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A word on readers and collectors:
Book lovers who are big readers and book lovers who collect books are two different demographics. They can often overlap, but they don’t necessarily.
Book lovers who are big readers and book lovers who collect books are two different demographics. They can often overlap, but they don’t necessarily.
A reader is less concerned about the vehicle of the text. They may choose carefully: print book vs ebook, or audiobook. But that comes from their reading preferences. Who published a particular copy, when, why, how: these concerns are secondary to the optimal reading experience.
A collector looks at every book as a historical artifact. Each tells a different story. The cheap wartime paper of that 1944 copy of the Great Gatsby, fairy tales inscribed from mother to daughter in 1914, the 1967 book of Black poetry from by a Black press & a Black designer...
A reader says: “Which book do I want to read?”
A collector says: “Which copy of this book do I want to find?”
A collector says: “Which copy of this book do I want to find?”
Neither side is inherently “superior,” in my professional opinion. Both are kinds of book lovers — simply with different motivations.
In practice, that difference is sometimes effaced because there can be a lot of overlap.
In practice, that difference is sometimes effaced because there can be a lot of overlap.
A reader browsing a bookstore might decide to buy that new Penguin with the Coralie Bickford-Smith design because it’s a book they want to read — but also because it’s beautiful: they’ve decided they want THAT version of that book, a collector instinct.
A collector might read their rare books. They don’t have to & some don’t, but many do. There’s a special joy in turning the leaves of the same book that people did in 1796 when it was first published. Like the time travel feeling of reading — but with an additional sensory angle.
Many readers don’t realize when they have started to become collectors. Are you someone who loves to read, but also keeps a special eye on which version of a book you are seeking, and why? You might be a collector too.
To see examples of the variety of collections you can create, take a look at last year’s winners in our Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/09/18/six-young-women-and-their-book-collections-2/
