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| James Norman Hall enjoying his library Tahiti Photo source: Sylvie-Anne Gougeon |
What interested me most about this essay was the description of Mr. Hall's library. The visit took place in 1956 and Hall's wife, Sarah, still lived in the house.
Hall had been dead for five years but he was still alive in the house, his hat hanging on a peg, his typewriter and falling-apart atlas waiting on an ink-stained blotter, his thousands of books spilling into the kitchen. The library contained 27 volumes by Joseph Conrad, who was Hall's hero and for whom he named his son.
Keeping Joseph Conrad company were the complete works of Robert Lewis Stevenson, the 12-volume Works of Benjamin Franklin, the nine-volume Writings of Thomas Jefferson, and sets of Washington Irving, Thoreau, Emerson, Mark Twain, Thackeray and Sir Walter Scott. Modern American literature was also represented: Thurber, Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis, Sarah Orne Jewett, and the writer Hall most admired, Willa Cather. One entire wall was crammed with works of naval history.
Later in the essay, Mr. Zinsser's admits that now, some 60 years on, he still thinks of Hall's library. No such personal library will ever be assembled again, he feels. "The world's knowledge is being digitized, its literature is fast being Kindled. Does any architect still design a house with a 'library,'" he wonders.
Which brings me to the thought: do I have a library or do I just have some books?
I would never consider my collection to be as encompassing as Mr. Hall's. I don't believe I have 'sets' of any writer's works. Well, OK, I do have a one-volume The Complete Works of Shakespeare with type so tiny I need two magnifying glasses to read the lines. I can hardly count that.
I also have a sampling of Thoreau, Emerson, Twain, Thurber, Thackeray, Steinbeck and Lewis, but no Cather, Stevenson, Jewett, Conrad, or Scott.
Have I filled my shelves with intention or just bought books higgledy-piggledy? Does one really need to have reference books on any one subject any longer? When I die, will someone look through my books and think, "What a magnificent range of intellect and interests Belle had!" or will they wonder, "How quickly can we get rid of all this?"
How about chiming in on this subject. Do you consider your books just books or do you think of what you have as a library?
I guess I think of my books as an unorganized library. I probably don't have all the books written by any one author but have most of Joan Medlicott, Jan Karon, all but one (the first one) of Gladys Taber's Stillmeadow and Still Cove books, Patrick Taylors "An Irish Country.." series, Susan Wittig Albert's "Cottage Tales", Elizbeth Oglivie's lobstering series,many of my childhood favorites, and lots of other books. A mix of hardcover and paperback. Some in bookcases and some stacked on the floor in a corner or in a box or on top of a dresser.... If I had a room to house my unorganized library I would consider it a library but that's only a dream.
ReplyDeleteJoyce in KS
Thanks for your comments, Joyce. I am glad you collect your favorites. Don't you just love Gladys Taber?
DeleteI have most of my books corralled in bookcases but there are renegade piles in every room. I guess we can call our collection of books a library if we want to even though they are not all in one space.
I definitely think of my books as a library. I've been lucky enough to have libraries in this house and my last. Because I'm an autodidact, I started out buying works by all the well-known or classic authors, as well as book on history. I wanted to know everything. I have sets of Stevenson, Dickens, Scott, Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Twain, Balzac, Parkman, and the Harvard Classics. And all the other books shelved or stacked in every room of the house. I haven't read all those books, but they're there, enveloping me in wisdom and adventure, my security blanket. I'll never get rid of this core library, but I'm doing much better as far as acquiring books, reading them, and passing them on.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Joan. How fortunate to have a dedicated library room! It is wonderful that you have been so intentional and thoughtful in your purchases and that you look on your collection as 'enveloping you in wisdom and adventure'. Perfect.
DeleteI too have some 'classics' that I haven't read. It's nice to know they are there, though, isn't it! You never know when the fancy will strike to read Parkman's "The Oregon Trail". (I had to look him up. Thanks for introducing me to him.)
I forgot that I have a set of Junior Classics (eight volumes) which I have never even looked at. I inherited them from a cousin. Maybe now I shall pull them down from the shelf and see what treasures they might hold.
I like to think of my books as my own small library. There's a quote by Edgar A. Poe that I love about his collection of books: "I sought relief from my ennui in dipping here and there, at random, among volumes of my library--no very large one, certainly, but sufficiently miscellaneous..." My collection of books may be small, but for me, it is "sufficiently miscellaneous"...and that's the way I like it!
ReplyDeleteI love that quote, Lark. Yes, that is my library...sufficiently miscellaneous. I do sometimes find myself dipping in in search of a quote or to just read an essay here and there. Lovely.
DeleteBelle! This is a fascinating subject and one that has been recently on my mind for two reasons. I visited a friend last week which I always enjoy the company but I also love looking at his library (looking at anyone’s library in fact). I come back and looked at mine and immediately chastise myself for the lack of order. He is 100% anal as to alphabetical order by author and that’s it. No shelves personal favourites by author or subject ......no they must be alphabetical. His grandson when visiting loves to ( when no one is looking) rearranges a few shelves. And watch the reaction!! I need to have my favourite subjects/authors front and center Joyce/Becket/William Trevor/Fran O’ Brien/Shakespeare (essays, biographies, and criticism, whatever but by and about that particular author). My Russian authors take up a wall and Shakespeare another. Throughout the house in every room in all different type and styles of bookcases and in stacks in no particular order, Philosophy in one pile, Essays in another, all Proustian and his world by the window, history over there! I like the randomness (My friend calls it “disorganization”) of my system (?) except when I have to find an elusive title, and I wish I was like him. The second reason its been on my mind is that I had a conversation with someone recently (on line) who is an avid reader but who has some very strange ideas about a personal library she felt that there was something basically unhealthy and narcissistic in it. That a personal home library was nothing more than a monument or memorial to one’s own life, a “fetish” she called it! We agreed to differ on the issue, and call me a narcissus if you wish as I am never happier then when I am surrounded by my books, not matter how un-orderly they may be. Call me "Higgledy-Piggledy" I have and no doubt will in the future be called worse!
ReplyDeleteGosh, Tullik, thanks for all these ideas. I would not like all my books to be alphabetized by author. What if I forgot the author's name? Some books I own because of the subject, not the author, so therefore I agree with your system of having the books more by subject/favorite author.
DeleteThat is wild about the personal library as "unhealthy and narcissistic." I can't imagine living in a house without books. And I too love looking at others' libraries. It is a quick way to get to know someone, n'est-ce pas?
I definitely have a library; two actually - as I also have a largish collection of books I use for the (very part-time hobby now) academic side of my life as well as more personal books. But I could not necessarily class these as physical libraries, as the books are all over the place, and many packed away, and a lot are e-books. But one day, I will have a true organized 'real' library - it is an important part of my life.
ReplyDeleteAh, Vicki, you have brought in the topic of the e-books. Will I have to ask my friends if I can browse through their e-reader after I have had a look at their bookshelves? What might they be hiding there?!
DeleteYears ago, I read an article about the playwright Marsha Norman and how she had bookshelves built on every wall of her apartment. She considered her entire living space her library. I have to agree although not all my walls contain shelves. But it's something to consider!
Thanks for you comments.