Becoming a Collector

I recently came to the realisation that I might soon be settling down. And by settling down I mean moving into a place large enough to have a chair of uber softness and structure upon which to read and a book shelf that says to all the paintings in the room not the f#@K on my side of the wall you don't.

With the thought of such a large book shelf came the question of how to fill it. I recently moved to the US and had to leave 99% of my books behind, so starting fresh I was.

The books I did bring over where my first editions of Richard Bachman's, (AKA Stephen King) " The Long Walk" and "The Running Man". I also have an 18th edition of the The Importance of Being Earnest and few other nice older books with endearing inscriptions etc. So with that as my base I wondered how to proceed. I was on a budget I could not just go out and by all my favourites.

Looking online I found sites like Abebooks, VJBooks and Albris which were great for finding good books with information behind them to back them up. Amazon was good for location but generally provided less information so I found less reliable for serious purchases. Finally when all else fails, or as a first option, try bookfinder.com for an extensive look across the net for anything you might need.

Of course some books should only be bought if you are a millionaire or if you find them as buried treasure at a garage sale. Starship Troopers, Dune, Princess Bride, 1984 and Lord of the Flies are all 1st Editions I hope to run into one day.