Building an "Epic Bookcase"... or not?

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

If it makes you happy, go for it. I would.

If you have the surplus money, sufficient space and what she said; make it so. Possession of things we like adds to happiness.
Apart from that you'd have a long-lasting analogue backup of your mostly favoured books.
I don't see nothing wrong in it.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

After losing a few (paperback) books, DVD's, and getting some stuff back heavily damaged or scratched, I've long ago decided not to lend any books or DVD's to anyone. NO EXCEPTIONS.

So true.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Such a bookcase is not for show only, as I intend to fully read or going to read every book that ends up in there. It'll not contain any books just because they're classics or because they're admired, such as the Brittanica. It's certainly not to impress anyone, as a previous poster mentioned. I couldn't care less about that.

You misunderstood me it seems. I own the set myself, and have read every volume. I suggested them because the books are not only great reads, they also look great, are better constructed and bound than most everything else that is available today and can be had for a pittance considering their quality.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

You misunderstood me it seems. I own the set myself, and have read every volume. I suggested them because the books are not only great reads, they also look great, are better constructed and bound than most everything else that is available today and can be had for a pittance considering their quality.

Ah, I understand While I'd love to have a Brittanica encyclopedia with regard to the looks of it, I don't see any point in having a 1950's edition or something. Most information in there is out of date or (of course) non-existent. I don't think I'd ever read it.

BTW: I like your avatar

[SolRaven]

I would say, good idea, and I bet your aren't the first or 10th person to do it. Personally, I have never liked paperback books, and have only kept them if they were reference books. Like you, I prefer reading on an ereader, but I still love hard cover books. I have also bought hard cover copies of books I have especially loved.

That being said, I have a one wall in my study, that's all book shelving. If there ever comes a day when it looks cluttered, or over crowded, I will thin it out, but for now, I like looking at them, and they add to the character of the room.

[Araucaria]

Sometimes a hardback just can't be turned into an ebook of the same kind - well, not if you have a Kindle, anyway.

I recently bought an old but clean copy of J A Mitchell's "The Last American" (this book probably isn't what you imagine it to be) after seeing a digitised version.

It has heavy paper and delicately coloured illustrations, drop capitals to die for, little images at the end of each chapter, and an embossed and illustrated cover: but the text (good though it is) is very short indeed.

An ideal physical object for someone interested in the archaeology of fantasy and science fiction. I couldn't resist it.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Ah, I understand

I think not.

While I'd love to have a Brittanica encyclopedia with regard to the looks of it, I don't see any point in having a 1950's edition or something. Most information in there is out of date or (of course) non-existent. I don't think I'd ever read it.

BTW: I like your avatar

I agree, but then I wasn't talking about the encyclopaedia. Had you looked at the link you'd have known what I was actually on about. Not to worry though, it's all the same to me.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

I think not.
...
I agree, but then I wasn't talking about the encyclopaedia. Had you looked at the link you'd have known what I was actually on about. Not to worry though, it's all the same to me.

What makes you think I have not looked at your link?

What I see, is that a complete 54 volume set is offered for about 10% of the price it would have cost normally, at the time of printing. One of the sets is printed in the 1950's.

If you're looking for books that have great print, paper and binding quality, I'm sure that those will fit the bill very nicely. However, for me, they wouldn't do because they are too old, or not extensive enough to serve as an encyclopedia, with regard to the information they contain.

If I still don't understand correctly, I'd like to request that you explain a bit further.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

What makes you think I have not looked at your link?

This remark: "While I'd love to have a Brittanica encyclopedia with regard to the looks of it, I don't see any point in having a 1950's edition or something." in which you appear to believe I'm talking about the encyclopaedia.

What I see, is that a complete 54 volume set is offered for about 10% of the price it would have cost normally, at the time of printing. One of the sets is printed in the 1950's.

.... However, for me, they wouldn't do because they are too old, or not extensive enough to serve as an encyclopedia, with regard to the information they contain.

If I still don't understand correctly, I'd like to request that you explain a bit further.

I'm not sure what to say, really. Schrödinger's What Is Life?, Voltaire's Candide, Pascal's Provincial Letters, de Montaigne's Essays and everything else that is included in the set will be exactly the same whether you purchase one printed in the 50s or one printed in the 90s or later. Given the large number of complete sets available, there's also no reason why you need to fixate on one printed quite that long ago.

Anyway, if anyone else out there has toyed with the idea of putting together a collection of the greatest and most influential books in Western history, then I can't recommend Great Books of the Western World enough. 54-60 (depending on edition) splendidly bound volumes for the price of a handful new hardcovers of middling structural quality.

[Katsunami]

Indeed. I have misunderstood and did think you were talking about a specific edition of the Brittanica encyclopedia itself. I was thrown off by this line:

"Great Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. to present the Great Books in a single package of 54 volumes."

Now, I may consider these books someday, assuming they can be bought or shipped to the Netherlands.

[Istvan diVega]

If you look at local second hand websites I'm sure you can find them in the Netherlands.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

If you look at local second hand websites I'm sure you can find them in the Netherlands.

I've actually found a copy for a very good price in the Netherlands, but in the end, I've decided not to go for this set. There is too much stuff in there that I either don't wish to read or am unable to read (the latter mostly being scientific stuff), and some stuff I'd have expected to be in there, isn't.

Everything I do want to read, I can also get as "normal" books.