, and how do you feel about it. Does this make sense to any of you?

I read most of my collectible books. I may hesitate with some that cost or are now worth larger sums (generally, $500-1000+). But run of the mill Folios, sure. That's part of the pleasure of owning them.

If I do not plan to read a book, I do not buy it. There are probably a dozen exceptions in my library (additional copies of novels I love) but even they will get read most likely next time I decide to reread that novel.

Now... do I actually read them is a slightly different question - I buy books a LOT faster than I read them :)

To each their own, but I only buy books that I plan to read. Some of these are rare or valuable, but the whole reason I got them was because I wanted to read the particular book in the particular format.

Unless one is a professional book dealer, I am quite skeptical about treating books (or any collectible) as investments. Better to build a real investment portfolio if that is the goal and save the shelf real estate.

I love many of my Folio books, and many of my books from other quality publishers such as Tartarus or the defunct Franklin Library, but historically most mass produced books do not appreciate unless one follows the market and trends closely, in which case you are buying based on the collective preferences of others, which seems to defeat the purpose of a personal library.

Not reading the book one acquires is like buying a guitar and not playing it. To each their own but the beauty of ownership is having that tactile experience that no paperback can replicate.

Except for reference books, I don’t buy books unless I intend to read them right away. I even make notes in them except for the LEs.

I read all the books I buy and I while don’t try and juggle jars of jams and sauces over them I don’t handle them with utmost care I just try and enjoy them to utmost and focus on the pleasure of reading them.

>6 jroger1: Notes! *shudder*

I no longer buy books I don’t intend to read. I find buying books just to collect is not good for my health. They haunt me from their shelves until I’m forced to sell them and generally lose money. So, as I said, I only buy ones now I intend to read.

As >3 AnnieMod: said however, do I actually end up reading them? That is the question. I too buy books faster then I can read them but I do intend to read them all... eventually.

>5 JuliusC: EXACTLY!!! I have so many friends that have guitar collections of dozens of guitars ... and there are always at least 10 to 30 they hang as trophies. I never understood that. One, maybe two that are so precious ... I get ... but play the damn thing!!!

I read them. I very much savour the feel of the paper on my fingers, and the book itself on my lap/palm. Like most, I also only buy books I plan on reading.

I only buy things that I want to read. I hope not to drift into buying just for looks or prestige. Apart from anything my bank balance wouldn't handle it. It has been said that reading and book collecting are two entirely different hobbies, while I agree with that up to a point my primary entry way to a book as a work of art is the world within its pages.

I try very hard not to buy books I don’t plan to read. That said, I just bought my first book intentionally and primarily to look at/appreciate as part of the bookmaker’s art - the FS LE Kelmscott Chaucer. I may try to read passages here and there, but I’m unlikely to read the whole thing. For reading, I’ll probably stick with my LEC copies.

>12 jsg1976:

Yes, that's my position too with the Kelmscott Chaucer LE, which I bought on publication and am glad I did: and while I dip from time to time into the text of The Temple of Flora I'll probably never read more than a fraction of that. In general, I never buy a book or set that I don't intend to start reading, but I do like to buy multi-volume collections all at once, and there are probably volumes among the 48 of the Folio Trollope - maybe even among the 15 of Jeremy Taylor in my edition from 1828 - whose contents I'll never experience: and I never oblige myself to finish a book whose rewards aren't enough to keep me reading.

Unless >1 Frank_Zwolinski:'s friend is very selective in the books he hoards, I can't see his investment plan paying off. From idle curiosity I glanced just now at the Folio prospectus from 30 years ago: £59 for Richardson's Clarissa in two volumes, £70 for Macaulay's History of England in five, the Trollope edition at around £20 per book. There are many ways of investing that fare better than hiding cash under a mattress, but anyone buying 1991's FS releases en bloc and keeping them in pristine condition would quite possibly have done worse.

I definitely only buy books I plan to read. But yes, my buying has been greatly outpacing my reading lately. It’s really partly a time in my life issue, where I choose to spend most of my time with my kids and then some after they go to bed with husband or friends (only texting bc of covid). I also have time to research and buy books while I let my teething toddler fall asleep on my chest.
I’m actually starting to avoid big heavy volumes because I know it’s not my ideal reading experience. I prob shouldn’t have bought the most recent Ulysses or Ridley Walker for example. But I wouldn’t avoid reading them because doing so will depreciate their value.
Sometimes I feel stressed having so many books ahead of me, but it’s also great having so much choice each time I go to start a new book.

I buy only books I want to read; some (most) I have read, and the others I will get around to reading one of these days.

Is your friend named Smaug by any chance? I can somewhat understand that mentality as I also use to indulge in something similar when I was very young though I've since long grown out of it. It's not just for books but anything hobby-related; I only buy something these days with the expectation of using it and not hoarding it somewhere untouched like a treasure pile.

It'd be interesting to know which books in particular your friend is trying to maintain the values of.

I read them, except if I already did, then I intend to reread them. They make great decoration but I don't see the point of owning a book I don't want to read at least once.

On the other hand my list of books I want to read is pretty long so it can take a couple year before I do.

>1 Frank_Zwolinski:

Yes and no.

I often buy Folio to read, but never get round to it; sometimes buying just for having a nice edition and then read it multiple times.

I only buy books I intend to read, or having already read a book, buy a Folio edition if I intend to reread.
But as with others, my ability to buy outstrips my time to read, even though I have now reached retirement.

My sincere intention is to read all the books I buy and thus to buy only books I'll read. I don't see the point in having books I know I'll not read. However, like Annie I've always had a regrettable tendency to buy books faster than I read them. This accelerated terribly during my years-long period of severe Foliomania, when I morphed into a bibliophilic Mr. Creosote. Fearing the effect of one wafer-thin volume too many, I began to shed a significant part of a library that had grown so bloated I realised I'd need to live unfeasibly long to actually read all the books I owned, given that I also enjoy re-reading favourites. I had almost as many volumes (mostly Folios) in cupboards, in storage trunks, and in boxes under the bed than I had stuffed into my very extensive wall shelving. I had also acquired a considerable number of FS limited editions, always convincing myself I would read them of course. However, many LE volumes came to seem more ornament than genuine reading implement, or too precious and expensive to handle and read in a relaxed manner. Having now parted with well over half of my Folio LEs, and a few hundred standard volumes, I feel much happier in having a smaller, more manageable library that is focused on favourite books that I know I'll read without having to compete with Methuselah.

I have never bought a book I wasn't planning to read. Though it may take awhile sometimes. I'd say I usually have 40-50ish books in the house I haven't read, but I get to nearly all of them eventually.

Like many already posted, I generally buy books I intend to read, but I tend to buy faster than I read! Having said that, I started to find myself getting quite nervous about reading books that I knew were becoming financially valuable (I'm thinking mainly of LEs), so decided to sell them off and only have books that I'm actually happy reading.

>21 Jason461: I'd say I usually have 40-50ish books in the house I haven't read, but I get to nearly all of them eventually.
Either you read a lot more than me, or have much greater self-restraint! Given how much I read, I suspect the latter. I have literally hundreds of books yet to read! But I buy into the Umberto Eco style of personal library, so am pretty relaxed about that; it certainly lets my reading follow my moods more easily. Having said that, I've found myself gradually disposing of books that are readily available through the library (I joined the Leeds subscription library a couple of years ago, and it's a treasure trove).

>12 jsg1976: “look at/appreciate” still counts as use to me, in contrast to avoiding any kind of handling with the goal of maintaining mint condition.

Do I read my books? Why of course - that's what they're for!

I see that I'm not the only one who buys faster than he reads, but I do not own any book that I haven't read or intend to read. I don't buy LEs, so I don't have that worry, but I also avoid those books I can't read, such as the Folio offerings of facsimiles in Latin.

Cronshaw gave me this morning's laugh with his note about becoming "a bibliophilic Mr. Creosote". Sometimes when I look at my wish list I want to say "I'll have the lot", but my bank balance won't handle it well.

And a good rule for a beginner is to read every book he buys: this will slow down his purchases somewhat, but will make him a better collector in the end.

— Newton (1928). This Book-Collecting Game.

Absolutely do I read my FS books. Exception might be some LE`s I am more careful with - those valuable and truly collectible ones we know of, and maybe I will buy a reading edition of Book of New Sun (or not). The typical standard volume FS book is not what you buy as investments to hold cash, but as a higher quality reading edition. If one buys a standard mass printed FS book for investment, it is more investment to not buy at all. Master and Margarita are the exception (that eventually will come back to normal with a reprint).

Your friend >1 Frank_Zwolinski: has a well known decease that many of us are highly familiar with to some degree. He is in the zone and likely is starting up his life in the collectors business, a very fun and eventually a more and more expensive hobby as time flies most likely. Most importantly : Let him live his moments. Don`t kill them.

>25 abysswalker: `Little did I know that everything now flies so fast in 2021. Take me back to 1928`: Newton 2021

Mine are all to be read. There are no promises as to what a book will be worth in the future, be it near or far, and for the price I am paying I plan to actually read the book, whomever publishes it. This is why I was drawn to FS in the first place. I love the feel of the books in my hand, the nice print, the paper quality. It is always a delight to read from an FS edition compared to others on the market, with a few rare exceptions. While I am careful not to have food and drink near my books and take good care of them, there is something endearing to see them fade a bit from being read so much, open to a favourite passage, wear off that just pristine look and settle down into my shelves. When I think of all the people who buy antique books for their crinkled-dry pages, rubbed corners, faded titles and crumbling bindings, and read them, and enjoy them, it saddens me to know how many books are bought only for decorative purposes. I buy to read.

I keep all of mine in their original plastic wrap. When the post digital, post-apocalyptic barter economy takes over I will be sitting on a fortune!

Like >20 cronshaw:, I too shed more than half my books about 17 years ago. Since moving them to the Shed, it has left the house free for more books. When a new book arrives, and that is at least twice a week, I read the dust jacket and the introduction and then it goes into what I call my tbr pile, i.e., the Shed. I gaze at it lovingly and within twenty or thirty years I catalogue it. Meanwhile my wife reads it and tells me all about it so that in company (if you can remember what that is) I can mention it and sound very clever.

>1 Frank_Zwolinski: I think your friend has it backwards. It's my cheap books that go unread—after all, what's really lost if some 99p ebook sits wallowing unread on my Kindle? My £400 private press editions, on the other hand...what better pleasure than handling the luxury paper, feeling the supple leather, reading the crisp type that was set by hand. Why anyone would spend serious money to leave a bit of dead tree to fester on a bookcase is beyond me.

>31 ubiquitousuk: I am in this camp personally. Was it physically taxing to read my War and Peace LE? Yes. But sitting in my favorite chair with that mighty tome is a cherished memory for me.

>28 Lady19thC: `there is something endearing to see them fade a bit from being read so much, open to a favourite passage, wear off that just pristine look and settle down into my shelves` - that is the true magic of FS books.

>29 L.Bloom: 2040 , alas .. and he still waits .. absolutely see the point though, as there IS an online economy in growth, has to be limited though

>22 Willoyd:

I am the same way--I don't even bother to put together a TBR pile because when I finish one book (I typically have several going at the same time) I am in the mood for something not in my TBR pile. I now see my whole library as just a big TBR pile (or re-read pile as the case may be).

I look after my books very carefully, but I don’t see the point of not reading them.

I certainly don’t want my Folio Society editions to become well thumbed copies with notes inside, but one of the advantages of well made hardbacks is that as long as you are reasonably careful they stay in great condition even if read multiple times.

>29 L.Bloom:
That's so sad , unless of course you are joking!

>36 N11284: Hehe, I mean I was joking but after 2020 and the near overthrow of my government it doesn't seem so far fetched.

When I got an iPad I started saying that I would never buy a physical book again. We were also moving around a lot at the time and the boxes of books were heavy. But over the last couple of years I've completely reversed my position. I'd much rather read a physical book and I'd prefer it to be the most beautiful version available or the most beautiful version that I can afford. I just slowly came to realize that the sort of gnostic idea that the disembodied content of the book is the only important thing didn't resonate anymore. I love books as real physical things. I like how they look and feel and even smell when I read them. So the only reason I buy FS books is to read them. I do like how they look on the shelf but it's the reading that I really love. And as L.Bloom points out, they'll still read well in any post-apocalyptic futures that might be lurking around the corner when all the iPads have become paperweights.

I certainly buy to read, but my TBR shelf has about 40 books on it.

On the other hand, I also limit the size of my library to the “Pepys limit” of 3000 books. I only buy high quality books, and as I buy one I also dispose of one, so the quality, but not the quantity, of my library is steadily improving.

^ The fact you read so many books is quite impressive. I like the Pepys limit - you've probably surpassed him on cataloguing skills :) What's your criteria on disposing? Is it easy to pick out which books to dispose next or is there a certain agony each time you make a new purchase?

I now read 15-20 books a year, and I aim for a library of one thousand and one books. I've read about 60% of my library but "probed" over 90% - I'm not manic about finishing books. I usually study thematically and from various sources and only up to the point I'm comfortable with (referring primarily to non-fiction). There's books I've been reading over and over through the years and never got to finish (philosophy). I never got to the end of what I consider my most important book because I don't feel mature enough to absorb it - I push further every year, open new doors, let my mind ponder, live and let settle until next visit.

>40 bacchus.: The older I get the more immature I realise I am. I've given up hoping that one day I'll be mature enough to stop buying books til I'm ready to read them.

>40 bacchus.:
Becoming harder and harder to find a book to pass on to my bibliophile friends, but as I live in an apartment with zero chance to expand it must be done.

>41 cronshaw: I have a similar affliction. I'm now aware there's no end or path to closure - or, as a wiser man once said, the more I learn, the more I learn how little I know.

When I first started collecting I was a 'reading copy' fanatic. However, that path leads to either buying two copies of very expensive books, or settling for reading a lesser quality copy, which I don't want to do. (plus, one only has so much room for books, and I'd rather have twice as many books) So I decided over the years that I'm going to buy and read the best copies of the books I want to (within budget).

But I am very careful with my books by choice and I wash my hands before every reading.

99% of FS books (or frankly any book) is a depreciating asset that has far less value to anyone but me. I buy them to enjoy them, which means I read them. This also applies to fine press books - my Arion Press Don Quixote is on my TBR this year and I can't imagine not reading it and just having it sit there on the shelf lonely. : )

>44 spindrjr: My wife wanted to read my LE Madam Bovary. I told her to wash her hands. She was mildly offended lol.

>45 LBShoreBook: I just finished reading my own copy of the Arion Press Don Quixote. What a treat! You will surely enjoy it 😊

>47 Dr.Fiddy: I hope you can feel my envy. I have the FS LE and the translation is abysmal. I want the Arion if only for the Grossman translation but at that price point I am leaning toward the paperback.

>47 Dr.Fiddy: Thanks! Looking forward to diving in.

>45 LBShoreBook:
>47 Dr.Fiddy: Funny you mentioned the AP Don Quixote. I've took it out of my bookshelf this week and was contemplating on finally getting around to it but I was in the mood for something else. Will place this now on the priority TBR list!

>50 JuliusC: Gorgeous!

>16 wongie: That is an interesting question, and I will ask him.

>50 JuliusC: 👍

>12 jsg1976: >13 terebinth: While I don't buy a book just for it to sit on a shelf and look distinguished, I do occasionally buy a book I don't intend to read.
Two recent examples, not FS but The Limited Editions Club:
The Ambassadors by Henry James. The illustrations are by Leslie Saalburg, one of the great illustrators for Esquire and Apparel Arts in the golden age of men's style. They are irresistible and the book as a whole is lovely. (I've always thought James was a windbag.)
The Newcomes also for the illustrations by Edward Ardizzone and likewise beautiful volumes. The book was originally published in 24 monthly parts! Again a bit too long.
But in both cases I read the introductions and dipped in here and there.

I am firmly of the buy-to-read-and-then-hope-I-live-long-enough-to-actually-get-around-to-reading-them club. Like many here, my eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to beautiful books so the TBR pile has outpaced my attempts to reduce it.

That goes for my LEs as well as my ordinary Folios.

>5 JuliusC: I fervently hope that many of the people who have bought guitars do not play them.

>45 LBShoreBook: >50 JuliusC: You are in for a treat each time you touch the paper to turn the page with the AP Don Quixote. I've got one more DQ to read, the LEC edition, and all four of mine will be read.
I intend to read all the books I've bought in the last 10 years and play all the guitars in my house (and ukes and mandolins). Whether I live long enough for the former or to do more than just flail around with the latter is a question I don't dwell on.

>47 Dr.Fiddy: Unfortunately, the salary of a retired teacher is not the same as a doctor's.

>58 Frank_Zwolinski: you will probably retain more patience.

No, I prefer to eat them instead

>42 wcarter: Warwick, always happy to pop round and keep you within Pepys' limit. 😉

>39 wcarter: Does Pepys talk about his library limit in his diaries? Do you know where/when? I'd love to read that passage.

>62 jveezer:

By the time of his death in 1703, Pepys possessed around 5800 titles contained within 2,971 volumes. Most of these were collected after the Diary period, but Pepys does mention his library policies twice in early 1668, by which time, it's been estimated, he had about 500 volumes:

10 January 1668
... The truth is, I have bought a great many books lately, to a great value; but I think to buy no more till Christmas next, and these that I have will so fill my two presses bookcases that I must be forced to give away some to make room for them, it being my design to have no more at any time for my proper Library then than to fill them....

2 February 1668
... all the morning setting my books in order in my presses for the fallowing year, their number being much encreased since the last, so as I am fain to lay by several books to make room for better, being resolved to keep no more then just my presses will contain....

It's also worth noting that he liked uniform bindings, unless they were sufficiently distinctive to be preserved as such, and that he shelved his books by size, both for neatness and also allowing for the pleasant chance discovery of an interesting book on a completely different subject from the one first sought.

Edited to add . . .
There is an excellent book on everything to do with Pepys and books, logically entitled Samuel Pepys and His Books : Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660-1703 by Kate Loveman (OUP, 2015).

>63 boldface: Pepys was a great bibliophile and would no doubt have been a FS devotee were he alive now. One of his most enchanting book related passages relates his experiences on buying Hookes Micrographia -

‘Before I went to bed I sat up till two o’clock in my chamber reading of Mr Hooke’s Microscopicall Observations Micrographia, the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life”.

I like to recall Pepy’s enchantment with this book when I read my FS LE of Micrographia.

>64 Quicksilver66:

Yes indeed. A handshake across the centuries.