Double Post- 'AT HOME WITH BOOKS'- 2

‘Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.’- Barbara Tuchman

‘Dispensary to the soul.’- Library inscription in Trajan’s forum, Rome.

‘I have seen men hazard their fortunes, go on long journeys half around the world, forge friendships, even lie, cheat and steal, all for the gain of a book.’ A.S.W. Rosenbach

‘You can read a person by the books he reads.’ A.L. Rowse (historian)

If that is true then I wonder what my own collection of books would reveal about me. I have small collections of travel books by Pico Iyer, Paul Theroux, VS Naipaul and others, books by Elmore Leonard, Dave Barry, Somerset Maugham, books on writing, fountain pens, books on books and reading, autobiographies and memoirs especially of writers and movie stars, and scores of other titles, mostly about humor. The sight of all these books scattered around my house sometimes consoles me that my books are one of the few things that make me someone more than just a faceless bureaucrat.

All these days, watching books clutter up every space in the house, I was feeling that I had with me far too many books. But in AHWB I read about people with collections of books running into thousands. My pathetic collection of a couple of hundred books is nothing before the number of books some of the people featured in the book- Seymour Durst (12000),Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett (15000 books), Victor Niederhoffer (18000 books), Ruth and Marvin Sackner (35000) and others who have thousands of books arranged in beautiful bookshelves in their equally beautiful homes and libraries.

One reason I love AHWB is the photographs of the people and their homes filled with bookshelves. Some of the people have the sort of homes I would love to live in if I were to earn as much as they earn. Surprisingly, many of the people in the book happen to be architects or designers like Laurie Mallett, Thomas Britt, Michele Oka Doner, Michael Graves, Robert A. M. Stern, Bill Blass, David Hicks, Joan Vass and of course, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and so many others.

Some of those people whose collections in ‘At Home With Books’ that I have found to be fascinating are those by Nicolas Barker, Barbara, Richard Howard, Kitty D’Alessio, John and Jane Stubbs whose collection is the first in the book, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (my favorite) and too many others to be mentioned here.

It is both humbling and inspiring to read about the effort, money and passion some of the collectors put into collecting books. Some have actually built climate controlled rooms or libraries so that nothing affects their precious books. Some are dedicated to building a collection on a particular theme like Seymour Durst who has thousand of books on New York, Loren and Frances Rothschild on Samuel Johnson and others who have collections on art, music and such culturally relevant subjects. In a way they are preserving culture for the future generations. I think all book lovers owe a lot to these indefatigable collectors.

What I realized after going through the articles on these dedicated and passionate collectors is that I too should bring some kind of an order to my book collection however simple it is. It makes sense to keep all your books neatly arranged in bookshelves which is where they belong. Having them in that manner gives the books the place they deserve and at the same time imparts a sense of order to one’s life. Another side effect of the book was that I was able to convince my family members that I am not the only one in the world who buys too books and fills the house.

I had been reading about Hay-On-Wye since long and had wondered how it would be. There was a separate chapter in At Home With Books on this book town on the border of England and Wales with a lot of pictures of its more than two dozen book stores and also how Richard Booth thought up the idea of such a place. It is one of my dreams to visit the place sometime in the future.

Buying several copies of the same title isn’t a habit only I have because apparently there is another person, Peter Canell who acquires several copies of his favorite books and gives them away to his friends. (Maybe here I can confess that I picked up the paperback copy of Joan Didion’s ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ at the same sale.)Then there is stuff about “Library Organizers” who will organize your book collection into a manageable affair which was quite interesting to read. There’s an entire chapter on specialist book binders and conservationists and I was fascinated to read that Richard Minsky binds books so well that they get stolen often.

There are chapters on how to start a book collection, on how to take care of your books containing advice I would do well to follow if I don’t want to lose my books to dampness, dust and insects. There are lists of dealers of antique, rare books in the USA and England, of people who manufacture library ladders, reading and almost everything related to collecting books.

I am glad I found this absolutely priceless book that everyone who loves books should read if not own. The book has given me a new perspective on the people who love books and collect them. It isn’t a book that one can find in your ordinary book store but I found it at a second hand book sale. This is what I mean when I say I am really lucky with books. But I am really curious how this book belonging to the British Library in Hyderabad made its way to the book sale.