Posted on 03/23/2006 11:53:14 AM PST by Physicist
Law librarian Rick Ramponi's collection of 3,000 regional cookbooks --including "Talk About Good" from the Lafayette, La., Junior League and "Shalom on the Range," which celebrates southwestern Jewish cuisine -- was manageable while he lived in a large house in Kalorama.
But when he moved to a one-bedroom Dupont Circle apartment with a partner who collects large art and architecture books, Ramponi had to exile those cherished culinary texts to a pair of rented storage units several blocks away.
Since 2002, he has spent more than $5,000 to keep them there, which "may be more than they are all worth," he concedes. "But there is a sentimental attachment and I associate them with places I've been, people I know."
Accountant Jennifer Kimball, who is studying for a master's degree in English, and policy analyst Matt Cail, who has a pair of master's degrees, call themselves "huge bibliophiles." Thus their chief requirement when condo shopping two years ago was enough wall space for shelves to hold their books. Already they have run out of space in their Alexandria flat. "Next year we will start looking for a house to buy that has room for children," she says. And books.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I moved halfway across the country two years ago, for grad school. My book collection took up more space than my clothes, kitchen supplies, and knick-knacks. It'll be the same when I move again this spring. Still I doubt I have more than a thousand books, but I'm young.
I'll probably weed out about seventy or so paperbacks before packing, things that I'll never read again that I got from library sales or used bookstores, but abandon my collection? I'd rather throw out my clothes.
I saw them build new libraries years ago. But rather than "cluter" their nice new shelves with a bunch of "old mangled books", they left the shelves mostly empty as they were stocked with new titles.
And meanwhile the downtown library hoarded collections and kept much in storage (which is part of the reason for the annual purging).
Rather than give up parts of the library (which already has an interbranch loan system) to other branches, they stored books and deprived other libraries of books.
Why couldn't they have had basic standard texts at most branches with a focus on petrochemical, sports, cooking, entertainment, art, texas history, european history, medical, etc. at different branches where they might be more referenced?
I just d/l'd Einstein's Relativity among other stuff. Kind of a pain in that the equations are separate gif files.
Not that I am a whiz at them, or even comprehend them, but swapping between photo and text is annoying.
And then there's the Adobe image viewing on the small screen.
Still, there's something to be said for paper and ink.
I am so glad to hear you say that. That's one of my big problems right now.
We are building an apartment in the upstairs portion of our Commercial building. So far we have installed over 13 grand worth of cabinets (wholesale) which are solely for books.
We are avid readers and haunt used books stores and library sales.
I have read 'Summa Theologica'. After reading that I know I'm not going to heaven. He doesn't think anyone is, but him.
Oh yes. When we remodeled my house recently, we narrowed our main hallway by building in bookcases on either side. I have no idea how many titles are in my collection, but I now have 46 linear feet of 12 foot tall bookcases (minus the cutouts for the doors and the fish tank). The case is about 2/3rds full at the moment.
My house is about 60 years old and belonged to the parents of a local judge. They were avid readers who created the library with built-in shelves from floor to 10' ceilings. It's truly a paradise and I'm am honestly blessed. I'll have to ask my maids how they keep the books so clean - I'm a tad spoiled. ;-)
Could you imagine the library we would have if all the folks here on this thread combined their books!
WOW!
The stereotype about the Scholastics is that they were engaged in Theological Gymnastics (Do Angels have navels? Are lobsters immortal?) as opposed to actual worship.
If a book is interesting, and not readily available from a large public or university library, it is worth keeping.
I really don't care about the financial value for most of them at all.
(resigned chuckled) Oh yeah. I bought the bookcases to get more shelf space, now I need more bookcases to get more shelf space. (sigh)
I'm in a vicious, vicious cycle. Thank goodness for ebooks or I would just be completely doomed. You'd find my body under a fallen stack of books. I have 14 bookcases of various sizes in my house.
hmmm...I may need a bigger house. (thinking reflectively)
I've done worse than that. On at least one occasion that I know about, I've accidentally bought back my own discarded duplicate. (I've come close several other times.)
To prevent that I now just let the duplicates pile up. I've also made the decision that for the imprints I collect, different printings do not count as duplicates.
Indeed I have. In the Latin.
A Professor friend of mine calls it one of the great 'Boring Works' of Western Civilization along with Augustine's City of God.
I'm going to guess that your professor friend has no theological works on his "All Time Top 100" list of favorite tomes.
As a believing Catholic I enjoy both works immensely - the Latin of Augustine is much more rhetorical and highly polished than that of Thomas Aquinas and therefore more difficult to read.
I find the Summa Theologiae to be of much greater practical use in day-to-day living than The City Of God - I'm always dipping back into it. Although it's about 4000 pages long, it's written in the form of about 3000 topical articles arranged in a logical, hierarchical pattern, so it's very user friendly.
Thanks -- it's on my "Stuff I want for mother's day" list!
No I don't have "Booked to Die" in a first. My husband would have a heart attack if I spent two grand on one book. But I do have the others, as you, in signed firsts.
Crikey ! ... I used to think I had a big collection of books (800+) until my wife told me that this was a 'decent' sized book collection for russians.
Now I read more than ever, gotta get that library built!
Welcome to the gentle madness. :-)
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