Okay, this really isn’t my basement library…but it’s pretty close. What does your library look like? How big is it?
WELCOME TO MY BASEMENT LIBRARY
GeorgeKelley.org
Okay, this really isn’t my basement library…but it’s pretty close. What does your library look like? How big is it?
Let’s see….
About 30 shelves in various bookcases around the house in strategic locations. Bookends are avoided because they take up space where books might go, but there are occasional objects positioned at appropriate locations. — the Maltese Falcon on a shelf of Hammett mapbacks, for instance.
By the way, 4 of those shelves are in my “To Be Read” bookcase!
Dan, impressive!
One wall of our master bedroom is floor-to-ceiling books (with knic-knacs & mementos scattered throughout); six bookcases in our dining room (ditto); a smaller shelf of (primarily) Harlequin Presents romance novels (Friends of the Library book sale score) in the den against the wall; favorite cookbooks in the kitchen; and other books tucked into nooks & crannies here and there. The irony is that both John & I read primarily on e-readers these days. And now e have ambitious plans for 2026–which include getting all of our carpets pulled up and wood floors going in—requiring us to do a “cull” of all of our belongings, not just books, in the next few months. I’ve already alerted my Friends of the Library contacts that a big haul is coming their way!
Deb, “cull” is the Name of the Game for me this year. So far, I’ve found new homes for about 2000 books. More to come…
At various times I would cull my book collection by about 50%, and I’m still kicking myself about some I discarded. Before the move to Florida, I had a storage shed filled (I mean, FILLED) with banker’s boxes of books. Again, I culled that by about 50%, and the by another 50% after we moved here. I know have half a storage unit with a bit over 100 boxes, as well as dozen boxes in my bedroom. I had been getting rid of most books after I had read them, but now Granddaughter Amy says she wants my books after I die (I’m hoping she’s not expecting any time soon), so now when I have filled up a box, it goes to Amy. I have a few boxes of historical documents and family memorabilia that I hope will be kept for future generations.
Yours is bigger, right?
We have a wall of seven bookcases – four are two feet wide, three are three feet wide, all are eight feet high – here in the den. These are mostly paperbacks, with some larger books. I also have a secretary with three shelves of books.
In the hall, when we moved in we discovered someone had put in built-in shelves four feet wide and six feet high. Also, we have two bookcases (three feet wide, three shelves high) that we got from my mother when they moved to California in 1974. All the books in the hall are hardbacks or trade paperbacks.
Of course, George’s basement dwarfs all this.
Jeff, it’s quality not quantity when it comes to books. I love my books, but I don’t want to burden Diane, Patrick, and Katie with dealing with them. I just unloaded my Michael Connelly collection on a friend who welcomed it. I realized I wasn’t going to reread Connelly’s books so why was I keeping them…
I should add that the den bookcases go from the door to the window and give that library/bookstore feel. When we lived in the brownstone they were spread throughout the apartment.
I used to have several huge boxes of books in the closet, things for sale, but when I stopped selling I culled the lot.
Jeff, I have too many boxes of books all over our house–in closets, under beds, etc. Of course, every time I open one of those boxes it’s like Christmas. I totally have forgotten many many books I’ve acquired…and just stored away.
From many, many bookcases to two. Nothing stays for long. Four moves took care of it.
Patti, I dread any thought of moving. The last time we moved, we hired a moving company. The foreman walked around our house and told Diane, “This looks like a conventional move.” Diane told him, “Let me show you the Basement.” The foreman took one look and said, “No, this is an Industrial Move.”
“I realized I wasn’t going to reread Connelly’s books so why was I keeping them…”. That was my mantra in 2019, before moving to TX, when I unloaded hundreds of books to the library, friends, and used book stores. Like Jerry, I now regret discarding some of them. I still try to get rid of books that either I have never read, or will never read again. That leaves three bookcases,, each comprising four stacked, glass-door shelves (my wife’s great-grandfather’s antique hand-me-down), plus a cheap, smaller two-shelf bookcase and scattered volumes.
Fred, I donated 30,000 books to the State University of New York at Buffalo’s Special Collections in 1995. Since then, I’ve acquired more thousands of books and face the dilemma of reducing the collection to a manageable number.
Probably around 50K at this point, including magazine issues, most in boxes in various rooms around the house, a few thousand on shelves in plain view. Which reminds me, I still need to order shelves for Alice’s office…anyone have superior price/stability recs in comparison to a three-foot-wide/six foot tall Ikea shelf?
Pro movers moved my belongings into the current house, the largest and oldest I’ve lived in, which promptly destroyed several hundred between a basement flooding and several months later a top floor roof/ceiling leak (at least insurance gave us some money in the latter case).
Todd, our movers did a good job, but reshelving all the books took me months!
I don’t have a library! I have bookcases, closets, flat surfaces, boxes, and catch-as-can locations for my books!
Bob, I have all those things too in addition to a basement full of books!
My main collection was reduced a lot when I moved to Mom’s house and sold mine, which had a book room attached to the garage. On either side of the fireplace (with fairly valuable tile) are 2 shelves one side has children’s series book, the other miscellany I need to go through. I have 3 tall bookcases with glass doors which I have my mostly culled collection. I’m getting a little picky as I’m sure I won’t be rereading the majority. Some of these books I have saved are now being disposed of if it’s just a signature or best wishes. I rarely add anything new unless it’s got a great inscription. I also have a smaller glass doored 4 shelves case which barely holds my PG Wodehouse collection. On the other side of that is autographed bios and books I couldn’t bear to part with. Then in front of the fireplace there’s a folding bookcase with some authors like Henry Cecil, etc that are paper backs with tiny print I have almost given up being able to read.
I’ve filled up Larry’s bookcase with new stuff and some books that have really nice inscriptions to my parents I couldn’t get rid of but had my copy of the book. Larry’s older dog, Blondie the shoenapper, has a small collection. She “enjoyed” the back cover and last 3 pages of a David Rosenfelt arc that he inscribed to her, an SJ Rozan book that she enjoyed the front cover & several pages, also inscribed to her. Robert Dugoni heard me explaining the condition to SJ and inscribed his book to Blondie and I, but she didn’t get to “enjoy” that one.
Maggie, I admire your approach to your collection. I’m with you on the books with microscopic print. I just passed on a bunch of Anthony Trollope English edition novels that had very small print.