At times some people comment about “collectors” who just buy books to collect them and not read them. Those same peopl at times seem to have virtrol in their voices about those of us that buy books to “just” collect them. I enclosed just in quotation marks to show that these detractors of collectors somehow place upon collecting books some form of sitgma. The “just” they use in their discussions of collectors, to me at least, seem to signify that collectors only buy and not read. And somehow that is antithesis to what books are for.

Collectors of books are a rare bunch. They know deep down that they will never be able to read every book that that purchase. I believe this is one of the first indications that you may be on your way to being a biblioholic. Reading books is not like watching a movie or a television show. Reading takes time and effort to accomplish. Unless you are Harold Bloom. But even at my fastest reading I can maybe get through 6 books a week at the most. But my average pace is somewhere around 2 to 3 books a week. Even at that rate it comes out to about 150 books a year.

Last year I finished just under 80 books. So it looks like my average rate of reading has decreased. Even if I read 80 books a year I could not possibly read everything I have in my library at this moment before I died.

There are collectors out there that probably do not read at all.  I suspect that it is a rare few.  Most of us that love books love reading them.  That is how we all started out.  Collectors, as a whole, can be considered readers but readers cannot, on whole, be considered collectors.

Collectors do not read their books that they may consider rare or expensive.  This is just common sense.  Why pull down your first edition copy of Moby Dick to read when you can read a paperback version.  Preserving the rare book is a part of collecting and there is nothing wrong with purchasing a book because of its rarity or its price and not reading it if a less expensive edition is available. However, people seem to find this pretentious or wrong. I strongly disagree with this sentiment and offer this to those detractors.  Reading is reading.  Reading a third printing would be the same as reading the first printing.  However, the probablity of that first edition being ruin, damaged, destroyed, spilled upon, or any other horrible happanstance increases each time that edition is taken off the shelf.  So why endanger a rare copy of a book just so you can say you read that specific edition?

Readers tend to think that collectors are some elite asshole that only speculates on the collectability of a certain volume or author. That collectors don’t read and that those limited runs of books should go to more deserving “readers” and not collectors. The most vocal “readers” tend to focus on the print run of a limited edition, say 300 copies, and complain that with print runs that low how can they find a copy to read if the “evil collectors” buy all the copies. Would those readers complain if they new that all 300 copies went to readers and not collectors who were just faster on the draw and ordered before them? No they wouldn’t. I am conscious of the fact that I am tossing a blanket statement out but I see more and more people bring up this subject and take collectors to task for collecting without quite understanding that collectors are, more often than not, readers.

The difference between collecting and reading really comes down to what the individual wants out of his book collection. A collector wants the rare, the limited, the better binding, the better quality, etc. At the same time the collector will read, in a limited capacity, those rare editions. However, the collector will purchase reading copies of his books so he can read them and enjoy them as a work. Readers on the other hand do not care for the edition, the binding, the rarity, etc. They ust want a copy they can read and enjoy. Collectors bare them no grudge but for some reason “readers” seem to hold “collectors” in distain.

Up next I’ll take a look at the collector and how he does a service to preserving books and culture.