New Books and Goals as a Collector

With a father who is an avid book collector, and a mother who is happy to get any amount of books out of the house (as they are always piling up) I always come back from New Mexico with lots of reading material.

My last visit was especially fun because my grandfather recently moved out of his home and to Arizona to live with my aunt and uncle, and decided to leave his Franklin library to my dad to be divided amongst the grandchildren. Since none of my brothers were very interested in the books, I pretty much got first pick on everything, and had quite a stack by the time I was finished sorting through the piles. I couldn't bring them all home this trip because our suitcases were getting too heavy (and Franklin editions tend to weigh quite a lot), but I brought as many as I could successfully pack.

Collected Poems by T.S. Eliot

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

History by Elsa Morante

I also had fun book hunting with my dad, which we always like to do when we get together. One of his favorite Albuquerque booksellers was closing his shop just before Christmas, so we made sure to go to his store as well as a few others. Beside the books I bought shopping that day, my mom also passed on a few of her books to me that she didn't want anymore but knew I was interested in.

The Professor and The Bronte Poems by Charlotte Bronte and her sisters

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Lois the Witch and Other Stories by Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather (gift from my mom)

Presenting Miss Jane Austen by May Lamberton Becker (gift from my mom)

Early Novels and Stories by Willa Cather

Little House in the Ozarks: Rediscovered Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder (gift from my mom)

I have been collecting books for years now, but it has only been in the past couple that my collecting goals have changed. My dad, for example, loves pretty much any book with a beautiful leather cover and an old musty smell, no matter the content. While I appreciate the beauty in those books too, I feel that I really want a personal library that is "readable".  What I mean by that is that I don't want to have only rare books that are too fragile to read comfortably. While I do have a few rare and special books, most of my books are nice editions that I would still feel comfortable letting my kids read when they are able. I want to have a collection of stories that I love, even if that means passing up a beautifully bound edition of something else because it's not a story that I enjoy. Having this as my goal has made book collecting even more enjoyable for me lately, and its always exciting to come home with new books to put on my shelves.