Correct a fool if he is wrong brother... But don't you have a Stand S/L too and when did you get a Salems??? Or perhaps a typo?Originally Posted by stroppygoblin
Under 30 years of age
30 years of age or older
Correct a fool if he is wrong brother... But don't you have a Stand S/L too and when did you get a Salems??? Or perhaps a typo?
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
No the fool is me (blame the jet lag) I do of course have a STAND (original post updated)Correct a fool if he is wrong brother... But don't you have a Stand S/L too and when did you get a Salems??? Or perhaps a typo?
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
I'm 42, and have been an avid King reader since high school. It was back in 1999 when I was on a business trip that I saw the DT 1-3 slipcase set being sold at a local Borders. I hadn't read the Dark Tower books yet, but knew that I had to have the set. It was after buying those books that the collector bug bit me. I got what I could afford, which was really just a few gift editions. It was finally about 5 years ago following a successful trip to Vegas that I decided I had to put those winnings toward a signed King book. I've tried to focus on S/Ls ever since, but having two small kids has made the funds somewhat limited at times.
Great to read about all the young collector's out there! I'll be 53 this Thanksgiving day, I did not start reading regularly until I was in my twenties while in the US navy started reading SK, not much to do while at sea. My real collection started around 1984 while in port in Portland, Me walked into a bookstore and bought a book I had not seen or heard of for $20 The Gunslinger. I still have this book, and a whole lot more!
Sadly, I just turned 36 on 11/1. My mother had BCE of King's books in the house, so that's where I started when I was around 10. It was in 2009 when several things happened and I seriously started collecting--a client told me about Cemetery Dance (the bastard!), I went to The Strand in NYC and purchased my first collectible DT books as well as my first proofs, and I paid $300 for a single book online (an Arkham House Lovecraft). I decided to start collecting several years before that when I was about 25/26, but when I started learning more and shelling out more money is when I think it became serious. Then I began collecting more authors--Bradbury, Matheson, Hill--then ephemera--then art. Now, I can't stop!
I also wondered the same thing, as far as "What makes a collector?" so I didn't vote.
But, I'll say that I've been obsessed with everything Stephen King related since I was 12 years old. I've been steadily collecting and devouring SK works for the past 21 years with no plan of slowing down.
I wouldn't even recognize a collector's edition, first edition, etc. if someone slapped me in the face with it.
Meaning no disrespect to either of you kind folks, I believe for the purposes of this thread that a "Serious Collector" is someone who knows definitively the answers the questions you've asked. A "Serious Collector" has intimate knowledge of edition types, states, release dates etc. That doesn't make you anything less for just collecting, memorabilia, PB's, BCE or whatever. Just different is all. To each his/her own, right?I also wondered the same thing, as far as "What makes a collector?" so I didn't vote.
But, I'll say that I've been obsessed with everything Stephen King related since I was 12 years old. I've been steadily collecting and devouring SK works for the past 21 years with no plan of slowing down.
I wouldn't even recognize a collector's edition, first edition, etc. if someone slapped me in the face with it.
Of course we all here share an affinity for all things Stephen King.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
That's what I also think when I hear "Collector".
For me the definitions would be as follows:
Collector –The items you have are for your enjoyment and you intend to keep those as a group
Serious Collector –You seek out items, you have a list of items you need/want, you will wait for just the right item to become available, and you usually are very focused on specific goals
Casual Collector – You up pick things when the opportunity presents itself but you don’t go out of your way to add an item, you have a main collection and also enjoy items loosely related, and you may or may not have a goal or what you consider a complete collection
As for what is in the collection, I don’t think that defines if you are serious or not. I think it is more about how you approach your collection.
“Perhaps I am simply a madman who dreamt of being sane for a little while.”
— Roland Deschain
FWIW, I think it was, George Beahm who said that when collecting it is important to set your own personal set of rules for your collection. I took that to heart with my collection and I believe every collector, serious through casual does and should do the same.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
I find that my collecting goals change focus from time to time. I like to have a steady influx of books arriving to enjoy. I started collecting SK books around 1989 just BCEs, then started on UK firsts in 1992. When those were nearing completion I moved onto S/L in the early 2000s, then Lettereds. Those I need do not come up that often or are completely out of my price range. As I needed to collect something (as Alan said earlier - it's an illness) I have now moved onto US firsts, Proofs and Promo packs. I honestly don't think I will stop, just move on to different areas.
Yes, of course. My initial goal was to collect 1/1 of every published King book in the US and the UK. Now there are a scarce few that I ruled out, but I accomplished that goal and moved on to "Upgrades" adding signed copies and S/L editions. It really is just a matter of developing your own personal "rules" and modifying them as you see fit. IMHO There is a definite reason I refer to it as "My collection".
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
I am prone to many impulse buys. I've got a want list, then I look at Betts or eBay and then that's that!
I just turned 46. I first read King as a sophomore in HS (1984-ish). Paperback copy of The Stand was my first introduction to King. I started reading the books; then read Winter's The Art of Darkness which really got me interested! My first collecting goal was to get all the books in trade first editions. It never crossed my mind to go for S/L editions. I had heard about them, but in pre-internet days, I figured I'd never even come across them. They were mysterious items with mysteriuos names (Scream/Press; Land of Enchantment; The Mysterious Press...). I remember finding a couple of copies of The Drawing of the Three (Grant trade) at a Waldenbooks and thought I had found El Dorado. (This was while I was stationed in San Antonio; 1987 or early '88. Our first opportunity for an off-base pass and most everyone was heading for bars, clubs, etc. All I wanted to do was find a bookstore. I took my off-base pass, went to the mall, and Waldenbooks and voila! The Drawing of the Three. It was years later before I was able to acquire an actual Gunslinger, though.)
Then I discovered antiquarian bookstores. Wow! A first edition Cujo! Score! And what's this? A first edition Dead Zone?
After Al Gore invented the internet, I discovered that maybe one day I would be able to purchase some sort of S/L King book. Lo and behold, my first King S/L was Six Stories. I think I bought that in the early 2000s. I picked up a couple more here and there, but I also had discovered Arkham House and truth be told, I was more interested in collecting those, even while I maintained a much larger interest in reading King.
But then my other hobby took off and allowed me the extra funds to purchase King S/L'ds. That was about the same time I discovered this website, which really gave me encouragement. So from about 2009 until early this year I bought my way up to about 60 King S/L editions (without my wife knowing!), including a full numbered S/L Dark Tower set. I know I spent over $30,000 in a span of maybe 4 years. Alas, the same hobby that afforded me all these purchases has now presented me with the necessity of selling off much of my collection. One day I expect to recoup what I'm having to now sell. I'm trying not to be discouraged here.
I always love it when you pull your poll out... makes me all queasy inside. And from the looks of your poll.... the younger generation has some catching up to do.
I started collecting King paperbacks in the mid 80's ...that's all I could afford and I had no spare space. Then early 90's I strived to collect the hardbacks, by 1995 I had switched my goals to 1st edition hardbacks.
Then, in 1997, while christmas shopping... at a sport's memorabilia store, I ran across a UK slipcased gift edition of Insomnia. I was poorer than an Ethiopian in a midnight TV commercial, but I scraped together 75 bucks to buy that book (I had to eat rice for the next three weeks to pay for it).
That got me hooked, 2 months later I landed a great job... and the insanity of buying limited and signed editions began.
It got really expensive in 2006- when i had to buy a house to have room for my collection.
Obviously... to buy big... you have to have some disposable income... or just really really like eating rice.
To buy really big, like Bob (aka. carlosdetweiler)... you have to be a doctor AND have an oil well in your backyard. (I'm convinced he does... or he has a grove of money trees) I doubt eating rice filled his basement.
BTW... I'm 55 1/2 YO... so I was about 37 when I started out collecting the limiteds.
If the event last night on the GW campus is any indication, about 90 percent of the attendees were between 30-60. I didn't see more than a few college kids. Maybe the cost was a consideration. The fans seem to be evenly split between male and female but very few non-whites.
Giving up food to buy a book ensures you serious collector status in my opinion!!!
Now that's really getting down to brass tacks, I didn't even think to poll gender or skin colour/racial background. I suppose that's a scope that equally interesting, but perhaps a bit too big to try and accurately get the metrics on. It does seem to be (at least on these forums) dominated by 30-60 whites males, with a smattering of younger white guys like myself, and the occasional woman.
I think this has been an eye opener for me, I find that regularly perusing this forum does help me mentally justify purchases that might otherwise be out of my reach, because hell, next to you guys I'm barely scratching the surface. Spending time drooling over member collection threads does give one a bit of an inferiority complex, but I have to recognize that most of you gents (and ladies) are in much different stages of your life than I am. I've yet to get a real career rolling, buy a house, get married and have kids...priorities and disposable income differ greatly for a guy like me.
There's something to be learned here, not to compare myself to others and see my collection as lacking, but to celebrate what I DO have, and what I have managed to find that's within my means.
Exactly!
I'm 40 and I started purchasing 'collectibles' (mostly 1st editions and proofs and a few odds and ends) about five years ago. I'm not exactly wealthy but I don't really spend much on other things so I was able to hunt and gather and build a nice little collection. My collection is currently in hibernation mode because my seven-month old son requires a lot of time and energy and also because I spend a lot of $$ going to college again.
So yes, priorities.
But I expect to be back in the arena in five or six yearsmeanwhile I'll just continue to hang out here.
I am on numerous Facebook SK sites.. and when I post a signed limited... or a DT collection close up... THEY LOSE THIER F)*&^#'IN minds. Seriously.... for the most part they are the younger people that read King. AND THEY collect his work... but paperbacks... hard covers... just want one of every book. Some tell me they get the list that he has done from inside the books at the back. I laugh cause I did many years ago. The fact remains... they are so thrilled to see a signed King book or a limited production. I had over 4000 likes on a post once. LOL It was the matching DT set with the bookends (Constant Readers I had specially made from Rachel) and I had a million questions. I dont post the pics much anymore due to the amount of questions and messages I get... oh and the "new friends" too. haha I think a big reason more young people are not "there yet" in collecting is not only money.. but the knowledge that this great collecting universe exists... I, for one, only found out a year and a half ago... and am glad I did
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
for-go the wife and kids... get dogs instead... and your collection will grow much faster... buying when you want, what you want, and as much as you want...without having to support others and ask a spouse for permission, definitely has it's advantages. just sayin'
I disagree with this definition. You don't need "intimate knowledge of edition types, states, release dates etc." You just need to know where to find our Catalog when you need that info!Meaning no disrespect to either of you kind folks, I believe for the purposes of this thread that a "Serious Collector" is someone who knows definitively the answers the questions you've asked. A "Serious Collector" has intimate knowledge of edition types, states, release dates etc. That doesn't make you anything less for just collecting, memorabilia, PB's, BCE or whatever. Just different is all. To each his/her own, right?I also wondered the same thing, as far as "What makes a collector?" so I didn't vote.
But, I'll say that I've been obsessed with everything Stephen King related since I was 12 years old. I've been steadily collecting and devouring SK works for the past 21 years with no plan of slowing down.
I wouldn't even recognize a collector's edition, first edition, etc. if someone slapped me in the face with it.
Of course we all here share an affinity for all things Stephen King.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
I'm only 22 and already have almost every 1st edition King book. I'm slowly going back through and working on my signed collection and ARCs.
I always like to see another proof/ARC collector!
John
Have any beginning proofs/ARCs you want to part with? I am just starting the collection and do not want to start with the big books.
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