Even More Walser
New at The Quarterly Conversation: Scott Bryan Wilson’s Inveterate and Unrepentant Book Collecting: A Guide to My Favorite Contact Sport.
Speaking of signed books, I love them—I have dozens and dozens, from John Ashbery to David Markson to Horacio Castellanos Moya to John Yau. Having the signed, hardcover, first printing of a book is, to me, one of the great pleasures of book collecting—even if it’s something that’s not particularly rare, I love having these, especially if I can get the author to sign them in person. Here’s an inscribed first edition, first printing of Infinite Jest:
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More from Conversational Reading:
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- Infinite Summer There's a website dedicated to reading Infinite Jest this summer. Lots of interesting material (e.g. How to Read Infinite Jest) I, of course, am a...
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- Rain Taxi Auction Once again Rain Taxi is auctioning off cool, lit-lover collector’s items on eBay. Check it out. That Paul Auster signed chapbook you buy is money...
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Thanks for sharing your collection and some of your favourites. I agree with you that while abe.com has been invaluable for tracking down books you really, really want to read and can’t find anywhere else, nothing beats the thrill of browsing a used bookshop (for me, particularly when I’m travelling) and stumbling on that perfect find. It’s just one of the great joys of life. I like your summation of the obsession as a “contact sport”. I’m very impressed that you’ve done a spreadsheet on your entire collection, something I keep procrastinating on as I’ve often had to pause in a bookstore to try and remember if I own that book already. To my credit, while I have come home alas with books I already own, I’ve never bought a duplicate copy with the same cover! I too live in a small apartment, but can’t imagine not being surrounded by my books. You just have to be creative – one can always find a way to fit one more bookcase in. There’s always just a little more space before you hit the ceiling. . .