Well, dear readers, why do we collect? I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such an opening salvo as why do we collect? Nowhere, that’s where. I’ve talked about my various and sundried collecto-manias over the years, and I don’t know that I’ve ever tried to get to the root of the various and sundried collector obsessions I’ve had. Some have been short-lived, but some have gone on for more than forty years. I suppose I am a collector at heart. I love the hunt, the chase, the thrill of the find, the bargain, the joy of getting a holy grail. I’ve collected soundtrack LPs for as long as I can remember, right up until CDs really took off. At one point, I think I had over 6,000 LPs. And first editions have been a mania of mine since the early 1970s. I can’t remember how I got interested in first editions or how I even knew about them, but I loved owning them and have had, over the years, three major collections. Each collection had its own amazing wonders, and included gorgeous first editions of books that are now worth upwards of twenty thousand dollars – books I’ll probably never own again. I had a superb first edition of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window, signed by Chandler to Billy Wilder in the year they wrote Double Indemnity. I had an almost complete set of Cornell Woolrich mysteries in primo condition. In those days, they could be had fairly reasonably – I have, in fact, an unbelievable sense of what will be collectible and it’s never failed. After I started collecting Woolrich, he took off, collectible-wise, and has continued to go up and up over the years, so that his rarest books are simply not affordable in collector condition. I probably had the best Woolrich collection in the world, condition-wise. I owned the incredibly rare advance readers copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. I had the best collection, condition-wise, of Ross Macdonald mysteries of anyone. Part of what made my collections unique was that I only went after great condition books of authors and novels I liked. I had great copies of my favorite books – including first UK copies of Orwell’s masterpieces, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. I also had a primo signed copy of the UK first of Lord Of The Flies. And on it went. I still collect, and have managed to get primo copies of some favorites – nothing like the old days, but still fun to have.
I collected movie posters. I friend got me interested, and I certainly got into it at a good time, and, at one point, I had over 1000 one-sheets – US, or country of origin, or foreign versions of US films. I had a lot of classic lobby cards, as well. I had Sullivan’s Travels, I had most of the classic 1950s sci-fi posters, but where I really excelled was in country of origin posters – I had one of the best collections in the country, including original posters on every Fellini film up through Juliet Of The Spirits, including the only known large poster on The White Sheik, my favorite Fellini film. I only have a handful of stuff, not very rare, but I do own the original Japanese poster on Kurosawa’s High and Low, which is quite rare and one of only a few known copies.
And, as I’ve written before, then came original illustration art. That’s been a very rewarding collecting mania. I’ve owned three original Saturday Evening Post covers, including a classic J.C. Leyendecker cover from 1921. I’ve owned Liberty Magazine covers, Collier’s covers, and many original paperback cover paintings. The wonderful thing about all these collecting manias is that I always invested wisely and had good instincts, and in times of great need I was able to turn the collections into instant cash and I never ever didn’t make a substantial profit on what I sold vis a vis what I paid. I’ve also collected a few other things, but not with nearly the gusto of first editions and art, my two main manias. Of course, the thrill of the chase, the hunt, finding bargains, and finding reasonably priced holy grails is pretty much a thing of the past, and we can thank both eBay and the Internet for that. There has been for the last ten years a whole generation of incredibly stupid buyers and some incredibly disreputable sellers who prey on them. It is somehow now okay to ask ridiculous prices for books that ten short years ago were worthless. People now buy first editions, second printings or fourth printings for high money, as if those books would ever be worth anything. They are, in fact, absolutely worthless and those stupid people will find that out the hard way if and when they ever decide to cash out. There is no such thing as a first edition second printing. A first edition is the first printing, the end. A second, third, fourth or twenty-fifth printing is absolutely of no interest to a knowledgeable collector, unless they are signed or have something special about them. The phenomenon of trying to foist worthless books on unsuspecting and novice collectors really started with the Harry Potter books. I’m sure people who buy on eBay get burned all the time – I check the firsts there from time to time and I am never less than astonished at how sellers outright lie or try to make what they have seem like something else. My instinct is to always write them and tell them off, but they get very uppity and they don’t change their listings. There was one fool who was advertising a first edition of Exodus in a mint jacket. It was cheap. He had a photo. Two problems – the jacket had no price and the copyright page had no “First Edition” line as called for. Hence, it was a book club edition. I wrote him and told him so, and this guy went ballistic and wrote me some pretty stupid e-mails – and he reported me to eBay. I got him banned from the site because after I showed eBay what he was doing, he refused to change his listing and they threw him off. Unfortunately, we live in the time of the amateur seller who suddenly fancy themselves book dealers without knowing the first thing about what they’re doing.
There are only a handful of bookstores left in LA – I still go, still look, and have, in fact, found some very interesting and cheap things, which is always a treat. But the old days, I’m afraid, are gone. It’s hard to be a collector online. The prices have no bearing in reality – they just go up and up, despite the fact that their books sit there and don’t sell. One dealer that I know, just continually raises his prices when his books don’t sell – he doesn’t seem to understand there’s a recession going on, as if the collecting world is immune from such things. And, in some ways, it is, because the collecting world tends to belong to the wealthy, which is also a shame.
That was long, wasn’t it? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s already time to post the notes and I must be up early.
Yesterday was quite a nice day, and even though I should have done a little work that needed to be done, I just refused to do it. I did get a good night’s sleep, I did do the long jog, I did eat two tuna sandwiches, and I did finish Lost, Season Four. I can say that of the seasons I’ve seen, it was certainly the best and most interesting. I’ve heard varying opinions about where the show went in season five, but I’m trying not to read anything about it, so I come to it fresh. The big “twists” don’t really work for me – I’ve guessed ninety percent of them well in advance, but the couple that “got” me were fun. Other than that, I just listened to CDs, and did package up some orders and took them to the post office.
Today, I have to do the work I should have done yesterday, which is typing up my notes on the latest draft of the long musical. I have a lunch meeting at my beloved Genghis Cohen, and that’s about it. I wish I had season five of Lost to start and if anyone knows where I can view the episodes online or if anyone can lend me them I really don’t want to wait until December.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, have a lunch meeting, and type up notes. Today’s topic of discussion: Why do YOU collect – what are your manias, your favorite things you’ve gotten – but I’m mostly interested in the reasons. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and make sure they are all first editions.