How long have you been collecting?

[Scoogs]

I'm pretty sure I found the original DT.N site back in 2002 or 2003 and started collecting with the artist edition of Wolves of the Calla.
I can remember looking at the Grant site back when Wizard & Glass was released, but I was still a poor college student at the time and paying my tuition took precedence over expensive books.

[vincent]

I first became aware of King when I started wandering through the adult section of my local library, and saw these books with scary but alluring cover art. I was probably 11 or 12. When I wanted to start reading adult books and in English, I got a big King book from the library. It might have been IT right away, I don't remember, but IT became my favorite novel immediately. And then after I saw the miniseries, probably around '91, I was hooked for life.

I bought a NEL paperback of IT probably in '91 or '92. I still have it, it's still my IT, and I've read it many times. Since then, I would buy the IT NEL paperback whenever I saw it in a bookshop--which wasn't that often. I would go in any used book shop I passed, check for IT, and walk out again. I joined ebay in 2008 and started buying IT NEL's from there, when they came up. I saw the IT proofs come up on there sometimes, but was never really interested. I just bought IT NELs. I have about 20 of them, I think. During that ten years I bought about three of the Special Collector's IT NELs, and never paid more than $50 for one. I guess those IT NEL Special Collector's editions were my first steps into collecting.

In the summer of 2017 I thought to myself: it would be cool to see what I could find out about how IT was written, find some pre-publication versions. That's when I learned about proofs & ARCs and manuscript photocopies, mostly from this forum. And all I can say is it's been really great being on here.

[frik]

Practically from the beginning: 1975 - Carrie: the paperback was my first King collectible! Wish I had kept it though....

sk

[Hunchback Jack]

It’s hard to say when I started collecting books, because I’ve generally kept all the books I’ve bought since I started buying books! I’ve always appreciated books as objects - their cover art, condition, etc, not just as vehicles of stories.

But I guess the first time I bought a book in order to have that book – rather than to read it - would have been in 1990 when I saw a paperback copy of the long walk in a used bookstore, and recognized it for what it was.

It’s possible that I bought some books just to own them before that, But it would have been within the five years prior to 1990.

[Ari_Racing]

21 years since the first time I bought I book I already had, just because it was an upgrade.

It was (OF COURSE) IT. I bought a paperback copy on a Friday night before entering the theater to see a movie, and on the next day someone offered me at a book fair a hardcover copy. I said no. He insisted and lowered the price. I said no again but grabbed the copy to see it closely. Third time insisting and lowering the price.

I can't remember the rest, but one thing is a fact: I came back home with the book and less money...and gave away the paperback copy I bought the day before.

[Splync]

I've always been a reader, but I never really started collecting books until I was in college (2010 - 2014). Back then my idea of collecting were those faux-leatherbound editions from Barnes and Noble. They were cheap and it was my goal to own every single one of those things.

I then moved on to whatever signed editions interested me through Barnes and Noble's site. Which led me to othersites (Camelot Books), which led me to small presses.

I had a phase in there where I bought a TON of Folio Society editions (mostly used and cheap on eBay). Same with Easton Press. Then I had financial troubles after a bad breakup and had to sell those Folio Society editions, and some of my signed editions. Still heartbroken about that (the books, not the breakup).

Ever since, I've been supporting local presses mostly. I still spend more than I should, but at least I'll hopefully never have to sell them in a dire situation again!

[herbertwest]

About 15 years or so. And now I am really struggling with space.
I may have to look for another place to live, although we really looooove it here. Or maybe sell all of it. Or push the walls. Or I don't know.



I am about 34 years old and discovered King while I was a teenager (about 20 years ago).
Back then, I quickly became active on french message boards and about 15 years ago, the founder of the "Club Stephen King Lille" a non-profit founded in 1992 in a university, gave me the keys to his website and message boards. Because he didn't have the time to deal with it anymore.
It's now called the "Club Stephen King", a french website that I developped on social media as well



Ever since I think that I can say I've been veeeeeeery active in the King community and started collecting. Because I started having an income and a bit of space.
I started very slowly, and over the years, selectively : I was late to the game and I don't have the financial ressources that some people here have.
So there was NO WAY I was going to collect first editions nor limited / lettered editions nor proofs, after I discovered them. Nor being a completist for having every single one of King's fiction and non-fiction (although I would love to have that).

Therefore, my focus have mostly been about french publications (and I think I did quite well), and some other stuff.
My focuses :
- Movies : originally on DVDs, and I must admit that I haven't really been continueing much of that collection. Nowadays I mostly have digitals
- 1st edition (french) : I have every single french edition
- Proofs and ARCS : I think that, without any false modesty, I have the most comprehensive french proofs and arcs collection. I have been getting proofs since about 10 years or so, and every so often I accidentally come accross french arcs (I accidentally found 2 this week!)
- Publications : every single King text published in french (for instance in anthologies, magazines)
- Comics / graphic novels : I have every single french graphic novel/ comics, as well as some foreign one including the old 'Cracked' / 'Mad' spoofs. Although I must admit that I dont have (physicall) every single dark tower comics... but I have them digitally
- And plenty other stuff.
I dont really collect King's limited editions, as I said earlier, but I was lucky enough to get some 'symbolic' books I wanted. Such as CD "Carrie" / "Shining" / "IT" when they were originally put for sale

I also collect some other authors.
Mostly Bernard Werber, a french bestselling author unknown in the USA but a superstar in Korea and Russia where he sells millions of books.
I am lucky to be directly in touch with them and getting proof copies since about ten years or so. I also have some manuscript copies.
I collect and have been hunting down every single thing he ever wrote. For instance I went through 10 years of magazines hunting down each of his texts when he was a journalist, and I have accidentally came accross one of the fanzines that he wrote as a kid.

Also collects Maxime Chattam, another french author who mostly writes thrillers and is often considered as the french Stephen King.
But let's be honnest, according to publishers, all their scary authors are their Stephen King.
It's just another marketing plee.

Finally, in my collection I also have some rare french editions : the first french Dracula, the first french Jekyll and the second french Frankenstein (the first existing in an handful of copies, never for sale, and costing at least 10k !)


Now, my collection amouns for about :
- 620 books of/about Stephen King
- 255 books of/about Bernard Werber
- 60 books of/about Maxime Chattam
- 230 other books from misc authors


>>> Some pictures are in my collection thread

[Merlin1958]

I guess if I really go back and search my memory I started collecting books in the 5th or 6th grade. I had always read well above level and it was around this time that my father gave me his set of "Hardy Boy Stories". It was 8 or 9 editions and I read them all going on a tear from then on reading virtually anything I could get my hands on from home, the library and school. In addition to the "Hardy" books I began collecting paperbacks in more of a "Trophy" fashion storing them as conquests. I didn't really consider "Collecting" books until I read "LOTR" early in HS. I read that trilogy and "The Hobbit" in 3 days while recovering from blood poisoning!! LOL It instantly became my favorite set of books and still is but around '78 I got my hands on "Carrie" and the deal was done. When I began working on, Wall St I commuted via train to NYC and like most read on the train for the 1+ hour commute. I used to envy those that read hard cover books and vowed that when I could I would never again buy or read a PB.

So, I guess I've been collecting some 50+ years!!! Wow, never really sat down and thought about it.

[jreitan47]

Next year will mark 25 years as a fan/collector for me. Started in 1996 with the Green Mile paperbacks in my local KMart, and was pretty much hardcore into collecting first editions by releases of Desperation/Regulators, Wizard & Glass and Bag of Bones, after that I had to have everything!

By late 1997 and early 1998 I was active in fan groups online (SKEMERs, the old newsgroups...including Bev Vincent's first one...and Yahoo Groups). I founded Stephen King Collectors on Yahoo Clubs back in 1998 (?), traveled to Bangor and visited the old Betts Bookstore on Main Street and became friends with Stu, and George Beahm, Steve Spignesi, Charlie Fried and a host of others that aren't active anymore (or no longer around), and the rest is history! Some highlights along the way have been visiting some famous collections...Tina Hospers in Canada, Roy Robbins in California and Dave Hutch in Minnesota, working the Cemetery Dance table at a convention back in 2001 (?), the Borderlands Press table at New York World Horror Convention, visiting King's office a couple times, visiting King's archives at UMO before it was shutdown, helping run PalaverCon and staying at Robert Weiner's house of Grant Books, hanging out with King and the Rock Bottom Remainders at multiple concerts as I became good friends with Kathi Kamen Goldmark (RIP), and the many many Skemers conventions I was a part of planning over the years including Halloween weekend at the Stanley Hotel. I have a lifetime of memories and friendships thanks to King and all the great folks here! I've rebuilt my collection multiple times now having to resell it due to medical bills, but I'm here to stay this time!!

[Ari_Racing]

Jonathan, of all those collections you saw, which were the most impressive items you can talk about? I'm really interested in knowing more about those super collections!

[herbertwest]

Tina Hospers in Canada, Roy Robbins in California

I never heard of those names, although I remember a female canadian collector about 10 years ago because she happily sent me pictures of the contraband publications when i asked her, explicitly saying that I couldnt afford those.
Are they still collecting?

visiting King's office a couple times, visiting King's archives at UMO before it was shutdown (...) hanging out with King and the Rock Bottom Remainders at multiple concerts as I became good friends with Kathi Kamen Goldmark (RIP)

Oh man. That must have been mind blowing !!

the many many Skemers conventions I was a part of planning over the years including Halloween weekend at the Stanley Hotel.

Part of my bucket list, I think. Althought, very unlikely, even if my wife would probably love the national park out there

[Johnny007]

First, I wish there was a way to merge this poll and comments with the original thread. That being said, I still have books that I purchased in the 70s and 80s. I collected King beginning in the early 80s (1982/83) until maybe 1994. I had a decent, but modest, collection by 1994 but I found that the cost-of-living in the Washington, DC area was suffocating me. I decided to liquidate my collection in 1994 and use the proceeds to keep the stress at bay until I could actually afford to live there. I packed everything and drove to Bangor where I sold everything to Stu at Betts Books. I've told the story before about how I got back into collecting so I won't bore you with that again. Nevertheless, I returned to collecting (99% King) in 2003/4. I had not looked at catalogs (or something new called the internet) to see anything book-related for almost 10 years. Almost everything was new to me.

When I decided to get into collecting, one of my first calls was to Stu. He was instrumental in hooking me up with scores of books that I never even knew existed. He also introduced me to many people with whom I've communicated with and gotten to know over the past 15+ years. They've helped me rebuild my collection from almost scratch to what I currently have. I still have 100s of King books that I feel I need in order to fill out my collection. And so the chase remains. My health has been pretty good since I returned to work last October. But I know I'll have to pause again for a couple more surgeries and they will lay me up for 3 months. I hope I can postpone them until next February but I'll need a little luck again to make that happen. Fingers crossed. So, despite having started collecting books in the 70s and 80s, I answered the poll by selecting 2000-2004. I wasn't as serious or as committed to collecting books earlier in my life as I was starting in 2003/4. So that felt like the proper period of time for me to mark.

John

[Johnny007]

Tina Hospers in Canada, Roy Robbins in California

I never heard of those names, although I remember a female canadian collector about 10 years ago because she happily sent me pictures of the contraband publications when i asked her, explicitly saying that I couldnt afford those.
Are they still collecting?

visiting King's office a couple times, visiting King's archives at UMO before it was shutdown (...) hanging out with King and the Rock Bottom Remainders at multiple concerts as I became good friends with Kathi Kamen Goldmark (RIP)

Oh man. That must have been mind blowing !!

the many many Skemers conventions I was a part of planning over the years including Halloween weekend at the Stanley Hotel.

Part of my bucket list, I think. Althought, very unlikely, even if my wife would probably love the national park out there

Roy Robbins is BadMoonBooks in California. Tina went by tinah03, I believe, and was from maybe Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Canada. I purchased a few complete sets of Green Mile proofs in my career. Tina sold me my first set back in 2006/7 for $2.5K. Stu sold a set for the same amount a few months earlier so I figured that the price was reflective of the market. She allowed me to pay over 3 months and I was over the moon! Sadly (for me only), I was very short-sighted and foolish to part with all of them. I will try to buy them back later this year, if I'm lucky.

John

[herbertwest]

I am pretty sure that it was Tina I was thinking about

[herbertwest]

That thread is about collecting, but I think that there should also be a discussion about selling out an entire collection.

Not long ago, I recently acquired something I looked for about 15 years ago and ended up talking to the seller.
Someone that has a collectionf of 30,000 books and decided to start selling it all.
The reason is pretty simple, and I think, is fair : he had some friends that had 10,000+ books that recently passed away, and their wives don't really know what to do with all the books. Nor what they are.

Which can connect to the other thread about "values", and also got me thinking. Although I was already wondering since a little while since I am truly running out of space and we are considering to see if we may be able to get a mortgage to buy something bigger.

But that lead me to some questions :
- besides financial reasons, what would be the tipping point of turning a collectors into someone that sells their entire collection?
- up until when some people decides to collect and then let everything go? do people have decided that they will sell in 5, 10 years, or never if they don't financially need it?

Because, aren't the collectors the best persons for selling the collection? We know the "value", we have some contacts and friends that may be interesting in some pieces... I know that I keep an excel file with a list of my items, my purchased cost and an estimated value (which can obviously vary over time, but I think it gives an overview) and a list of contacts.
But if someone was to pass away, would the relatives really want to go through the hassle of selling 1000+ items individually and not the entire lot even if discounted?


And... should someone try to sell it all at once or individually, or over time in order reduce the tax paid on it (if that changes anything)?

Anyway, that's me just wondering out loud I guess but that's a subject that comes more an more into my mind.

[amd013]

That thread is about collecting, but I think that there should also be a discussion about selling out an entire collection.

Not long ago, I recently acquired something I looked for about 15 years ago and ended up talking to the seller.
Someone that has a collectionf of 30,000 books and decided to start selling it all.
The reason is pretty simple, and I think, is fair : he had some friends that had 10,000+ books that recently passed away, and their wives don't really know what to do with all the books. Nor what they are.

Which can connect to the other thread about "values", and also got me thinking. Although I was already wondering since a little while since I am truly running out of space and we are considering to see if we may be able to get a mortgage to buy something bigger.

But that lead me to some questions :
- besides financial reasons, what would be the tipping point of turning a collectors into someone that sells their entire collection?
- up until when some people decides to collect and then let everything go? do people have decided that they will sell in 5, 10 years, or never if they don't financially need it?

Because, aren't the collectors the best persons for selling the collection? We know the "value", we have some contacts and friends that may be interesting in some pieces... I know that I keep an excel file with a list of my items, my purchased cost and an estimated value (which can obviously vary over time, but I think it gives an overview) and a list of contacts.
But if someone was to pass away, would the relatives really want to go through the hassle of selling 1000+ items individually and not the entire lot even if discounted?


And... should someone try to sell it all at once or individually, or over time in order reduce the tax paid on it (if that changes anything)?

Anyway, that's me just wondering out loud I guess but that's a subject that comes more an more into my mind.

Good questions, and I think it is worthy of its own thread (if there isn't one already).

[amd013]

For me I guess the answer is subjective, it could be any one of the following events:

1) 1987 when I bought HC of Misery at a grocery store, this was the first HC book I ever bought. From this point on I bought (or was gifted) every HC King book. (until late '90s or early 2000's when I got disappointed with the quality of some of his books)
2) Mar 2007 - I went on Amazon to see if I missed any SK books, and saw Secretary of Dreams. Ordered from Amazon, but was notified they could not complete the order, so ordered from CD. When I did I saw that there was a numbered and lettered editions. I laughed at the fools that would pay that much for a book (who know I would become a fool?). I had no idea what a Lettered was (I mean they all have letters right?, they are books right?)
3) Nov 2007 - By buying SoD I got on the CD mailing list, so when SoD2 was offered I bought it, and on a whim decided to buy the numbered (I mean its just one book right, and its pretty neat to be one of the few people in the world to own this edition right?)
4) July 2010 - Bought Little Sisters of Eluria gift edition from Amazon, not sure I even realized it was limited print run.
5) Jun 2014 - Bought a 1/1 of Skeleton Crew off of ebay. This marked the first book I bought that wasn't brand new. I think at one point I was reading the FAQ on stephenking.com, and one of the questions was "how do I know if I have a first edition". After reading it I thought that subconsiously that was what I was trying to buy for the new books, so thought it would be cool to slowly acquire all the early books.

For this poll I choose #5 as my date of starting collecting, as that was the first time I thought of it as a collection. I think there are other events that could have marked the begining (buying limited edition of Dr. Sleep, buying the SK grab bag from CD, but I didn't feel like researching the dates).

(PS: the burglar who broke into my house stole most of the books from Carrie through Misery, I honestly think I miss Misery more since it had the most sentimental value of all my SK books).

[herbertwest]

Sorry to hear about the burglar. Hope you got some money back from insurance or anything like this

[amd013]

Sorry to hear about the burglar. Hope you got some money back from insurance or anything like this

Yeah, its old news, got a reasonable amount from insurance after deductible.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

I would say if they catch that burglar they should sentence him to reading LISEY'S STORY 100 times in a row, or life in prison, his choice.

But I won't say that, because it's not nice.

[herbertwest]

That thread is about collecting, but I think that there should also be a discussion about selling out an entire collection.

Not long ago, I recently acquired something I looked for about 15 years ago and ended up talking to the seller.
Someone that has a collectionf of 30,000 books and decided to start selling it all.
The reason is pretty simple, and I think, is fair : he had some friends that had 10,000+ books that recently passed away, and their wives don't really know what to do with all the books. Nor what they are.

Which can connect to the other thread about "values", and also got me thinking. Although I was already wondering since a little while since I am truly running out of space and we are considering to see if we may be able to get a mortgage to buy something bigger.

But that lead me to some questions :
- besides financial reasons, what would be the tipping point of turning a collectors into someone that sells their entire collection?
- up until when some people decides to collect and then let everything go? do people have decided that they will sell in 5, 10 years, or never if they don't financially need it?

Because, aren't the collectors the best persons for selling the collection? We know the "value", we have some contacts and friends that may be interesting in some pieces... I know that I keep an excel file with a list of my items, my purchased cost and an estimated value (which can obviously vary over time, but I think it gives an overview) and a list of contacts.
But if someone was to pass away, would the relatives really want to go through the hassle of selling 1000+ items individually and not the entire lot even if discounted?


And... should someone try to sell it all at once or individually, or over time in order reduce the tax paid on it (if that changes anything)?

Anyway, that's me just wondering out loud I guess but that's a subject that comes more an more into my mind.

Good questions, and I think it is worthy of its own thread (if there isn't one already).

Anybody else have some thoughts to chime in about that subject?

[amd013]

I would say if they catch that burglar they should sentence him to reading LISEY'S STORY 100 times in a row, or life in prison, his choice.

But I won't say that, because it's not nice.

LOL, I'll pass that along to the DA. He was arrested in June on another arrest warrant for burglary. After a couple of months fingerprints confirmed he was my guy, so another charge was added. I did recover 2 books (It and The Dead Zone). He is still awaiting trial in jail.

[herbertwest]

That thread is about collecting, but I think that there should also be a discussion about selling out an entire collection.

Not long ago, I recently acquired something I looked for about 15 years ago and ended up talking to the seller.
Someone that has a collectionf of 30,000 books and decided to start selling it all.
The reason is pretty simple, and I think, is fair : he had some friends that had 10,000+ books that recently passed away, and their wives don't really know what to do with all the books. Nor what they are.

Which can connect to the other thread about "values", and also got me thinking. Although I was already wondering since a little while since I am truly running out of space and we are considering to see if we may be able to get a mortgage to buy something bigger.

But that lead me to some questions :
- besides financial reasons, what would be the tipping point of turning a collectors into someone that sells their entire collection?
- up until when some people decides to collect and then let everything go? do people have decided that they will sell in 5, 10 years, or never if they don't financially need it?

Because, aren't the collectors the best persons for selling the collection? We know the "value", we have some contacts and friends that may be interesting in some pieces... I know that I keep an excel file with a list of my items, my purchased cost and an estimated value (which can obviously vary over time, but I think it gives an overview) and a list of contacts.
But if someone was to pass away, would the relatives really want to go through the hassle of selling 1000+ items individually and not the entire lot even if discounted?


And... should someone try to sell it all at once or individually, or over time in order reduce the tax paid on it (if that changes anything)?

Anyway, that's me just wondering out loud I guess but that's a subject that comes more an more into my mind.

Good questions, and I think it is worthy of its own thread (if there isn't one already).

Anybody else have some thoughts to chime in about that subject?

I am currently going through about 500-100 fashion magazines from my wife, that she wants to get rid of.
It's already quite consuming, and I am only stopping at the cover, not going throught the actual table of contents, which would probably help me selling it better with more names and keywords.
I really don't see how someone living with a recently deceased person that owned 1,000 books or more would go through each and every one of them to sell them. Nor knowing how to best sell them or sell them more efficiently, even if I have excel file about them.

In order to maybe earn an extra 5 euros each? 5.0-100 euros each?
It's a very time consuming thing, and frankly, it makes me think about my collection. And obviously, I could pass away before her too. Still.

[Splync]

I am currently going through about 500-100 fashion magazines from my wife, that she wants to get rid of.
It's already quite consuming, and I am only stopping at the cover, not going throught the actual table of contents, which would probably help me selling it better with more names and keywords.
I really don't see how someone living with a recently deceased person that owned 1,000 books or more would go through each and every one of them to sell them. Nor knowing how to best sell them or sell them more efficiently, even if I have excel file about them.

In order to maybe earn an extra 5 euros each? 5.0-100 euros each?
It's a very time consuming thing, and frankly, it makes me think about my collection. And obviously, I could pass away before her too. Still.

There was a seller on eBay who was selling her deceased husband's collection and put a decent effort into detailing and photographing each item. I found it very commendable.

Hell, I've been occasionally some items from my teenage years (little figurines and such) and even trying to detail something that I had previous knowledge of was EXHAUSTING after awhile. I couldn't imagine trying to sell thousands of books individually, unless it was over a very long period of time.

I wouldn't be surprised if the widows of collectors just sold collections in bulk or had a third party sell the items.

[Lookwhoitis]

I would say if they catch that burglar they should sentence him to reading LISEY'S STORY 100 times in a row, or life in prison, his choice.

But I won't say that, because it's not nice.

LOL, I'll pass that along to the DA. He was arrested in June on another arrest warrant for burglary. After a couple of months fingerprints confirmed he was my guy, so another charge was added. I did recover 2 books (It and The Dead Zone). He is still awaiting trial in jail.

Happy to hear you got some of the purloined books back!