Content or Cover?

“’Don’t judge a book by its content!’ I had read enough about book collectors before the fair to get the joke: Many collectors don’t actually read their books. At first, I was surprised, but having given it some thought, it’s not so shocking. After all, much of the fondness avid readers, and certainly collectors, have for their books is related to the books’ physical bodies....books are historical artifacts and repositories for memories—we like to recall who gave books to us, where we were when we read them, how old we were, and so on.” From The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

After reading The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, I was happy that I remain a person who loves books more for the content than their cover. Though I do like having nice hardbacks of my favorite books (pretty books, I call them), it’s the story inside that matters more to me than what it looks like on the outside, or how much money it’s worth.

That may be because I’ve never had the kind of money that would make collecting books even a remote possibility—I have to really love a book to be able to justify a $25 hardback cover price. (Though I suppose lack of money didn’t stop John Gilkey from trying to accumulate expensive books, but he seemed to have a few loose screws…) In my single college days I could justify paying more for a book, but these days my $25 is going to buy diapers. So I buy most of my books on sale (from an independent bookstore of course) and from used book sales at my local library.

I am glad that there are people with the time, money, and obsession to seek out and preserve the books with historical significance. I want to have the contents preserved and to be able to look at them in rare book libraries and museums. But I’ll stick to the tattered paperbacks from my childhood—words are a far richer reward for me.