# How big is your library?



## philistine (May 27, 2013)

Most, if not all members of this forum are avid readers, and in many cases, I'd assume they have sizable personal libraries. 

How big is your collection? Last time I checked, I had around six hundred volumes. I bought another much needed bookcase recently, as I've taken to stuffing books into the nooks and crannies of my existing bookcases.


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## Staff Deployment (May 28, 2013)

Six hundred is a preposterously huge library. A few houses back my family had a collection of about two hundred, but now it's been reduced one way or another down to about 75. About thirty of those are mine, but the collection is growing; just got a shipment of six, with another order coming in. Very excited for new books.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

Staff Deployment said:


> Six hundred is a preposterously huge library. A few houses back my family had a collection of about two hundred, but now it's been reduced one way or another down to about 75. About thirty of those are mine, but the collection is growing; just got a shipment of six, with another order coming in. Very excited for new books.



So I've been told. It's like Dr Faustus's study in here! I'm expecting Mephistopheles to leap from behind two volumes of Raymond Chandler any second now...

I know the feeling of excitement upon a delivery. There are books coming in the mail almost every day here (although it's calmed down in recent weeks), and it tends to feel like some sort of continuous Christmas morning, unwrapping half a dozen books every day!


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## Pluralized (May 28, 2013)

We have five bookcases, and a few boxes of books that have already outlived their usefulness. I tried to give them away, but sadly nobody seems to want to carry them. I'd suspect we have five hundred, but a large percentage are paperback. I have a lot of non-fiction in there too, and a very eclectic mix of esoteric books from the Bhagavad Gita to old Sir Francis Bacon, Oscar Wilde to Mark Twain, Steinbeck and Hemingway to Irvine Welsh and Aravind Adiga. 

Most of my library was accumulated through swapping on Craigslist. I had a bunch of bicycle parts that weren't being used, and I strategically swapped them all for books, which has yielded a very special collection. which I intend on reading most of. The problem with so many books is analysis paralysis, like anything else. I normally have three or four concurrent reads going.


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## JosephB (May 28, 2013)

I don't have a library. I just have a bunch a books. We have matching entrances on both sides of our living room -- my brother built floor to ceiling book cases on either side of those. He built a large book case along one wall of our den and we have two large free standing bookcases in our bedroom. I inhereted a lot of great books from my grandfather and I just got all my parents books as well -- most are still in boxes. My favorites among those are a leather bound set of Dickens from 1910 -- both my mom and dad used to read to us from those -- so a lot of good memories are attached to them -- but at this point, they're really too delicate to read. A lot of my moms books are big art and art history books as well as novels. All of these are hardbacks -- we give away most of our paperbacks or sell them in garage sales.


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## TheWonderingNovice (May 28, 2013)

Its is as big as a small closet


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## Angelicpersona (May 28, 2013)

Not nearly as large as I'd like. Between hubby and myself we have about 50 books, mostly ones that I carried with me when I moved in. Books are just so freaking expensive up here in the great white north (which really doesn't make sense to me considering that the exchange rate is so close) that it takes a special occasion to go out and buy a new one.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

Pluralized said:


> I have a lot of non-fiction in there too, and a very eclectic mix of esoteric books from the Bhagavad Gita to old Sir Francis Bacon, Oscar Wilde to Mark Twain, Steinbeck and Hemingway to Irvine Welsh and Aravind Adiga.



I'm much the same. I have a good portion of everything really- historical texts, both modern and classical, poetry, from Greek times to Carol Ann Duffy, art books, books of Victorian prints and etchings, a large collection of Asian texts, dramas, novels, reference, theological texts, several volumes of French works, some Dutch, and my unashamedly large collection of Victorian pornographic/erotic novels. 

I used to read half a dozen at any given time, though now I just stick one, go through it, before moving onto the next. 



Angelicpersona said:


> Not nearly as large as I'd like. Between hubby and myself we have about 50 books, mostly ones that I carried with me when I moved in. Books are just so freaking expensive up here in the great white north (which really doesn't make sense to me considering that the exchange rate is so close) that it takes a special occasion to go out and buy a new one.



I buy used books almost exclusively. I get most of them from either Amazon or Abebooks (ever since a fracas with eBay, I rarely use their site anymore), charity/second hand shops, or through antiques centres. The last new book I bought was about three months back, a picture volume of Magritte's paintings.


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## Pluralized (May 28, 2013)

This seems like a great opportunity to *pimp this website*. A tremendous resource for book-hounds.

Philistine - since I read that, I can't stop thinking about what Victorian erotica must be like. Lots of toe-licking and hand-drawn sketches, I'll bet.


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## JosephB (May 28, 2013)

I've seen Victorian erotica. You know, once you've seen one woman's ankles, you've pretty much seen them all.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

Pluralized said:


> This seems like a great opportunity to *pimp this website*. A tremendous resource for book-hounds.
> 
> Philistine - since I read that, I can't stop thinking about what Victorian erotica must be like. Lots of toe-licking and hand-drawn sketches, I'll bet.



That's the best website I've come across for a good while. Damn it, why did I give away all my spare copies to friends! Whhhhhhhhhy (pounds table with fists). 

It's... out there, put it that way. To start with, I'd recommend the anonymous, and delightfully louche novel _Raped on the Railway: a True Story of a Lady who was first ravished and then flagellated on the Scotch Express. _It's generally believed to have been written by Swinburne (who had a wild side, as it happens), though nothing has been confirmed. Oscar Wilde is also a potential candidate for its authorship.


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## Dave Watson (May 28, 2013)

It's not the size of your library that matters. It's what you _do _with it that counts.

Personally I currently own 4 physical books. I usually just pass them on to friends once I'm done with them. Plus, having a two year old in the house just means I'd spend hours every day continually picking books up off the floor.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

Dave Watson said:


> It's not the size of your library that matters. It's what you _do _with it that counts.



So what you're saying is... it's quite bad form to display my books in the living room, for the express purpose of impressing any guests?

Well.


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## Dave Watson (May 28, 2013)

philistine said:


> So what you're saying is... it's quite bad form to display my books in the living room, for the express purpose of impressing any guests?
> 
> Well.



Perhaps. Or maybe I was merely making an immature penis joke. Fnarr fnarr.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

Dave Watson said:


> Perhaps. Or maybe I was merely making an immature penis joke. Fnarr fnarr.



That's alright then.


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## Kevin (May 28, 2013)

So many things I was tempted to say. How big is my library? Six-foot-eight tall by about eight feet wide-- a built-in bookcase in the 'dungeon'.I would have more, but I lost several boxes of mostly paperbacks that were stored in a leaky outside storage shed before I got the basement dug (casualties of compromise). I miss those Frazetta covers and the Barbara Remingtons; all pre-1980.


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## Angelicpersona (May 28, 2013)

> I buy used books almost exclusively. I get most of them from either Amazon or Abebooks (ever since a fracas with eBay, I rarely use their site anymore), charity/second hand shops, or through antiques centres. The last new book I bought was about three months back, a picture volume of Magritte's paintings.


Well, now that you mention it, there is a used book store up the hill from me. I'm off today and tomorrow, perhaps I should go take a look... wait.... You're just trying to distract me from my writing, aren't you?
(Actually, I likely need to either distract myself or fully focus. Darned fight scenes...)


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## Sam (May 28, 2013)

About one hundred in the bookcase in my room, another hundred in the bookcase on the landing, and another hundred and fifty (there or thereabouts) in the two bookcases I left at my parents' house when I moved out because I have no room for them anywhere else. 

All in all, approximately three hundred because my mother is a clean freak and regularly moves them, only for me to add more to the bookcase when I visit and take those that she condemned to the dusty attic back with me to my place. 

Most of them I bought in various sales across the country and have never gotten around to reading them. Now, my Kindle Fire has made the process largely obsolete.


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## PiP (May 28, 2013)

Before moving to Portugal we gave most of our books away due to the exhorbitant removal costs. I was not a happy. Now every time I go to a flea market or charity shop I'm always searching for English books; any books and all genres. In fact, I've developed a seige mentality and now have several hundred books just in case I find time to read them.


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## FleshEater (May 28, 2013)

Kevin said:


> So many things I was tempted to say. How big is my library? Six-foot-eight tall by about eight feet wide-- a built-in bookcase in the 'dungeon'.I would have more, but I lost several boxes of mostly paperbacks that were stored in a leaky outside storage shed before I got the basement dug (casualties of compromise). I miss those Frazetta covers and the Barbara Remingtons; all pre-1980.



OUCH!!!

Came back to offer up something to the thread. I probably only have 100 books (I've never counted). My pride and joy however, is a first edition pressing of Dario Argento's Art of Darkness. Now, if only I would have had him sign it when I met him!


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## J Anfinson (May 28, 2013)

Probably somewhere between 200 and 300 books. Dean Koontz and Stephen King fill my bookcase, with many other authors filling what little space is left. I desperately need to get more bookcases. The rest of them are scattered throughout the house on tables or in boxes.


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## philistine (May 28, 2013)

J Anfinson said:


> Probably somewhere between 200 and 300 books. Dean Koontz and Stephen King fill my bookcase, with many other authors filling what little space is left. I desperately need to get more bookcases. The rest of them are scattered throughout the house on tables or in boxes.



If the film _Finding Forrester_ taught us anything, it's that it's cool to stack hundreds of books on your dining table.


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## J Anfinson (May 28, 2013)

Wow, that looks like my desk alright.


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## John_O (May 28, 2013)

I don't own a large amount of books, around 50. Mostly books about weather & animals. But I check out books at my local library constantly.


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## Staff Deployment (May 28, 2013)

philistine said:


> If the film _Finding Forrester_ taught us anything, it's that it's cool to stack hundreds of books on your dining table.



I remember recieving a DVD of that for my birthday. The back cover said that the guy's secret passion was "WRITHING." I never watched it. Figured youtube videos of epilepsy patients would cover that need should it ever arise.


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## philistine (May 29, 2013)

Staff Deployment said:


> I remember recieving a DVD of that for my birthday. The back cover said that the guy's secret passion was "WRITHING." I never watched it. Figured youtube videos of epilepsy patients would cover that need should it ever arise.



It's actually a decent film. I still remember that line, 'women will sleep with you if you write a book- even if you write a _bad_ book.'


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## FleshEater (May 29, 2013)

philistine said:


> It's actually a decent film. I still remember that line, 'women will sleep with you if you write a book- even if you write a _bad_ book.'



Unless you're married...then the women gripe at you and bug you when you're thinking.

Or maybe that's just me.


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## philistine (May 29, 2013)

FleshEater said:


> Unless you're married...then the women gripe at you and bug you when you're thinking.
> 
> Or maybe that's just me.



You could always play a drunken game of William Tell...

That's all I'm saying.


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## TheWritingWriter (May 29, 2013)

My husband & I are avid yard-salers & flea-marketers, making purchasing books very inexpensive & easy to do. We aren't really bookworms as much as we are book HOARDERS. Our collection ranges from 2 bookcases to three piles and a small stock in the back of our jeep. I am more capable of weeding out books I know I won't want and accepting of the fact that I will probably NEVER read some of these. My husband is a completely different case. Now, when we go shopping or yard-saling, I have to constantly scold him against buying books. We've got a nice big box of books in our storage room to sell & get rid of ourselves. All I have to do now is actually read what I decided to keep...


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## philistine (May 29, 2013)

TheWritingWriter said:


> My husband & I are avid yard-salers & flea-marketers, making purchasing books very inexpensive & easy to do. We aren't really bookworms as much as we are book HOARDERS. Our collection ranges from 2 bookcases to three piles and a small stock in the back of our jeep. I am more capable of weeding out books I know I won't want and accepting of the fact that I will probably NEVER read some of these. My husband is a completely different case. Now, when we go shopping or yard-saling, I have to constantly scold him against buying books. We've got a nice big box of books in our storage room to sell & get rid of ourselves. All I have to do now is actually read what I decided to keep...



My grandfather does something similar to that. He'll scour book lists, and then decide he must own every single book, often with no intention of reading a single one. He's got the entire Times greatest 100 books ever, the greatest American novels, etc.


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## Lewdog (May 29, 2013)

I used to have a rather large collection of books, but when I started to have to move, I had to get rid of it.  I would go to flea markets, Half-Priced Book stores, yard sales, and anywhere else where I could possibly find a good deal.  At one time I had almost every Patricia Cornwell book and had read them except her cook book and Christmas novel.  I had almost every Anne Rice book, Thomas Hardy books, and several Kurt Vonnegut books.  I never was able to get any first editions, but I did have a rather rare compilation book of Vonnegut that was pretty cool and still had the dusk jacket.


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## Morkonan (Jun 2, 2013)

I can't count my library... It's all over the house. I have books, everywhere. It'd have to number in the hundreds and that's just the ones that aren't out on "permanent loan" to friends and the like. Beside having books all over the place, I have a "Library" in my home with bookshelves that run the length of two walls. It's just a FROG (Finished Room Over Garage) but the shelves are crammed full of books. In the "Office", where I am now, I have over fifty and I don't even do a lot of reading in here and most of them are not reference books. I probably have a similar number in my car... (I buy a lot of books when traveling and haven't cleaned it out from the past couple of trips, yet.)


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## moderan (Jun 2, 2013)

I have @ 2500 physical books wandering around here. Used to have 14k+ but moving downsizing took care of most of those. I have a couple hundred thousand kindle books. Most of "the classics" are free, and plenty of my preferred vintage fiction is available gratis as well. I have legit copies of all of the works of most of the Black Mask people, a goodly chunk of the Amazing and Campbell writers, lots of Boucher F&SF, Ferman F&SF, Pohl Galaxy...tons of modern fiction...and then there is the research library, which is shockingly large and of a breadth and depth unheard-of pre-kindle, pre-gutenberg. Ranges from treatises on alchemy and grimoires to exobiology and quantum physics.
Acquiring new "books" is one of my chief methods of gratification. I also have ten, fifteen year runs of many sf magazines, including the complete Weird Tales and Omni.
In the real world I have a lot of first-edition sf paper and book club editions. A full set of Ace doubles, the original paperback of Dune. the original paperbacks of the Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine, other stuff I found while combing used bookstores in my youth. A complete set of first-edition Ian Fleming. And hundreds of graphic novels.


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## Staff Deployment (Jun 2, 2013)

moderan said:


> I have @ 2500 physical books wandering around here. Used to have 14k+ but moving downsizing took care of most of those. I have a couple hundred thousand kindle books. Most of "the classics" are free, and plenty of my preferred vintage fiction is available gratis as well. I have legit copies of all of the works of most of the Black Mask people, a goodly chunk of the Amazing and Campbell writers, lots of Boucher F&SF, Ferman F&SF, Pohl Galaxy...tons of modern fiction...and then there is the research library, which is shockingly large and of a breadth and depth unheard-of pre-kindle, pre-gutenberg. Ranges from treatises on alchemy and grimoires to exobiology and quantum physics.
> Acquiring new "books" is one of my chief methods of gratification. I also have ten, fifteen year runs of many sf magazines, including the complete Weird Tales and Omni.
> In the real world I have a lot of first-edition sf paper and book club editions. A full set of Ace doubles, the original paperback of Dune. the original paperbacks of the Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine, other stuff I found while combing used bookstores in my youth. A complete set of first-edition Ian Fleming. And hundreds of graphic novels.



Hot . . . daaaaaang! That is singularly monumental.


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## Morkonan (Jun 2, 2013)

moderan said:


> I have @ 2500 physical books wandering around here. Used to have 14k+ but moving downsizing took care of most of those. I have a couple hundred thousand kindle books. Most of "the classics" are free, and plenty of my preferred vintage fiction is available gratis as well. I have legit copies of all of the works of most of the Black Mask people, a goodly chunk of the Amazing and Campbell writers, lots of Boucher F&SF, Ferman F&SF, Pohl Galaxy...tons of modern fiction...and then there is the research library, which is shockingly large and of a breadth and depth unheard-of pre-kindle, pre-gutenberg. Ranges from treatises on alchemy and grimoires to exobiology and quantum physics.
> Acquiring new "books" is one of my chief methods of gratification. I also have ten, fifteen year runs of many sf magazines, including the complete Weird Tales and Omni.
> In the real world I have a lot of first-edition sf paper and book club editions. A full set of Ace doubles, the original paperback of Dune. the original paperbacks of the Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine, other stuff I found while combing used bookstores in my youth. A complete set of first-edition Ian Fleming. And hundreds of graphic novels.



I'd love to spend a year in your library. 

"What's that?" asked the visitor.

"That's Morkonan," replied Moderan. "He went back in the racks to find a first edition "War of the Worlds" and hasn't found his way out, yet." 

"Oh holy of holies, an original "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" radio broadcast record," exclaimed Morkonan.

"He gets excited easily, doesn't he?" remarked the visitor.

"Yeah. You should have seen it when he found that popup Barbarella comic book."


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## iflewoverthecuckoosnest (Jun 2, 2013)

moderan said:


> I have @ 2500 physical books wandering around here. Used to have 14k+ but moving downsizing took care of most of those. I have a couple hundred thousand kindle books. Most of "the classics" are free, and plenty of my preferred vintage fiction is available gratis as well. I have legit copies of all of the works of most of the Black Mask people, a goodly chunk of the Amazing and Campbell writers, lots of Boucher F&SF, Ferman F&SF, Pohl Galaxy...tons of modern fiction...and then there is the research library, which is shockingly large and of a breadth and depth unheard-of pre-kindle, pre-gutenberg. Ranges from treatises on alchemy and grimoires to exobiology and quantum physics.
> Acquiring new "books" is one of my chief methods of gratification. I also have ten, fifteen year runs of many sf magazines, including the complete Weird Tales and Omni.
> In the real world I have a lot of first-edition sf paper and book club editions. A full set of Ace doubles, the original paperback of Dune. the original paperbacks of the Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine, other stuff I found while combing used bookstores in my youth. A complete set of first-edition Ian Fleming. And hundreds of graphic novels.



Alchemy? Campbell?! Original Bradbury paperbacks?!!  My binding's all a-flustered.  That is truly impressive. 
Last I checked I have 300 physical books and 94 Kindle books.


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## Lafitte (Jun 3, 2013)

I lived over a book store for 3 years after living next to a library for 4 years.  I developed the very good habit of not collecting books.  I find that I've read far more than I can recall.  Therefor, I can read again those I don't recall the next time they pass my hand.  Like old friends back from long journeys, we have new perspectives to share one day.  Or, maybe we never meet again.  The best books leave the most indelible impression and need not be read again.  The worst ones shouldn't be read again.  And, the ones between are best left to chance.  Therefor, I need no book collection.  S'Just me though.


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## philistine (Jun 3, 2013)

moderan said:


> I have @ 2500 physical books wandering around here. Used to have 14k+ but moving downsizing took care of most of those. I have a couple hundred thousand kindle books. Most of "the classics" are free, and plenty of my preferred vintage fiction is available gratis as well. I have legit copies of all of the works of most of the Black Mask people, a goodly chunk of the Amazing and Campbell writers, lots of Boucher F&SF, Ferman F&SF, Pohl Galaxy...tons of modern fiction...and then there is the research library, which is shockingly large and of a breadth and depth unheard-of pre-kindle, pre-gutenberg. Ranges from treatises on alchemy and grimoires to exobiology and quantum physics.
> Acquiring new "books" is one of my chief methods of gratification. I also have ten, fifteen year runs of many sf magazines, including the complete Weird Tales and Omni.
> In the real world I have a lot of first-edition sf paper and book club editions. A full set of Ace doubles, the original paperback of Dune. the original paperbacks of the Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine, other stuff I found while combing used bookstores in my youth. A complete set of first-edition Ian Fleming. And hundreds of graphic novels.



My god. Supposedly, D.H Lawrence only had a library of 2,000 books or so. If they're in any sort of organised state, would you mind providing us with a picture?

Also, did Daedalus design your library?


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## escorial (Jun 3, 2013)

one..finish it take it back..get another


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## SarahStrange (Jun 3, 2013)

I wish it was bigger. I had to get rid of most of my books because of a move. I lost some of my favorites. it's getting bigger now, though. Hopefully I can keep them this time.


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## Robert_S (Jun 3, 2013)

My collection is small enough to move in a few totes. A good thing, because I can find books I wasn't sure I had bought.


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## Al D (Jun 4, 2013)

It's not like I'm obsessed or anything, but I own over 5,000 books. I've worked in either bookstores or libraries my entire life. They... accumulate. Only about 3,000 are on display. The rest are boxed up in storage. I miss them.
I swear I'm not obsessed.


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## moderan (Jun 6, 2013)

philistine said:


> My god. Supposedly, D.H Lawrence only had a library of 2,000 books or so. If they're in any sort of organised state, would you mind providing us with a picture?
> 
> Also, did Daedalus design your library?


They're in Arizona, which is by no means an organized state. And in boxes, on top of things, under things, behind things, on top of things. We moved to these new digs about eight months ago. I have steadfastly refused so far to acquire shelving, having become accustomed to a congeries of cardboard ( as opposed to a congress of cardboard, which is how new boxes are generated in Washington DC.  )
Forrest J. Ackerman had an sf library surpassing mine, with an estimated sixty thousand volumes. He passed on before he was able to acquire a Kindle. I once had the pleasure of talking books with him, in a tiki bar a block away from the O'Hare Hilton (where they hold the annual ChiCon). Was never able to visit his home while he existed on this plane, alas.
Those who wish to visit, may, if you can survive the heat. Periodically I make available such portions of the library that are strictly legal, culled from places like Project Gutenberg. The ones that aren't...well, I combed hundreds of now-defunct blogs and webpages and winnowed through massive torrents in order to acquire them. I am in the process of turning every one into a .mobi file. Several folks here have received samplings


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## Sam (Jun 6, 2013)

moderan said:


> They're in Arizona, which is by no means an organized state. And in boxes, on top of things, under things, behind things, on top of things. We moved to these new digs about eight months ago. I have steadfastly refused so far to acquire shelving, having become accustomed to a congeries of cardboard ( as opposed to a congress of cardboard, which is how new boxes are generated in Washington DC.  )
> Forrest J. Ackerman had an sf library surpassing mine, with an estimated sixty thousand volumes. He passed on before he was able to acquire a Kindle. I once had the pleasure of talking books with him, in a tiki bar a block away from the O'Hare Hilton (where they hold the annual ChiCon). Was never able to visit his home while he existed on this plane, alas.
> Those who wish to visit, may, if you can survive the heat. Periodically I make available such portions of the library that are strictly legal, culled from places like Project Gutenberg. The ones that aren't...well, I combed hundreds of now-defunct blogs and webpages and winnowed through massive torrents in order to acquire them. I am in the process of turning every one into a .mobi file. Several folks here have received samplings



Indeed.  

The method of transferring many file types to .mobi is in itself straightforward, but the process is an incredibly lengthy one. I've done it before, along with other naughty things such as ripping the DRM from a .mobi purchased through Amazon's Whispernet, and it's the sort of thing that would behove a person to make a strong pot of tea or coffee beforehand -- or preferably something stronger. 

Incidentally, my Kindle library is at the moment less than my physical library. It's not as appreciable as yours quite yet. I have the files; haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. All in all I have about 2,000 awaiting mass transfer. That'll be a job for a rainy day.


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## Meli (Jun 8, 2013)

I just got rid of about 100 books because of a big international move (I managed to save about ten or fifteen), but I returned to my collection of 200-300 books. I haven't counted them outright--my library is spider city--but I'd say that's a pretty accurate guess. This count doesn't include my digital library; I don't know whether I can really consider it mine.


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