"The Adventures of a Collector" by Terry Seymour

Terry Seymour

When it comes to the authoritative voice on anything concerning collecting of Joseph Dent's 1000 original Everyman's Library editions, it's without a shadow of a doubt a gentleman by the name of Terry Seymour - who also authored the wonderful "A Guide to Collecting Everyman's Library" - a must have for any collector of the original 1000 Everyman's.

In 2008, the University of North Carolina had an exhibit on the art of collecting the original 1000 Everyman's. And of course, who better to give a speech on "The Adventures of a Collector?" - Yup, you guessed it...Mr. Terry Seymour.

So, without further ado, Here is a taste of his opening remarks to wet your appetite - with the link to the full text of his talk following for further reading:

ADVENTURES OF A COLLECTOR

When a non-collector is viewing my collection or even discussing it in a social situation there are two questions that inevitably arise. Both of these questions are very annoying to the collector. So perhaps if you learn nothing else this evening you can avoid causing some future social damage. These questions are: "Have you read all these books?" and "What's going to happen to all these books when you die?"

By far the most common question is: "Have you read all these books?" There are a number of snappy responses to that question, but the bald truth is that in most cases, a serious collector hasn't the spare time to read a fraction of the books he owns. That is certainly not to say that a collector is unfamiliar with his books. Any collector worth his salt has a detailed knowledge of the background, content, and publication history of his books. Most collectors will have read a respectable amount in their chosen field, depending, of course, upon how broad that field is. The reason this knowledge is crucial to a good collector is that it helps him gauge significance."

To continue reading, for the full speech, click here or the button provided to the right:

http://everymanslibrarycollecting.com/lecture.html

NOTE: All article credit, etc. to Terry Seymour, his website, etc. What a great contributions his efforts have been to the endless collectors of Everyman's Library for decades - the understatement of the day for sure! Thank you Terry!

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"To celebrate the opening on 17 January 2008 of the UNC Wilson Library exhibit, "The ABC of Collecting Everyman's Library: Archives, Books, Collectors", Terry Seymour [photo above with his collection] delivered a lecture entitled "The Adventures of a Collector." He expounded upon book collecting in general as well as Everyman's Library in particular..."

To read his entire speech, click the button below.

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My Everyman's Library Collection

My Collection of Books by Everyman's Library

"The Adventures of a Collector" by Terry Seymour

Terry Seymour

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