I HAVE a recollection of some 18th-century Frenchman once writing: “Collectors are like a man who eats oysters – he chooses the best at first but ends up eating them all.”
Collectors will recognise this tendency. I confess I count myself in this camp, though I am having counselling to resist the urges.
For me it started with buying a first edition of Raymond Chandler’s 1953 classic, The Long Goodbye. Next it became a full set of American first editions. Then others.
They were always books that meant a lot to me – like Molesworth, Pooh or Dickens. With Dickens it was bound copies of some of his books as they were first published in monthly instalments. The pleasure was in reading him...
Keyword added to your list