Comments on: 100 Years Ago; 0r, The Future Of Book Collecting.

By: phlogiston

phlogiston — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:56:51 +0000

Really excellent blog.

Looking at the silvery habitues of bookfairs, it may be assumed that younger generations are shunning books. But this is not really the case. The vast majority of university graduates today have a genuine affection for books. I simply find bookfairs intolerable and I don’t doubt that many others of my generation do. All the patronising snubs (“excuse me, use both hands to remove a book from the shelf!”, and “have you washed your hands?”) and twitchy stares conspire to alienate anybody ’suspiciously young’. Book people seem to lack the camaraderie of record/vinyl people.

I’ve been to a few bookfairs, but the final straw came for me when, upon leaving, a stallholder asked to check my bag (“nothing to worry about – just routine”, so he said with mock friendliness). When I gladly but bemusedly obliged him – unwrapping my purchase from another stall (a tattered, jacketless ‘Jokes Cracked by Lord Aberdeen’) – he had the extra cheek to criticise my tastes, snorting something to the effect of “so you’re not a serious collector, then”. Arse!

A photobook-collecting friend of mine with hacker proclivities utilises custom-programmed software to send an alert the very nanosecond a book is listed online below a specific price. I’d love to know how he does it, but it’s all very secretive. Apparently, bog-standard ‘wants-list’ notifications on book sites usually have a built in alert delay ranging from a few hours to a week. The prospect of widespread use of such custom software to bypass this delay frightens me a bit.

By: Comte de Pinner

Comte de Pinner — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:55:28 +0000

Welcome back! I concur with Fnarf–these things (books/kindle) can co-exist. But I disagree with him on prices, mostly they are dropping except for the rare, trendy and exceptional. The internet has shown how common most books are + many collectors have now got what they want and are only looking for very silly stuff, ephemera or irresistible bargains. Kindle is not like the advent of talkies and the book is not a silent film???

By: Sean Montgomery

Sean Montgomery — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 03:11:08 +0000

There are billions of paper books still on shelves somewhere. So the second hand market could go on (if the books are kept well) for maybe 200 years. New paper books will always be in print just not in large million print run amounts. Maybe buying a paper book will be a special order process that could become more valuable due to the “rarity”. As for new collectors, as long as books still inspire and old collectors share knowledge the game will continue!

By: Fnarf

Fnarf — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:07:42 +0000

More people collect vinyl than ten years ago, yes. Vinyl LP reissues are exploding — a great many of the great classic LPs of the rock era at least are back in print. A lot of those shellac 78s change hands for hundreds of dollars (though most are worth less than one). High street music megastores are suffering but small specialty shops are definitely keeping up.

Books as well; publishers aren’t doing particularly well, but some unknown but probably large portion of that is down to the global recession. Old book collecting? You’ll know it’s dying out when prices start to fall. They haven’t. There’s been a lot of adjustment to new realities, as it is now a trivial matter to locate a copy of almost any book you want, rather than having to wait for years for a copy to turn up, so some things are crashing, while others are going up.

I have a Kindle but I buy as many or more new books in paper as ever, I find. The Kindle is a fascinating but ultimately unsuccessful experience. Maybe when a better one comes around….

By: Bertie Wooster

Bertie Wooster — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:47:31 +0000

I say old boy! That sounds a bit thick! I’ll go further – it’s downright rummy!
(Great writing, dude.)

By: betweenthelines

betweenthelines — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:51:14 +0000

Do as many people collect vinyl today as a decade ago? Closed down record shops and deserted record fairs suggest not. I agree with you re the dictionaries, maps etc. Books may well survive but become the exception rather than the rule. My prediction has always been 2020 for the year when ebooks sell more units than paper and as far as I can see things are right on track or even a little ahead of schedule. Watch this space…

By: thomas conneely

thomas conneely — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:34:22 +0000

Excellent article, as usual!
I think it’s of interest to look at where the vinyl/record/music industry is in relation to how it coped ( or did not cope) with the recent but slightly earlier arrival of electronic formats. Vinyl is still collected and collectible, and will in my opinion remain so. I think academic textbooks are dead in their current ( expensive) paper form within 15 years or even sooner, and I hold little hope for dictionaries, ( non vintage) maps and other easily updateable items. However, I think for booksellers and collectors the paper format will not go away – and if publishers have any sense they will go down the lines that some are already – in increasing the amounts of signed , limited edition formats, handsome editions ( hardcover and paperback, and reissuing classics with extra content) The book as object , in other words.