The bibliophile's lament



I really, really like books. Once I have a book in my possession, I tend never to give it up. Unless I specifically hate it for some reason. I have a lot of books I read decades ago, and may never read again. Paperback books that don't have any substantial monetary value. I have multiple copies of books I really love, like Ulysses. If I see a used copy of it, I'll buy it. That's especially true of philosophy books. Cheap, used philosophy book? I'll buy it. A library sale is a little bit of heaven.

So, I have a lot of books. e-Books are not a solution for me. I have a thing about books, and paper, and the whole sensory experience of holding and reading a book. I like bookshelves groaning with books. My dream house would have one of those huge libraries with the ladders for climbing up to the books.

I have to move in a few weeks. The movers charge by weight, so it behooves me to release some of these books. I'm kind of stuck on the philosophy books. I tend to think that as a philosopher, I ought to have a well-rounded library of philosophy books. I'm not likely to ever teach Wittgenstein, or Schopenhauer, but I'm kind of loathe to get rid of those books. I have multiple editions of certain textbooks in my AOS. Should I get rid of those and just keep the most recent? What about my six copies of Kant's Groundwork? They're all different, and some are out of print. Or my two copies of the Critique -- really different translations. Some of these books I've been carting around for decades, since I was an undergrad. Ditch the Republic paperback since I have the Complete Works? But it was the first philosophy book I read in college! Move it? or lose it?

What do you do with your old philosophy books, fellow philosophers?

~zombie

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