Book Collecting

If you are looking for a bit of inspiration before putting your fingers to the keyboard, here is a profile of collector Ryan Roth that appeared in the How I Got Started section of Fine Books & Collections magazine.

"My book collecting can be summed up as the three R's: Readin', Ritin' and 'Rithmetic, meaning books about books, handwriting, and mathematics. I also collect prints, where I'm drawn to the dark and whimsical.

I began collecting old math textbooks as a math major at Brown University. The bookish culture there definitely nurtured my interest in rare books. The library staff is very friendly and welcoming of students using special collections.

During my sophomore year I began thinking seriously about a career in books. Brown granted me a fellowship to explore the possibility. I used the money to attend Rare Book School (RBS) at the University of Virginia, where I took Nicolas Barker's course on European handwriting. This marked a turning point for me. I met a ton of people and received a lot of great advice about how to build a career in books. From there, I traveled to England where I examined marginal annotations in copies of Erhard Ratdolt's 1482 Euclid at Cambridge and the British Library.

When I returned to Brown after the fellowship, I threw myself into collecting and ended up winning the Margaret B. Stillwell prize for student book collecting. Around this time, I also became interested in prints. I met a dealer who gave me a break on my first acquisition, an etching of a flower by Leonard Baskin, in exchange for transporting some prints to New York City on my way home from college.

After graduation in 2005, I moved to New Orleans intending to work in special collections at Tulane. But then Hurricane Katrina hit. Fortunately most of my books and prints were in storage. Hearing about my situation, the University of Delaware Library offered me a position working in special collections. I moved north and on weekends regularly traveled several hours to Fairfield, Pennsylvania, to study calligraphy with Sheila Waters.

I returned to the Rare Book School in March 2006 to take Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography. Later that year, Terry Belanger, the RBS Director, asked me if I would be interested in working for the school. I started working as the program director in early 2007.

Since becoming interested in collecting, I've met several experienced collectors who have accompanied me at book fairs and introduced me to other knowledgeable people. That's the best way to learn. I always have a notebook in hand and am constantly taking notes.

(Interview conducted by Ellen Firsching Brown. Reproduced courtesy of Fine Books magazine)

Age – 25

Occupation - Program director for Rare Book School at the University of Virginia

Size of collection - Several hundred books, if you include my reference books and the books I collected as a child.

First book - The first book I shelled out a lot of money for was the 1944 edition of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, designed by Bruce Rogers.

Most recent acquisition - The 1977 printing of Charles Thomas-Stanford's bibliography Early Editions of Euclid's Elements. It contains a leaf from the 1482 Euclid by Erhard Ratdolt.

Biggest Purchase - I recently commissioned a book label from calligrapher Julian Waters, which so far has been my biggest book-related expense.

Best Bargain - The 1944 Euclid by Bruce Rogers. I was lucky to find a beautiful copy on eBay for about half the price most dealers ask.

Favorite Item - A 16th century woodcut from Hans Holbein the Younger's Dance of Death. I received it as a graduation gift from David P. Becker, a collector and friend. It has an interesting provenance, having once belonged to Philip Hofer, the well-known book collector who founded the department of printing and graphic arts at Harvard's Houghton Library.

Holy Grail - Oliver Byrne's 1847 edition of Euclid with the theorems proved graphically using color printing.

Advice for new collectors - Go to Rare Book School!

Favorite book about books - John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors, revised in 2004 by Nicolas Barker.