It's a Collecting Thing

Meet Jeremy and Jeanine - two members of LibraryThing.com, the social networking and cataloguing site for bibliophiles. Discover what books they collect, what their greatest find has been, and how LibraryThing helps them make sense of it all. Membership in LibraryThing is free by the way, up to 200 books.

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Jeremy D.

How did you get started in collecting?

I've always been a reader and buyer, but it wasn't until college that I really started looking for items to collect for the sake of collecting. Then of course once the book bug bites, it's got you! Now I work at a used/rare shop in Boston part-time while attending grad school, which helps to feed the collecting habit.

What's in your book collection, and how big is it?

My main collection of rarer items is of Fenelon's Adventures of Telemachus which I started collecting in college. I now have nearly thirty different early editions in at least eight languages, with the oldest dating back to 1699, the first publication year. I also have a large number of 'books on books,' as well as a great deal of American history (particularly colonial and Revolutionary eras) and a fair number of items relating to John James Audubon and his works.

My total collection is hovering somewhere around 1600 titles, and most of it is catalogued now on LibraryThing with some left to be done.

How did you discover LibraryThing and has it been useful to you?

I first read about LibraryThing in a newspaper article and by the same afternoon I was hooked and had already bought a lifetime membership. I wouldn't say that it's had a huge impact on my collecting habits as such, but it does offer great insight into what other people are reading and looking for. It's also handy to be able to access my library online so I can make sure that I'm not buying duplicate copies. For my rarer items - and particularly for the Telemachus collection - I have a more detailed database set up that includes more copy-specific information, such as condition, purchase information, collation data, marginalia and other markings, etc. That's a work in progress since each record takes a rather long time to complete.

What's been your greatest find so far?

I've had a few, but probably the most interesting was the 1699 edition of Telemachus that I got at a surprisingly low price. I also picked up - through AbeBooks - a copy of the first complete English edition of Ben Franklin's autobiography (1868) for a great deal as well.

What are your book sources?

I cast a pretty wide net for books - for the titles that I am always on the lookout for I monitor the Internet regularly, and have AbeBooks Want alerts set up to let me know when copies become available. For other items I browse about seven shops in the Boston/Cambridge area on a regular basis, and work at another, so I pick up probably too many that way.  And then there are the e-catalogs from various other shops around the country.  Technology has certainly helped make more books accessible, and I do often buy online, even if it's not nearly as exciting as picking the book off the shelf myself.

Any final thoughts on book collecting?

I'm a grad student for library science and history, so my collecting habits are, quite thankfully, limited by budgetary constraints for the time being - not to mention the issue of space. But I'm always looking for new books that can't be passed up, and there's nothing better than discovering that long-sought item - or better yet, the book you didn't even know existed until the moment you find it!

Jeanine L.

How did you get started in collecting?

When I was old enough to walk my mother took me to the library and taught me the love of books and reading - since then there has been no stopping me.

What do you collect?

My collection is mainly made up of old pulp paperbacks from the 50s, 60s and 70s with the majority of them being old Gothic Romance novels with great cover art. Lots of people collect first editions or very old, rare hardback books. To me the paperback, especially the pulps, are a forgotten part of history. I am trying in my own way to build a library that will help preserve that period in time. I think they are even more precious and important because they were originally designed as throw away books. One day I hope to pass my library down to my children and I hope they will have the same collecting mania and love the books as much as I do.

What has been your greatest find so far?

My greatest find has been finding the orginial cover art painting that belongs to one of my books. I feel like I own a little bit of history.

How big is your collection?

I still haven't counted all my books. I'm busy adding them to LibraryThing.com, but I estimate that my collection is somewhere between 3000 - 5000 paperbacks.

I stumbled upon LibraryThing by accident in an Internet search and I am very glad I did. It has been a wonderful help. I have always wanted to try and do an electronic catalog of my books and just never had the program to do it. I was about ready to try and write my own database when I came across LibraryThing. It is a really great service especially for me because I can easily catalog and sort my books by title, author, genre or custom tags. I can also connect up to it on my cell phone when I am in a store and see if I already own any of the books that I am currently looking at. That feature is especially handy because I often find myself in a store with a pile of books and I am trying to remember if I already own that copy. In the past, I have accidentally purchased many duplicates because I couldn't refer to my library. LibraryThing is also great because it lets me scan in the cover images and store those. I also really enjoy the Groups feature which lets me connect with people who share similar interests in books, and through them, I've received many great book recommendations.

Where do you find your books?

I purchase most of my books from 'friends of the library' book sales, flea markets, garage sales, auctions and junk and resale shops. When I am looking for a particular title or author, I turn to the Internet to track down the copy I am looking for. AbeBooks, for instance, has helped me track down books that I couldn't find in other locations, at reasonable prices.