Francis A. Miniter wrote:
On 11/5/2012 9:34 AM, J wrote:
Do you ever resell, Francis? I only seems to read posts about goodies
added to your collection...


I have not been selling, but I am thinking about doing so. I am
reaching retirement age and I have the example of my mother, a book
collector as well who, in retirement, quoted regularly to dealers who
listed requests on AB Bookman. The internet makes selling much easier
now and just the other day I was thinking I should look up the procedure
for listing books with ABE. I must admit that I have been fortunate in
my finds. Connecticut is a very good place for books, with all the New
York publishers who have made their homes here and NY dealers who did
the same, not to mention the plethora of colleges and universities.

I must admit to a not minor tug in the direction of keeping the books.
And when I feel that, I reflect on the mischievous novel _Possession_ by
A. S. Byatt, which explores the psychological aspects of the desire to
possess things. And I know that I cannot find duplicates of all my best
books so that I can sell and keep it too. But I am reasonably certain
that reality will prevail, and I will find myself in the position of the
elderly Portuguese book collector in Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel _The
Club Dumas_ , who book by book has to part with his collection to
maintain himself in hard times.


Francis A. Miniter

Hmmm. Those sound like two books I should read. I am also
struggling with these issues. I love my books, have lots of good
ones, but I need money--and, frankly, space. I ask myself why I
need to have books that are not in my domain (or in my domainS)
and am trying to convince myself that if they are in areas that I
have not even started to shelve and care relatively little about,
I SHOULD be able to part with them.

Jean B.