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'Unpacking .:My Library

A 1 ~ 1 k about Book CoUecling
I am unpodcing n1y l1brnry. Yeo, I om. The books ore not yet
on the ;hdvc;, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order. I
cannot m:uch up and down their ranks to P'"' them in review
before fricndlv audience. You need not fear my of tha<. In-
.mad, I mmt a<k you ro join me in the disorder 'of crares thor
have hem w1enched open, the air ""turated with rhe du" of
wood, the floor covered with tom paper, to join me among plies
of nlnmes that are >ecing daylight again af<er rwo year> of
dark""'' <n rh;t ;uu Ill3y be ready to share with me a bit of the
mood-1r "certoinly not an dcgiac mood but, rnrher, one of an-
ticJp.rwn-which the>c books arouse in a genuine collector. !'or
such a mn is >peaking to you, and on closer scrutiny he prov<>
to be speak1ng <}[lly about hirns<lf. 'Would it not be presumptuous
of me if, itl order to appear convincmgly objecnvc and down-to-
earth, I e<!llffi<r>ted for you the main secnons or prize picre< of
o library, if I pr<:>entcd you with rheir hi>rory or even their''-"''"
fulnc" to a writcr' I, for one, have in mind >Omcthing lo" ob-
scuro, something more palpahle thon thar; what I am really con-
cerned with is gi,ing you some msight imo the rdation<hip of
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a Look collccror to hi; po<>essions, imo oollccting mhcr th3n a
cullcctlnn If I du tlu> by eiaLonung on the nrwu< '"Y' of ;IC
<]uiring Loub, tim 1> ;umetlung entirely arbimry. :1 hLI or anv
other procedure "mndy a dam gimt the sprmg ndc of
urics wluch ;urge> toward any collector ,_, he cuntcmpl.ltc; h"
po"e;siom. Every P"">ion Uurdcrs on the btlt the collec-
tm's po.,ion borders on the cho-' of mcmun". ''lore that! thar.
the choncc, the f"c, that ;utfusc the P"-'t before u>y e)'<> ore
conspicuou>ly pte>cnt it! the acc11"omcd cunfu;iun of these
books. For "hat cbc i; thi; wllection hnr a disorder to "hl<'h
h>hir has acconunodat<d it>df to ;uch an ercH d"" ir can appc.r
"order' You ha\'e all hoard of people "hom the In>< of thcir
hooks ha; turned into invali<h, or of tho<e who m order to >C-
qutre them became criminab. These ore the Hr)' 11.,, '" which
ani' order i; a balancing act of ntreme precmomne><. 'Tho only
;o:r knowledge there is," said Anatole Frllnce, "is rhe know].
edge of th< date of publication and the of hooks." '\nd
indeed, if there is a countnpart to the confm10n of a library, lt
i< rhc order of its ca<aloguc.
Thus there is in the life nf a collector a dialectlcal rension he-
tv.ecn rhc poles of dborder and order. 1\'atllully, Ills ""<tcncc"
tied ro man\-" other things "wdl to a ''ery myst<rious rcl:"'on-
ship to ownenhip, something about we .<hll have more
to Iacer; ,bo, to rdatiomhip to ohject> which does tWt em-
ph.:t,i>e theJr functional, utilitarian <ahte-tlw is, their useflll-
"udies and loves them a< the ocene, rhe stge, of 1heir-
fate. The most profound cnchmment for the collectnr i> the
lucking of individual item' within a tnagc circle in "'htch they
arc fi>ed ., rhe final thrill. the thrill of ""l'"mion, P'"'" over
them. E>eryrhing remembered and th<wght, e>e[l thing um-
.ciou>, becomes the pedestal, the frame, the b,e, the lock of hi>
property_ The period, tho region, the crafr<man>hip, the former
owrwr>hip-for a true collector the whole hackground <>fan itcm
.Jdo up to a m,1gic encyclopedia who. i> the fate
of hi; object- In this cir(um;criLed aroa. then, ll may l!c >ur-
lll1>ed how tho grc" phpiognomi>ts-an<l collecror; arc the
of the world of objtcts-turn inro 1\lterprcters of
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Unpockig My [.ihrM"y
fate_ One has only to watch a collector handle the uhjecrs io hi;
gla" C,I>C. A' he hold< them in hJS lund,, he seems to he seeing
though them into thc:r di;tant past ,. though irnpired. So ruuch
for the mag1cal ;ide of the collector-hi< old->gc image, j might
call Jt.
HtlboJt wa fatil libdli: these "ord< m.w ha<'e been intended
" a gcnor:d statement bout booh. So like The !Jwinc
Co,cdy, Spuwza'< f:thhs, and The Origin of Species have their
ftcs. A collector, howe>er, interpret; thi' Latin soying dlffer-
entl). tor hau, not only books hut abo copies of book. ho<'C
thctr fates. And '" thi< sense, the mo>t importont fare of a
cop;r is irs encounter with wl!h hi> mm collection. I om not
<>aggcrating \<hen ! "Y rhat to a true collector the acqui<itiotl
of ''' old book is it> rebirth. This is the childlike clemcnr whtch
in a collector mtngles wirh the element of old age. Fur ch1ldrcn
can accompli>h the renewal of existence in a hundred unfoilu>g
way>- .>.mong children, collecting is only one pro<:e> of renewal;
orher proces>e< ore the pauuing of object<_ rhe cutting om of
figure>, the appli"'tion of Jecal<-the whole ronge of childlike
mode> of from touching things to givLng them names.
To renew tb< ol,l world-that is the collector'> deepe<t dellie
whet> he is dri,en tO ac9uire new thing>, md th.r i "hy a col-
lcnor of older hooks is closer to the "c]L,pnnC> of collectino-
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than the ocquiror of lmury editions. How do books cro<> the
thre;buld of a collection and become the property of a collector1
The hi>tory of their is the >uhject of the following
rcmotb.
Of all the ways of acqmring books, "riting thenr onc>clf is
reg,.Jed as rhe most prai<eworth)' method. At thi.1 pouu man\'
of \'OU will rememher with pleasure the large l1hr"y which
Paul's poor little schoolmaster Wutz gradually by writ-
ing. hirmdf, all the works whose tides intcre<ted him it! book-
fair cJtalugues; dter oil, he could not afford to buv them. Vhit-
er; arc really people who I<Titc books not becau !hey ore pour,
but hecau;c they arc dissrisfied with the book< whwh thO\ could
buv hrlt Jo not like. You, ladies and genrlcmcn, m"- r<g0rd thi
os whimsical definition of a wruer. llut e>eryrhi;rg ,;id frorn
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the ona]e of o reo] collector is whiaJ>icaL Of rhe cu,toumry
mode:, the one mmt apprupnore to
;,uuld be the borrowlllg of a book with'" mendont non-return-
ing. 1 he book borrower uf renl ""turo we envL<'l(C here
prove> him<elf to be an m\et<r.tt coJlc(toL' ot bl!Ob not "'much
hv the fer\'or with which he gu.rd; i>orrowc,l treJ<Ur05 am!
tY the tlc>f ea1 which he turn.' to ll renunder' from the'""'"
d.tv '"'rid of legalitv" I hi_, failure to read bo"k<. If my
may\c";e a> ,,idcnce, a man i; more 111-.clv "' retnm
a horrowcd hook upon occa;iun than ro read lt. ,\nd the non-
mtdirlg of books, yon will object, ,hould he _daroctcmttc of
c<>llec!Lil'>' Th" i< neM m me, vou mav ,., .. It"' llOt """"all.
Expert> will hOJr me out whon.l .ay that it i>_ the oltb[ thing Jn
the world. ic to the answer whKh An""'le f nmce
g"e to, phtll>tii\C "lw "rlmiral his l'thrary and then
with the >tandrd Ljlltion, "And you ha>-c rea<l ,,II thCI< book<,
France'" ":":ot one-tenth of them. I cion'[ "'l'Po'c yDu
\J>e v<>ur SCvr" china e'e"' d,.,,, ..
-Jncidentallv,] ha'" right to ;uch Cln OHLrudc to the
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-r. Fur n;:m,' for at lc':O'l the fir>< third of it> exi<rmcc. m_v It-
bran of w> mote rhan rwo or three olwho, whtch in"
onlv 1"' incbe-1 ""ch \'tar_ Thi' "''it> mih.,nt "gc, when
no book ;ll'lwetl " without the nrrili<""'"" that I
had not read it. fhu> [ might never ha>e Kquired " lihrclf_r ex-
ten>i;e enough to be worthy of the name if there h'd not been
an inflation. Suddenly the emphom ,hiftcd; boolu real
value, or," am rate, \\CL"C dtllicnlt to ohtain. At lea>t tl"' lb hm\
it ,>ecmcd in S"itzcrbnd. At the de,-cnth hour I >ent my lir5t
maior lwok order> from thel'e ond in this '"Y wa> able
;uch irreplccablc item> a_< f)er hl.me RmeT and Bochnfm s .\,,ge
c"on Ta1J!1<Wii, whic-lt could still be ohtoincd from the publ"hcr>
at that time.
\Vdl-;o you rmy soy-after "'P]oring all the>< hY"""Y' we
should finallv rc:tclt the wide highway of buok
namely, the Purc-J,,ing of Thi< i< indeed a wtde htghway,
hut n;>t a comfortJble one. The purcha;ing dune h) a book col-
lector has very little Jn common with that done in o bonk<hop
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Unp"k'l>;i My UbmT]
by a srudent getting a textbook, a man of the world buying a
presem for hi; lady, or a busines;man intending to while away
his 11exr train journey. I have made my mo;t mcmurahle pur-
chase; on trip<_ a< a """ient. Property and pos;esston belong to
rhe tactical phcre. Collector> arc people a tactical inm!lct;
their e.pcrimco tcocbe; them that when rhoy caprure a stronge
cit}, tfte >mallest antique ;hop can be a fortress, the most renwte
>tatiomn- store o key po;ition. How many cit10'- hO\e te;.,led
them"h;es to me in the marches I undertook in the pursu'tt uf
books
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lly no means all of the m05t important purchase> arc made on
the premises of a dcalcr_ Catalogue> play a far greater part. And
even thollgh the purcha<er may be thoroughly acquainted with
the book ordet"<d from a catalogue, the inJi,idual copy lways
romoins surpri:.e and the order alway a bit of a gamble_ There
are grJevou; disappointments, but abo happY finds. J rcmemhcr,
for ltl>tance, that I once ordered a hook with cnlored JIIU5tra-
tioru; for m,- old collection of children's book, only hccanse it
Cotl!ained fairy tales by Albert Ludwig Grimm and wos published
"Grimma, 'lhunngJO. Grimma wa. a],o the place <lf pnblica-
!ion uf a book of fable< OOircd hy the same Alherr Ludwig
Crimm. With its sixteen iliU>-rrati<lns my copy of this book of
faloh "" the eJmnt example of the early work of the
great German hook iJIU>tr>toc Ly<cr, 'WhO lived in Hamburg
around the mJddle of the last ccntUf\'. \Veil, my re:tction to the
con.,onance of the name> had been correct. In this case tOO l
disco,ered the work of Lpcr, namely Linas MJrcbmbuch, a
work which has retuained unknown to his bibhographers and
which desel'VeS a mote detaiiOO reference that> tlus first ooe I
am introducmg here.
The acquisitton of books i:. 1,.- no mean a ma"er of !lJOney
or expert knowledge alone. Nut even h<lth hctors together suf-
fice for the e"abli>.luncnt of a real library, wh1ch i alway> wme--
what impelletr.ble a!ld at the <arne time unq11elv it<elf. Anrone
who hui'S from Cttalogue> mmt have ftar In addition to the
quahtie,"I have memioncd. Dates, place names, formats, previous
owners, binding>, and the He; all these de<ails JllllSt tell him
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as dry, isolotcd facts, hut os a h.rmoniou; whole;
from the qualiry ond inrensiry of rhis harmony he mu" be able
to recognize whether a Look i> for him or nor. An aucrion re-
<jU!res ytt another set of qualitios m o To the r<adtr
of corologue tbe book ir><lf mu;t speak, or po>>!bly its previous
o,.-neto<hip if the provenance of the copy hos been established.
A rtllU who wi;he. to parnnpatc at >U auction must pay equal
attention to the book and to his comperirors, in addition tu kp-
ing cool enough head to ovoid being corricd ''''"Y Jn the com-
petition. It " a frequent occurrcnc'< thot someone ger, >"tuck
with a high purchase becau"' he kept rai:.ing his bJd-morc
to a_<;>trt him<clf thn to acquire the book. On the other hand,
one of the linc>t ItJemori<> of o collector JS the moment when he
rescued a book to which he might never ha.e g<ven a thought,
much less o wi_,hful look, becou<e he found it lonely and aban-
doned on the matke< place and h<mght it to give ir its freedom-
rhe way the prince bought a beal!tiful slave girl in The ArabOvJ
N1ghts. 'fo a hnok collector, vnu >OC, the true froedom of all
books is wmewhcre on his >helve,,
To this doy, Babe's /'eau de chagr1n stonds out from long
row< of French volumes in my hbnry os a memento of nJ)' most
exciting at an aucrion_ This happened in 191; at the
Rumann aucroon pur up by Em1l Hirsch, one of the greote>t of
hook oxpem and most di>-rhlgu.,hed of dcalot>. The edition in
q11estion oppeorcd i<> in Poris, Place de Ia Bourse. AiJ] pick
11p my copy, I <ec not only i.,; numher m the Rlilnonn collection,
hut e\tn the label of the >hop in "hich the first owner bought
rhe hook over ninery yean ago for one-etghricth of roda)"s price.
"Pap<tcrie ]_ Flann<au," it "Y' A fin< age in whtch it was >till
p<miUle ro buy >uch o de lu>e edition or a >tOtLoncry deolcr'>!
The steel engravings of thi> boni< were designed hy foremo"
Fr<nch grophic ani" md e.ecuted b;' the fur<onmt engraver>.
Hut I" os going to tell you how l acqui,..d thi> book_ I hod gone
ro Emil Hirsch, for an adyance in,pectiO<> and had hondled forty
or fiftv ''olume>; thO< particnlor volume had iruporcd in me tht
ordent desire to hold on to it forever. The dn of <he auction
c.unc. As chance would have it, in the of th< auction
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U"f"'cking Ub..-y
thil "'PY nf La Pc.<u de chagrin ''''" pm:eded hy o complete =
of it> ilhlStratio<ls printed parately <>n paper. !he btdders
sat at a long table; d<ago<lolly ocross from me sat the man who
was the focm of oil eye> at the lir>t bid. the famom Munich col-
lector B.ron von Simolin. He was greatly imerested Jn thi> ""
bnt he had nval bidd,r<; in <hort, rhere wos a ,pimcd c<lllfe5t
.... llich re>ulteJ m the highe>-r hi of the entire a\lction-far in ex-
cess of three thomand marh one seemed to have O"pcctecl
>uch o high figure, and all thooe P"'<ent were quL<e <xmed. Emil
Hltsch n:mai<led unconcerned, and whether he wont<d to >a.e
time or "'" guided lly some other c<m:ilderation, he proceeded
to the next item, with no one really paving ortention. He called
nut the price, ond with my heart pounding and with the full
rcali<afLon that l .,...., ur1able to compete wirh any of those hig
collectors I bid " somewhat higher mount. Without arousing
rhc hidders' atttnM<\ the aucuoneer went through the mual rou-
tinc-"Do I hear mnce:" and three Lang< of his gavel, v.ith on
eternity seeming ro separate eoch fro1n the next-and proceeded
to odd the ouctioneer's charge. For a studenr like me the sum
was still coruiderable. The follo";ng morning at the pawnshop
is no longer part of this story, ond l prefer to speak ,bout an-
orher incident which I should like to call the negative of on
ouwon. It happened last year at a Berlin auction. The collection
of book< th;r was olfer<d was a miscdlan)' in quality >!\d <Ubject
matter, and only a number of rore "'orks on occultism and nor-
ural philo>ophy were worthy of note. I bid for a llnmbcr of
them, but each time I noticed o gentl<ll\a11 in the front row who
"'emod nnh to ha\e woid for my bid to counter with hi' own,
e..idontly Prepared to top any offOr. After this hod been repeated
,..,-em! times, I gavo up all hope of acqniring the which I
"" "'"" imere<tcd in rhot dav. It "'" tbe rare F<agme!!le ""'
d<"ll Na<blass "'"' jrmgen l'hjsikers [PO>tlmmuus Fragments of
a Young Physic<stl which Johonn \Vilhehn Ritter published in
'"" O''>lnme> ><Heidelberg in <810- Thi> work has nc..,.er h<cn
reprinted. hut I han ai""Y' considered it> prdoce, m "hid1 the
tell rhc >tory of his life in the guile of n obituary
for hi> snppo>edly dccea>ed unnamed frieml-"ith whum he i<
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r<>llv idemical-os the moS< important >ample of p<roonal pro><
m Germon ll.omanciusm. Jult a.< the item con1< up I h"d a brnin
wave. !twos ,irnple enough: ;ince my hid"" boun<l to give the
item to the other m,n. ! must n<JC bid at aiL I cunuulled myelf
and remained ;ilenL \Vhat I had hoped fc>r came ahout. no in-
no bid. and the book wa' pur .side. I deemed it WL<e to lee
sc,cral dap gn by. and v;hen I appe.rcd on the prcnH>" after
a week. 1 found the hook m the <econdhmd deportment and
benefited by the bck <>f inrerc.t "l'ohtn I acquired it.
Once ha.e approached the mountan" of c.ses '" order
to mine the books !rum them and hring them to rhc light of day
-nr, rather, of night-what mcmorios crowd in "P"n you! J\odt-
ing highlights thO fa,..;ination of unpacking tnore tlun the
difficulty of stopping thi ctivity.! hod >tartcd at noon, 11
W"- midnight before I hd my way to the l"'t ca;os. '-'ow
I put my hand on two volume> bound in fadeJ hoards whLch.
strictly speaking, do not hekmg in a book CO><" all: two _olhom>
wtth ouck-in picture' which my mother pa.<tcd Ln "a chlld
which I mheritcd. Th<v arc the seed> of a collectLon of chldrm s
books which i< growi;,g ;teadily even today, though no longer
in my garden. There is no hving that docs not lwbor a
numher of bookhke crc>tion< from frmgc arcns. fhey need not
be <tick-in o!fmms or family albums, autognph books or port-
folio> contoining pamphlets or tracts; ><>llle people bo-
comc attached to leaflets and others to handwrttmg
fac,imib or typev.-ritrcn copic> of unol>t,.naLle book:; and cer-
tainly periodicals can fmm rhc pri..nwtic of a hlorary. But
to get back to those alhunl'.: Acmally, !'.the <oundc>r
wv of acq11iring a collccuon. Foro collectors arntu<le
his' po"e;siom stems from an owner's feeling of rc;pon'ilblhty
toword his property. Thus it in the hLgh<:>t <m<e, the ammde
of an heir, and the mo" Jistingotshed tra][ of a collectwn _wlll
""'"' be irs transmi,;ihilitv. You shonld know th>t in >Oytng thts
I realize that my dlscu>Sion of the mental climare of
lccring will confinn many _of you '':' your that thts
pa>SJOn is hehind the times. m your dc"ru't of the_ collector type.
Nothing LS furthn from my mtnd thon to shake eJthcr your
I.I''P"Iing My Lilmn-J
,iction or your di<tnJSt. But one thing shollld he notcdo the
phenomenon of collecting_ loses its mcomng as ir )("" '" pc"oml
owner. hen though publlc collccrions may be bs ob
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ond more u"ful acodemicoll\" rh"n pmare collccnom. rho
ohJ''" get !hetr Me only in the loner. I do know rhnr nme i
nmmng our for <he type rhar I am dtscu;sini( here and han heen
representing before you a bit"' officio. But:a> Hegel put it. only
when." LS dork <ioes the owl of Its JlJght. Only
m ex;mctwn LS the colltctor <"OmprchcnJcd.
. :Sow I om on the la>t half...:mptied ca>e and it is way P""
nudrught. Other thought< fill mo than the one< I am "bout
thoughts lmt images. momon. Mcmoric, of the Cuies Jn
which I found 10 many thing< Rga. 1\"apl .. \lunich, Danzig,
Mo>co", Florence. flal. Pui; memori of ll.u>entha!", sump-
tuOU> room> in of the Stockturm where the late
Hans Rhauc wa< domiciled. of mU>ty book cellar in
:-.:orth Hedin, mcmorie< of the room where thco,c boob had
been hou"d. of my <t\ldenr"s den iL1 .\lunich. of my room in
Horn. of the 1olirude of lsdtw.<!d on rho Lake of and fi-
nally nf my hoyhooJ room, the former location of nnk four or
li\'e of the tbo"""'l. vo httn<> r bat are pLlod "P a,;lun d me.
0 hl"' of rhe col!ecror, bll, of the """' of lci,urc' Of no nne
lu< I< heen ""d ""one h>< lwl" gr<>tor <en<o of well-
hemg thn rhe "'"" who h"' hem :lhlc ro carry on hi< di<rcpu"
r.hle "'"ronce m 1he mask of Spirzweg"s "Hookworm."" For in-
de lum there are spirirs, or or bsr ILrtle genLi. which have seen
to L! rlut for a I "''""" a LOal colkcror. a collccror
0< he ought to is the mn<r Lntim.<!< rel,non<hip
!h.tr """ C:lll hao to oh1ccr.. "\Jot rh:lt !11<\' come alice ,
0
him
H." loc 1>ho li-o in thcnl. So I hO'e crencd. one of lm dwelling<:
Wlt!o honk, as the huildnt!j sto<le<. hofmc """ and now he" i<
goi"g ro dsapper in>Ld<, "' LS only hrting. '
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