Book Collecting as a Hobby (2003)

By P H Muir
This is obviously not the kind of book to pick up for a bit of light reading or escapism. About a year ago I read a book by Christopher Hitchens (an English columnist and probably a bona fide “intellectual” who has been very damning of many people, including Bill Clinton, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa) called “Letters to a Young Contrarian” where he writes a series of essays to a fictional student in order to give them advice about how to think for yourself (and other things).

I liked the general idea of the book and knew there were a few series based on this format – where the author imparts his knowledge to the reader through a series of letters. It is an easier, more immediate way to absorb information. I picked up “Book Collecting as a Hobby” for this reason and of course because I thought it might be useful for work.

The book is very informative and well written, with lots of information on what sets the value of a book, amongst other things, and provides an insight into the motivations of a true collector. (For example, he suggests as a project collecting one book to represent each year of the last 300 years, to show the change in printing, binding and presentation over the years. I thought people just collected books because they were by authors they liked!!). If you are looking to learn a little more about books and collecting, I recommend this one, but you may not be able to read it all in one go – I tended to read a chapter at a time and then have a break.

Rating: 8 out of 10