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Books you regret getting rid of.

Started by Serge, January 31, 2018, 01:32:25 PM

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Serge

Obviously, as a hoarder, the quick response is 'all books I have ever got rid of' (except for that copy of 'Autumn' by Ali Smith), but Brundle-Fly's post over in the charity shop thread reminded me that I used to have loads of those little paperback Mad books (with the yellow-edged pages), but somehow, in my younger days, thought it was perfectly fine to get rid of them at some point. What a mad, impetuous, handsome young man I was.

My biggest regret is that when I was trying to scrape together enough money to move to London in the late '90s, I got rid of my entire set of 'Perishers' collections. I didn't have a full set - some of the early ones eluded me, though I did have omnibus editions of some of them - but it was pretty close. Although realistically I can't really regret something that enabled me to move to London, I suspect that I made little enough from them that it probably wouldn't have made much difference.

Other books I have somehow lost along the way:

'Bindweed's Bestseller' - an annual for grown ups, with short stories, comic strips, reminiscences from the likes of Kenneth Williams, etc.

Pretty much all of the comedy tie-in books I used to have - The Young Ones' 'Bachelor Boys', the Smith & Jones books, the first Spitting Image book, all of the Not The Nine O'Clock News books (including 'Not 1982' and 'Not 1983'), the 'Life Of Brian' Scrapbook, even 'How To Be A Complete Bastard'. Admittedly, I have managed to pick up the Young Ones and Spitting Image books in charity shops over the past few years, but if only I'd hung onto them in the first place.

The small format paperback version of Bob Dylan's 'Tarantula' - I've got a more recent paperback reissue, but it's not the same.

Nearly all of the books I had on The Beatles - from my brief period as a Beatles Atheist in the early 2000s - and that David Dalton-edited collection of articles on The Rolling Stones.

The first two 'Book Of Lists' books, and the Rolling Stone-crated 'Book Of Rock Lists'. Also a few of those 'Rock Annuals' they used to publish in the late '70s/early '80s, usually with content by people who wrote for the NME and Melody Maker, which would probably be full of stuff I'd appreciate a lot more now than I did when I was about 13.

I'm just glad I never let my copy of 'Krautrocksampler' out of my sight....

Danger Man

My collection of Alternative Londons by Nicholas Saunders.

a) Because they were a delightful window on a world long gone

b) They seem to be going for £50 each or more

Famous Mortimer

I abandoned partially complete collections of 2000AD twice in my life, but I learned the lesson and carted the entire fucking lot across the Atlantic. Although I am going to rely on eBay to get the new issues, no way I'm paying for an international subscription.

Small Man Big Horse

It's comics and magazines for me too rather than books, as when my mum moved house 13 years ago her garage had space for the latter but not the former. At one point I had pretty much full runs of all of the early Vertigo titles (Sandman, Doom Patrol, Hellblazer, Shade, Animal Man, etc) but sold them on ebay as I didn't have the space for them. At least I got some cash on that front, my complete collection of the Twin Peaks fanzine Wrapped In Plastic ended up being donated to a charity shop and last year when the series returned I could have sold them for a pretty penny.

Serge

Oh yeah, don't get me started on the piles of NME, Melody Maker, Select, Mojo, Vox, Empire, etc, etc that I literally just binned rather than have to move them to London. What a twat I was. Old Viz Comics from the '80s and '90s as well.


manticore

I got rid of a book called 'Psychoanalysis and the Occult' (1953) by George Devereux many years ago and it's very expensive to buy secondhand now. It's such a funny book because it has essays by Freud and other major psychoanalysts that show a surprising level of belief in the paranormal for believers in the 'scientific' study of the mind. Freud believed that his interpretation of dreams proved the existence of clairvoyance for example.

I suspect this is something orthodox psychoanalysts would rather not discuss, and the book is out of print.  I think I got rid of it with the rest of my psychic and UFO books when I decided it was all balony, but I wish I'd kept that one because it gives an interesting insight into the paths people's minds can take.

Attila

Quote from: Serge on January 31, 2018, 01:32:25 PM
the Rolling Stone-crated 'Book Of Rock Lists'.

I have that one! It's sat on my shelf in my office as we speak. I bought it at a school book fair the same year it was published, so mine has the naughty images of Lou Reed shooting up and Mick Jagger and his inflatable penis suit. How this book got past the nuns and deemed acceptable for us I have no idea. I think later editions took out some of the illustrations. My copy's been well-read, that's for sure.

I have my tatty copies of the Book of Lists 1 and 2, as well (there was a third one, but I spent more time reading and re-reading the first one of the three of them).

bushwick

I regret that my bitch-ass momma threw out an almost complete run of 2000AD up to issue 500 or so. Loads of related comics, loads of bronze age marvel/dc, old Beanos from the 70s and early 80s. Doesn't bear thinking about. Came back from my dad's after one summer holiday and they were all fucking gone.

I lost the Illuminatus Trilogy and a load of other books to mould/big mushroom fungus things in a shared house in the 90s. Lost loads of stuff when I moved out of an ex's flat too including old Slow Death comics and other undergrounds, the Savoy comics of Meng & Ecker, the great Last Gasp book Notes From The Pop Underground (also lost a signed framed  S Clay Wilson print, still gutted about that).

I've been badly burned in the past, and this is why my wife needs to know I am so loath to get rid of any of my second hand pulp novels that are stinking up the spare room...

bushwick

Ah man i feel upset now. Childhood trauma!

Danger Man

Quote from: Attila on February 07, 2018, 02:13:17 PM
I have my tatty copies of the Book of Lists 1 and 2, as well (there was a third one, but I spent more time reading and re-reading the first one of the three of them).

Do you have the spin-off Book of Predictions?

If so, did they come true?

Howj Begg

Quote from: manticore on January 31, 2018, 11:32:42 PM
I got rid of a book called 'Psychoanalysis and the Occult' (1953) by George Devereux many years ago and it's very expensive to buy secondhand now. It's such a funny book because it has essays by Freud and other major psychoanalysts that show a surprising level of belief in the paranormal for believers in the 'scientific' study of the mind. Freud believed that his interpretation of dreams proved the existence of clairvoyance for example.

I suspect this is something orthodox psychoanalysts would rather not discuss, and the book is out of print.  I think I got rid of it with the rest of my psychic and UFO books when I decided it was all balony, but I wish I'd kept that one because it gives an interesting insight into the paths people's minds can take.

Similarly I sold my copy of Jung's Psychology and Alchemy. I should have kept it for the pictures if nothing else. Ffs.