This was wonderful, Brian. I'm so glad that you decided to do this one. I hope that many of these books do come your way now that you've put this out there in the universe. As I've shown you, I do have a very similar boxset of Tolkien, although mine is more reddish/orange in color. I'm a bit older than you so I probably have an older edition. Mine came from my oldest brother when I was 13. If I hadn't already promised it to my nephew, my brother's son, for him and his children, grandchildren that my brother never saw, I would send you mine. I did have a hard cover first edition of Beloved once, and I can't find it now. It was actually a gift from the head of the first school where I taught in the 1980's. And I can't find it for the life of me....
I only own a few dozen books. I gave thousands of books to the library after I abandoned paper for digital (audio or epub). I can usually find whatever image(s) I want to represent the book in my digital library. I use Calibre and love it. Getting rid of all of those books was initially uncomfortable, but it allows me so much space for other things. .
@BookishTexan I was moving when I donated almost all of the books, but I wasn't downsizing. It was just being faced with such a large number of books (large volume of volumes) and having switched to digital formats and using the library to cut back on a several thousand dollars a year habit. Audiobooks can be expensive, but getting almost all of them from the library saves a lot. And I avoid Kindle, because I do not trust Bezos, or others in his position, with something that is mine. .
This is a great list-appreciate the mix of literary history, personal nostalgia, and the sheer desire for a well-designed shelf. That Lord of the Rings box set loss stings-funny how certain editions stick in our minds. The Patrick O’Brian spines forming a scene? Completely get the appeal. And James deserves the hardcover treatment. Cool way to think about books beyond just content.
@@BookishTexan Totally support! And if this is hypocrisy - I think of it more as a tension, personally - it's of the variety that is pretty benign, unless you find yourself wavering about it in therapy.
I have that box of tolkien books!! I am missing 1 of the soft covers from it, tho! Pretty sure I found the box at a rummage sale or thrift shop bc it's pretty beat up. If I ever spot another, I'll snag it for you!
I’m lucky enough to have seen both Benjamin Myers and Percival Everett in the past couple of years and they both signed my first editions of those wonderful books - and yes I kind of treasure them because they brought me such joy reading them so when I look at them on the shelf I am taken back to that reading experience. Sound and the Fury will be expensive, but a beautiful facsimile was produced by the first edition library that I think you’d really like and should be available on Abe. There was also a version published by Folio that had various different coloured sections that correspond to the different timelines and apparently that’s how Faulkner originally wanted it to be printed!
@@ianp9086 I envy you your signed copies of James and Cuddy. Thanks for the great info on TS&TF. I certainly am unlikely to get a real first edition so the ones you mention might have to do.
Your quest to get the full picture of the O'Brien books is commendable, and I think you MUST do it now. In my dreams of winning the lottery, I would have bookshelves like those of Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady filled with The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection, which I guess runs about $15,000. Sigh. I'd still probably be as lazy a reader as I am, but one can hope.
I started collecting paperbacks of Thomas Cahill's proposed seven book Hinges of History series. Nothing expensive, but when Mysteries of the Middle Ages was available, it was an inch or so taller than the others. So sad 😞
Somehow I had forgotten that you have said you don’t care about how books look-maybe because that feels so normal to me. As I have been thinking about this tag, I realized how little I care about beautiful books. What I do love is sets of authors’s books that match-and books that aren’t falling apart, which some of my old favorites are.
Seems like some good hunting at used books stores- I recommend Beckers! I want all the penguin cloth bounds- they are the ones I love to just look at on my shelves.
Yep, know the feeling. Still missing one Raymond Chandler book with the cover by a particular artist whose name escapes me at the moment (same fellow who did Lou Reed's first album cover). Had to have all of the same publisher James Bond books. Keep my slip-cased John Gardner set even through I have no intention of reading The Sunlight Dialogues again, because I like The Wreckage Of Agathon.
I actually have the hardback edition of James though I would have bought the paperback edition instead if it had been available at the time. The paperback of The Sound and the Fury you showed is the same one I have and I was glad when it came in the mail to find it in mint condition. I’d had it before and lost it and thought they were no longer printing that very nice mass paperback with the painted cover. Anyway I’m not in a position to purchase expensive first editions though I’m about to start on Annihilation by one of my fave authors Michel Houllebecq. Price: THIRTY BUCKS! Well you only live once, right? Be well.⚛️❤
Crimes against publishing, changing the formatting of a series, like only having part of a jigsaw, I wonder what the Aubrey picture would be, a seascape?
@@clarepotter7584 It is definitely a sea scape of sorts (a port scene with several ships). I have enough of those editions to have the second half of the image completed and it seems to blend with whatever the image on the first half of the series would be.
I hate when series change their cover style! You know I am a huge cover buyer, but once I've read the book another cover does not really tempt me. Mostly, exceptions can always occur :D
I can make no contribution to this other than I would like my copy of Burroughs' "Ah Pook Is Here" that succumbed to muy shed's mold outbreak. I want it back cos it's now worth £100 and I'd sell it for that
@@BookishTexan I only found out it was worth anything when I was researching which books I'd replace and which I wouldn't. I lost about 300 in all and I think replaced maybe 12
This was wonderful, Brian. I'm so glad that you decided to do this one. I hope that many of these books do come your way now that you've put this out there in the universe. As I've shown you, I do have a very similar boxset of Tolkien, although mine is more reddish/orange in color. I'm a bit older than you so I probably have an older edition. Mine came from my oldest brother when I was 13. If I hadn't already promised it to my nephew, my brother's son, for him and his children, grandchildren that my brother never saw, I would send you mine. I did have a hard cover first edition of Beloved once, and I can't find it now. It was actually a gift from the head of the first school where I taught in the 1980's. And I can't find it for the life of me....
I’m glad your nephew is getting the box and the books. Sorry to hear about your copy of Beloved. Thanks for you video and for tagging me.
I just did this tag! So when I saw that you have too I immediatley stepped over to say hello, sub, and watch. Kia ora from New Zealand.
Thank you very much!
I only own a few dozen books. I gave thousands of books to the library after I abandoned paper for digital (audio or epub). I can usually find whatever image(s) I want to represent the book in my digital library. I use Calibre and love it.
Getting rid of all of those books was initially uncomfortable, but it allows me so much space for other things.
.
One day I’ll have to do something similar. We are going to downsize in a few years.
@BookishTexan I was moving when I donated almost all of the books, but I wasn't downsizing. It was just being faced with such a large number of books (large volume of volumes) and having switched to digital formats and using the library to cut back on a several thousand dollars a year habit. Audiobooks can be expensive, but getting almost all of them from the library saves a lot. And I avoid Kindle, because I do not trust Bezos, or others in his position, with something that is mine.
.
This is a great list-appreciate the mix of literary history, personal nostalgia, and the sheer desire for a well-designed shelf. That Lord of the Rings box set loss stings-funny how certain editions stick in our minds. The Patrick O’Brian spines forming a scene? Completely get the appeal. And James deserves the hardcover treatment. Cool way to think about books beyond just content.
@@DrCrankyPantsReads Thank you very much. It is nice of you to overlook my hypocrisy about book aesthetics and support my mania😂
@@BookishTexan Totally support! And if this is hypocrisy - I think of it more as a tension, personally - it's of the variety that is pretty benign, unless you find yourself wavering about it in therapy.
I have that box of tolkien books!! I am missing 1 of the soft covers from it, tho! Pretty sure I found the box at a rummage sale or thrift shop bc it's pretty beat up. If I ever spot another, I'll snag it for you!
Thank you very much!
I’m lucky enough to have seen both Benjamin Myers and Percival Everett in the past couple of years and they both signed my first editions of those wonderful books - and yes I kind of treasure them because they brought me such joy reading them so when I look at them on the shelf I am taken back to that reading experience.
Sound and the Fury will be expensive, but a beautiful facsimile was produced by the first edition library that I think you’d really like and should be available on Abe. There was also a version published by Folio that had various different coloured sections that correspond to the different timelines and apparently that’s how Faulkner originally wanted it to be printed!
@@ianp9086 I envy you your signed copies of James and Cuddy. Thanks for the great info on TS&TF. I certainly am unlikely to get a real first edition so the ones you mention might have to do.
Your quest to get the full picture of the O'Brien books is commendable, and I think you MUST do it now. In my dreams of winning the lottery, I would have bookshelves like those of Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady filled with The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection, which I guess runs about $15,000. Sigh. I'd still probably be as lazy a reader as I am, but one can hope.
Only $15,000 pfft! Chump change🙂
I will have to start paying attention to the O’Brian books at my local used bookstores.!
I love this idea for a video. I've been enjoying the ones I've seen so far. You have a great list for your best shelf!
Thank you Arianne.
Loving this tag. Great to see such a fabulous selection 😊
@@RaynorReadsStuff Thank you.
I started collecting paperbacks of Thomas Cahill's proposed seven book Hinges of History series. Nothing expensive, but when Mysteries of the Middle Ages was available, it was an inch or so taller than the others. So sad 😞
That is irritating even if only hit shelving reasons.
Somehow I had forgotten that you have said you don’t care about how books look-maybe because that feels so normal to me. As I have been thinking about this tag, I realized how little I care about beautiful books. What I do love is sets of authors’s books that match-and books that aren’t falling apart, which some of my old favorites are.
Matching books in a series matters to me, but it doesn’t bother me that my Hemingways, Faulkners, and Morrison’s don’t match.
I love this topic and your version of the video. Here's hoping some of your book dreams come true!
I think some of my dreams are attainable if I can be less cheap and less lazy.😂
Great fun to think about the books we would want to own. We share one title on both of our best shelves, but the edition is different.
Which one?
That will be revealed next week in my response .😊
Seems like some good hunting at used books stores- I recommend Beckers! I want all the penguin cloth bounds- they are the ones I love to just look at on my shelves.
Thank you for the bookstore suggestions.
Thanks for doing the vid. That LOTR set made it onto my list, so think I’ll add the slip case too :)
@@GenreBooks23 Thanks for coming up with the great idea!
🎉
I wish I had hardcovers of all books by my favorite authors, but atm I don't really have the shelf space for that.
@@leticiatoraci9855 Me either, but I think I could find room for five or six.🙂
I can commiserate with wanting complete sets. I desperately want all 14, 1st edition Baum-authored Oz books.
I’ve never read any of those. Thanks for the reminder.
This is such a fun idea!!
Yep, know the feeling. Still missing one Raymond Chandler book with the cover by a particular artist whose name escapes me at the moment (same fellow who did Lou Reed's first album cover). Had to have all of the same publisher James Bond books. Keep my slip-cased John Gardner set even through I have no intention of reading The Sunlight Dialogues again, because I like The Wreckage Of Agathon.
Good luck finding all those missing matching books!
I actually have the hardback edition of James though I would have bought the paperback edition instead if it had been available at the time. The paperback of The Sound and the Fury you showed is the same one I have and I was glad when it came in the mail to find it in mint condition. I’d had it before and lost it and thought they were no longer printing that very nice mass paperback with the painted cover. Anyway I’m not in a position to purchase expensive first editions though I’m about to start on Annihilation by one of my fave authors Michel Houllebecq. Price: THIRTY BUCKS! Well you only live once, right? Be well.⚛️❤
I’m way to cheap to buy expensive 1st additions, but I can dream😂😂
"Christmas is Comin''!" 🎅 (I've got ya covered on the 1st Edition of _TSATF!_ 😉)
@@bighardbooks770 haha!
Crimes against publishing, changing the formatting of a series, like only having part of a jigsaw, I wonder what the Aubrey picture would be, a seascape?
@@clarepotter7584 It is definitely a sea scape of sorts (a port scene with several ships). I have enough of those editions to have the second half of the image completed and it seems to blend with whatever the image on the first half of the series would be.
@@BookishTexan From an aesthetically pleasing perspective it would be good to have the complete set on the bookshelf. ⛵
I don’t have my original LOTR paperback boxed set that I got for Christmas when I was 10 or 11 and I really wish I did.
I think I might make a real effort to find the box to replace my missing one!
I hate when series change their cover style! You know I am a huge cover buyer, but once I've read the book another cover does not really tempt me. Mostly, exceptions can always occur :D
I care too
I can make no contribution to this other than I would like my copy of Burroughs' "Ah Pook Is Here" that succumbed to muy shed's mold outbreak. I want it back cos it's now worth £100 and I'd sell it for that
I always advise selling collectibles that have no real intrinsic value as soon as possible. 😂
@@BookishTexan I only found out it was worth anything when I was researching which books I'd replace and which I wouldn't. I lost about 300 in all and I think replaced maybe 12
@ I remember the mold outbreak in the shed.
I still have the Tolkien box!!!
I’m green with envy. 🤢