New & Novel: Collectors & Collecting

There are a lot of things out there that people collect - some a bit more standard or well-known, like coins or stamps; some a bit more specific, like antique marbles, carnival glass, Fiesta ware, rugs, teddy bears, pottery, fishing lures, railroad timetables, paperweights, perfume bottles, classic cameras, toothpick holders, watches, swords, peanut butter glasses. Our library catalog has many price (or value) and identifying guides, buying guides, encyclopedias, and even "for dummies" books for all sorts of collectibles and limited editions and the like. Do you have a favorite book about collecting or are you looking for items about your collecting passion? Let us know in the comments!

Here are some mostly recent books about interesting collections:

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette

The Strat In the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology by Deke Dickerson

Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt For the World's Rarest 78 RPM Records by Amanda Petrusich

It Could Have Been Yours: The Enlightened Person's Guide to the Year's Most Desirable Things by Jolyon Fenwick [eBook]

The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth by Anita Silvey

Old Records Never Die: One Man's Quest For His Vinyl and His Past by Eric Spitznagel

Guitar Aficionado: The Collections - The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars In the World edited by Tom Beaujour and Christopher Scapelliti

  

Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession by Dave Jamieson

The Art of the Russian Matryoshka by Rett Ertl and Rick Hibberd


Some are more private about their collections, some take it to the Antiques Roadshow, some decorate with their collections. Here are some decorating ideas:

Never Stop To Think...Do I Have A Place For This?: How to Make Room For All the Stuff That Makes Your Home Warm, Happy, Fun and One-of-a Kind by Mary Randolph Carter

The Stuff of Life: How to Style and Display Your Most Treasured Possessions by Hilary Robertson.

The Life of a Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors With the Things You Collect by Sibella Court  

Collected: Living With the Things You Love by Fritz Karch and Rebecca Robertson


Who are these collectors, you ask? We'll end with some interesting collecting stories: 

Herb & Dorothy [DVD]

Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern by Francine Prose

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. 

Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe - A Biography by Philip Gefter 

Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors From Antiquity to the Present by Erin L. Thompson


For more titles, try a subject search of collectibles (guides) or collectors & collecting (includes fiction, children's books, much more general). Also, take a look at some odd collections online!