the art of collecting

 

here i am in paris, bibliophile most content, at shakespeare & company, 2012. it was tough to find using the map, which led me to an abandoned warehouse, so i had to stop for crepes (tough life, but when in france...) the bookstore was on my list to visit ever since learning about sylvia beach at the hotel of the same moniker in nye beach. 

(sylvia beach hotel where each room is named after a different author.  i see the place has been rebranded to "hotel sylvia" and i haven't been in years.  i shudder to think of any stainless steel or marble upgrades that everyone has come to expect because when i frequented, they had a resident cat, playing two truths and a lie with strangers at dinner was mandatory, and hot spiced wine was served in the puzzle room nightly at 10:30. plants vined in strange places, and everything was wonky, well-worn, unpolished, and utterly welcoming.  ken, warmness and wit personified, at the front desk, always wore red tennis shoes and it just wasn't the same after he passed away.)

rest in peace in a huge library, ken.  but i digress.

as much as i love food, i'd rather have books and be surrounded by them (as those who have helped me move can begrudgingly attest).  

i smell books for certain ink qualities, touch them (with gloves) in humidity-controlled monastic vaults (i love vellum!), and make travel plans around them. i took a workshop in colorado to learn the art of letterpress, crafted a leather-bound journal, and have been a proud library card carrier since i could write my name in cursive (3rd grade, more or less).  

always a book buyer, i've also been a bookseller at a shop that sadly no longer exists and a trip to powell's is one version of an ideal day.  i feel strangely ill at ease in homes with no books and never want to leave those that are lined with bookshelves. i went to new york specifically for the strand bookshop (and a klimpt exhibit at the MoMA).  and i've both read and watched "84 charing crossroads" (starring anne bancroft and anthony hopkins) more times than i can count. 

the documentary "the booksellers" (2019), which i found wonderful and quirky, is not just about tomes, but about collecting art and the art of collecting.   

the year this film was made i was dreaming up a trip to oxford to visit the bodleian library because new manuscripts were discovered in correspondence between my favorite poet gerard manley hopkins and robert bridges.  (you can't just walk into the bodleian, so i was also dreaming up how to get in on the basis of "research" i just hadn't come up with what legitimate research that might be, seeing as i'm getting my PhD on my own for free by going to the aforementioned library).

i just can't seem to cozy up with a kindle and have a current stack of paper books going on right now including, the librarianist by patrick dewitt.  (fun fact:  i've never met a librarian i didn't like).  some would say books are a dying art, but i don't think so.  i made the mistake of getting rid of my records because of the digital age.  my collection would likely be of some value by now.  and, while the internet does make auctions and collections more accessible, i think it will only serve to make physical books all the more sought after.  

it's wonderful to support independent bookstores although, as the documentary points out, they used to just be called bookstores because they were all independent.  

what's your favorite collection, be it books or otherwise?  the thrill of the hunt?  your personal cabinet of curiosities and wonderment?

and who knows, maybe my tweed jacket with elbow patches and pipe visit has been but delayed and i'll get into the bodleian yet.