Books

I collect books. This page is about what I look for and how the collection came together.

I have always loved reading and collecting physical books, for as long as I can remember. This probably started with some old Hardy Boys hardbacks my father gave me, but really took off when I bought a well-used paperback copy of Champions of the Force from a local library.

For the uninitiated, this is from the Star Wars Expanded Universe of books (which Lucasfilm has since renamed "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon). Even though this was the third book in a trilogy where I hadn't read the first two books, the story hooked me, and led to my life-long love of science fiction, and speculative fiction more broadly.

(Of course, I also have similarly old and well-read paperback copies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings of a similar vintage, which led to my similar love of fantasy.)

Over time, my library grew as I bought more books to read (and reread—many times in a few cases). This started out as paperbacks, then I began to buy hardbacks when possible, even upgrading some of my earlier books.

Then, a few years ago, I discovered The Folio Society and Subterranean Press, which make illustrated, sewn, cloth-bound editions of books, meant to last. Subterranean Press in particular focuses on speculative fiction, and releases limited copies of each edition; I have a lot of books from them. These were my gateway into the world of fine-press books.

What I collect#

While I still buy the occasional trade hardback edition, most books I add to my collection these days come from publishers of genre fiction, limited-edition books like Subterranean Press, Centipede Press, and Grim Oak Press, and fine-press publishers like Conversation Tree Press, Curious King, No Reply Press (based out of Portland!), and Suntup Editions.

My book collection mostly focuses on speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, and some gothic horror / weird fiction. (If you aren't familiar with weird fiction, think Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.) Beyond these genres, I tend to collect all of the books made by my favorite fine presses. Broadly, I also collect some science books, literature, and books on crafting (woodworking, DIY home projects and building, bookbinding).

Fine press books#

There's no official definition of "fine press," but the presses whose books I collect converge on roughly the same concept: a book made as an object worth keeping, rather than a cheap, mass-produced container for the text. In practice that means type and layout chosen with care, commissioned artwork, sewn and often hand bindings, archival papers, and materials like European bookcloth, hand-marbled paper, and leather—all in a small numbered edition that isn't reprinted. Conversation Tree Press puts it as "letterpress printing, hand binding, fine materials, and a harmonious design."

Many of these books are letterpress printed, where inked type is pressed into the sheet and leaves a faint texture you can feel on the page. That's my preference, and some presses do nothing else: No Reply Press prints every edition on a hand-operated press and binds each copy by hand, without using any electricity at all. But letterpress isn't the whole definition; some fine-press books are printed using offset lithography, particularly for longer books. The craft is in the whole object, not just the press it went through.

For me, the draw of these books is the hand-made nature, and the human craft that goes into them. I'm also a sucker for handmade marbled paper used on covers and for endpapers.

The whole catalog#

My whole collection is cataloged on LibraryThing, which is more current and more complete than anything I'd maintain by hand here: