I Never Met A Book Collector Chats
By Peter Seibert - February 14, 2025
I never met a book that I did not have to own is a phrase that is common in our family. Books are something to enjoy on a cold night in front of a fire with a border collie and an adult beverage, they are also something to enjoy at the beach with an umbrella and something tall and cold. They are to be read, they are to be collected, then are to decorate our homes. And for the longest time, they have been very much undesirable to many in the public. I know this sentence is harsh, but look at the former decline of new and used bookstores, in particular to the latter, they were well on their way to becoming extinct. Blame for the decline of interest in books fell to the influence of online reading, the overall decline of the antiques world, and the minimalism (maybe the worst word in the English language) of the Millennial generation. And yet, I have been reading articles over the last year and a half that some of the nearly extinct big chain bookstores are expanding. Similarly, I patronize several used bookstores in Philadelphia and Lambertville and have seen the volume of customers, particularly Gen Z, on the rise significantly. What is going on? I think the notion of holding a paper book and reading it in your hands remains innately something that gives humans great pleasure. I say this in particular for those who love books from the 18th century. Not only is there a tactile aspect to a 1700s, book but there is a distinct smell that is unique to books of that era that you cannot find in any bottle, spray or container. It speaks to us at a very visceral level. Second is that in terms of money spent, I still argue that books are a great value. Yes, there are books that I have, after years of therapy to work through this, thrown out because they are just terrible. In fact, occasionally I make the mistake of trying to read a bad book a second time only to discover that it really, really was terrible. Those books are the exception, and I still find myself returning to books that I enjoyed in the past. This is a contrary notion to our modern movie-driven world where we watch it and then move on to the next. A book, especially, a well-written one, will peel itself like an onion over time, revealing new information. Finally, and this is true with used and rare books, there is a financial value to many of these. I say this with some trepidation. I recall when I moved from Pennsylvania to New Mexico and wanted to sell a small but nice collection of 18th century Presbyterian imprints. Every bookseller I talked to said that I should give the books to a school or just throw them away as they had little interest. It is painful now as it was then to hear that. But, I also look at some of the prices that my friends who are booksellers are charging for books and what they are getting for those books online, and I realize that not all books should go to the dumpster. So this winter, go to the bookstore (new or used) and grab some reading material. Get ahead of the trend and enjoy a real honest book! Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.
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