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Series of books - buying an identical set

Started by Famous Mortimer, November 07, 2019, 06:38:40 PM

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Famous Mortimer

Are you, like me, wanting your set of books to look the same? Does it upset your mind when vol. 13 of some 20 book series is from a different publisher, or is hardback instead of paperback?

I found vols. 3 and 4 of "The Dark Tower" at a massive YMCA book sale, and I liked the format. Good covers, so I thought I'd try and collect the rest of the series in the same format. After buying 1 and 2 earlier this week, I looked it up and noticed the publisher in question (Plume) only printed 1-4, so I'm either going to have to re-buy the entire series or put up with a weird-looking shelf. It doesn't help that there have been dozens of different editions of The Dark Tower, with all sorts of crappy illustrations.

After thinking about fantasy series, I thought "might see if that Malazan Book of the Fallen is available anywhere" but I think I'm safer there. There's the nice quality covers edition, and the shitty generic fantasy covers edition. Just got to be careful if I'm buying them online that the seller is selling the right version (abebooks is tricky for this, very few of them use their own images and they never respond when you ask what version it is).

Should I not worry about this stuff? Or is this the only right way to behave? I've not even mentioned the 30 quid I spent getting the right vol.1 of the Prisoner novel series, when I could have got that crappy Jim Caviezel tie-in version for 50p.

holyzombiejesus

Of course you are right. Ridiculously, I'm considering selling my half-completed 'The Complete Peanuts' collection as the later releases that I'm yet to buy have a slightly different spine (just an extra publisher's logo) to the earlier ones which I own, and I don't want half a series.

madhair60



Sebastian Cobb


"Of course you're not supposed to read books like this anyway!"

No, much like 'special edition' video games in a tin, it's preying on the weak.

I'd much rather a mismatched set of secondhand worn books. They have a life of their own.

touchingcloth

The OP is better than the people you sometimes see on The Grand Design who have clearly bought books based on the colour of their spines, but only just. Second against the wall.

buttgammon

Quote from: touchingcloth on November 10, 2019, 10:24:35 AM
The OP is better than the people you sometimes see on The Grand Design who have clearly bought books based on the colour of their spines, but only just. Second against the wall.

Not sure if other bookshops do this but Strand Bookstore in New York offers a service where they will help you select set of books with spines to match your decor.

touchingcloth

Quote from: buttgammon on November 10, 2019, 11:31:26 AM
Not sure if other bookshops do this but Strand Bookstore in New York offers a service where they will help you select set of books with spines to match your decor.

And ISIS never turned their attention on them?

buttgammon

Quote from: touchingcloth on November 10, 2019, 01:00:05 PM
And ISIS never turned their attention on them?

Something something Bin Laden and the wrong target in Manhattan etc etc.

(It's a shame because Strand is a genuinely amazing bookshop; if catering to rich shallow fuckwits subsidises their position as a cultural hub maybe it's worthwhile? But I'm still cynical.)

purlieu

I'd say it all depends on income. If you can easily afford matching versions and want to ship your old ones off to charity shops, then go for it. If you're thinking "I could spend that money on something I don't already own", then don't bother. A nice shelf with matching series of books is pleasant to look at, but it's not worth forking out shitloads of cash on unless you're pretty comfortable with not having that money around.

In terms of The Dark Tower, you're going to have to go for a 2013 print onwards, as that's the date of the last book (The Wind Through the Keyhole), which should narrow it down.

I think my Dark Tower books are in at least three formats. But I'm alternating them with his various related books for a full read-through anyway, so the whole series is probably in about eight different formats now.

Blue Jam

"I need leather-bound pounds to go with my wallet"

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: purlieu on November 10, 2019, 04:24:11 PM
I'd say it all depends on income. If you can easily afford matching versions and want to ship your old ones off to charity shops, then go for it. If you're thinking "I could spend that money on something I don't already own", then don't bother. A nice shelf with matching series of books is pleasant to look at, but it's not worth forking out shitloads of cash on unless you're pretty comfortable with not having that money around.

In terms of The Dark Tower, you're going to have to go for a 2013 print onwards, as that's the date of the last book (The Wind Through the Keyhole), which should narrow it down.

I think my Dark Tower books are in at least three formats. But I'm alternating them with his various related books for a full read-through anyway, so the whole series is probably in about eight different formats now.
Mostly it's not buying things I do want because it would look weird and not matching. I'll keep the four Dark Towers I have and just find a matching 5-7, won't look so bad. There are some authors where it's impossible to get a matching set so I don't bother (Philip K Dick, for one).