Any book collectors out there?

[Brainstormy]

Yesterday was Walt Whitman's 200th birthday and not coincidentally I suppose I sold on eBay last night a Deathbed Edition of Leaves of Grass that I had forgotten I'd even listed. Today I want it back and am in deep mourning. I know I'd already read it more than once. I know I hadn't touched it in years. But it want to HAVE it, you see, and go through this every time I sell a book I had originally bought for an "investment." Possibly all collectors of any kind are a little sick? But I know I'd never feel this badly if my Kindle died.

[Lochloosa]

1. I collected albums. At one point I had over 6000.

After moving 3 times in one year, I knew it was time to let go. Selling them was bittersweet. I had to let them go but meeting the buyers and talking about some of the choice ones was a great time. I'm sure they are sitting in a place of honor in someone else's collection.

As your book will be.

[FakeNoose]

2. The motivation is not to read the book

I guess I'll never be a book collector in that sense. I "collect" ebooks because I want to read them and I realize it's not the same thing at all. There's no value assigned to digital books once they've been purchased, and I doubt there would be a way to resell them. Of course I know how to share them or give them away, but again that isn't your point.

Collectors of printed paper books are a whole different breed. In another 50 years or so, hard-copy books will be like the buggy whips and theater capes of today - no longer used and out of fashion. If I owned a valuable first-edition book I'd have it under lock and key. It would be hidden away so nobody could steal it or handle/spoil it. Of course that also means that no one could read the book either. Unless they read the digital version and kept their hands off my valuable hard-copy. Well now I'm back to my original point.