MAKING ASSOCIATION BOOKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 139, 2 September 1927, Page 12

MAKING ASSOCIATION BOOKS

( Written for THE SUN.) r pHERE is an aspect of book-collect- ■* ing which is very delightful, although only a minority of collectors pursue it, because they are not quite sure how it’s done. I will give you some interesting facts about it. Making association books is a hobby that I have indulged in for a great number of years. It is a natural outcome of the joys of book-collecting. Although I have been always connected

with books, from my childhood’s days, ■ in some form or aaiother, I confess that I gradually fell into the association atmosphere. Let us take an example, and say that years ago I bought a copy of an early book by that fascinating author —all of whose books I deeply cherish —Walter de la Mare. I cared for that volume as dearly as l could. A week or two la ter, perhaps, I came across one of lij's poems, a delicious verse or two in that mystic manner of his. I cut it out, and pasted it in the cover of my book. Then 1 came upon Mr. de la Mare’s portrait. In (hat went. Later, Mr. de la Mare, in his great goodness, wrote me something. In that went. Someone else, whose name counted for something, had written me about the book. So I treasured that little item. About the same time there probiubly appeared a notice of the work by a notable critic in a distinguished paper. I proserved that, too, in the book. By this time that particular volume had many vastly interesting tit-bits in it. If I cared, I might sell that altogether lovely volume to an American millionaire for a great sum. 'Will I? Not I. And for more than one reason. I do not sell such treasured books. And I do not sell for gold the good things my friends bestow upon me. That would be mean and ungracious. My joy in making such books is not to be measured by gold. As j r ou will find for yourself, if you take up the hobby. Anyhow', the Avay of it is explained in this paragraph. Of course, if you want to make it a business there is nothing to stop you. It can be easily done, but, naturally,, you will have to pay for the items yom put in your books. And there is reo reason why you should not make some money out of it —if you learn to dtO it properly. But there’s the rub. C?„n you? It wants more than knowledge. And that is exacting enough. You must have a real instinct for it. First of all, you have got to know what books to collect. Then, having learned something about this, what are you going to put in them? Those off us, who are supposed to have some expert knowledge, and have been studying it for many years, gather something fresh about it almost every But that’s the joy of it. We never exhaust the subject. What you must do, is to pick out the authors who are going to* be the big men of the future. Of course, that is not easy. When you have mastered this, you will make sure to purchase the first editions of all their books as they appear. You will then use your ingenuity in collecting all kinds of items about the book and its

author. Odd things, bits of manuscript. autograph letters, signed pictures—everything you can think of. It’s up to you to plan it out Much of it you will have to buy. Then you must watch the market. And when it rises, just as in the case of shares, you will sell. So you make your profit. I am not so sure you will want to do so, unless you have decided to take up bookselling as a business. If you follow it as a hobby, I am inclined to think that you will come to love those books to which you have been adding all these items, and where 3 r ou started out to make money, you will become such a booklover, that nothing on earth will persuade you to part with the books you have been so happily collecting. Some day I will tell you about many of the books 1 have collected, and how they have grown to be unique association books. And whether you follow my lead as a collector, or as a prospective money-maker, I am sure, in any case, you will find it all tremendously interesting. G. 11. GRUBB. London.