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Post by susanb on Mar 26, 2013 19:18:14 GMT 1
or "How the H*ll Did I Get Here?"
Ok, so I’ve looked over list of books I have to catalog (sooo behind) and found they’re probably less than 50% pony….how did this happen?!!
I remember well the day I decided to collect children’s books. I actually decided to replace the Nancy Drew books that (like a fool) I had donated to the library when I decided I was “too old” to have such books lurking about. Having discovered that the books I’d read as a child were revised, I decided to go for the originals, the editions that my mother would have read. I figured that this would also ease a bit of the guilt I had over buying a set of over 50 books AGAIN, because, hey, they weren’t the same book, right? Then, of course, I had to add all the books Mildred Wirt, the original author of the Nancy Drews, wrote under her own name (and various pen names). The Penny Parkers just resurrected the interest I always had in journalism, and wow…aren’t there a lot of fantastic vintage children’s books that feature reporting?
Anyway, time passes and I manage to track down all the books. Then I notice that the pony books from my childhood (which I was never crazy enough to think I was too old to read) are pretty damn shabby looking. Hmmm, thought I, I should see if I can’t track down nicer copies. Maybe hardcovers with dustjackets. Maybe even first editions! Now, in the course of finding lovely copies of my best-beloved books, I found that those authors had written books I hadn’t read….must get them too! And, as anyone who buys on ebay knows, some books are acquired only in a lot….uh, oh…..more authors to fall in love with and collect. Meanwhile, I’m thinking….Oooo….what about that fabulous mystery by what’s her name? I’d love to read that again. And all the other books she wrote…….and all the other mysteries I loved and the other books their authors wrote.
Over the course of events, I tried to limit the books extraneous to what I had decided would be my primary book collection, the pony books, (a collection which continued to expend, from one author, one era, one continent, to the next). As I trod along the path, I came across Lorna Hill…once I had her pony books, of course I had to get the ballet books, because like many collectors I’m a completist (read “nut”). And I had to add Lee Wyndham and Regina Woody’s dance books to their horse books too! From those ballet books it was a hop (err, jete) to add other ballet books…..hello to Mabel Esther Allan! And then, what is dance but a performing art? Gillian Baxter’s Knightsgate Players (which I had to add to her pony books!) lead straight to Pamela Brown and Helen Dore Boylston’s theatre books.
So…there you have it, my personal Map to Collecting Insanity….has anyone else here seen their collections grow like Topsy?
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Post by susanb on Mar 26, 2013 19:35:14 GMT 1
btw, if anyone is wondering what non pony books awaiting cataloging prompted this musing, here's a selection:
Journalism:
Marty, Marty Goes to Hollywood, Marty on the Campus - Elisa Bialk (also a pony book author)
Peggy Covers the News, Peggy Covers London - Emma Bugbee
Dance/performing arts:
A Time to Dance - Regina Woody (also a pony book author)
Secret Dancer - Mabel Esther Allan
Maddy Again - Pamela Brown
In Search of Ophelia - Amelia Elizabeth Walden (also a pony book author)
Mystery:
the Phantom Trailer - Mildred Wirt
Mystery in Arles - Mabel Esther Allan
Mystery at St. Hilaire - Mabel Esther Allan
Mystery on the Campus - Annette Turngren (also a pony book author)
Other fiction:
Who Was Silvia - Nancy Hartwell (also a pony book author)
The Highest Dream - Phyllis Whitney (also a pony book author)
Me and the End of the World - William Corbin (also a pony book author)
Careers of Cynthia - Erick Berry
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Post by Claire on Mar 26, 2013 22:34:25 GMT 1
Lol susan. I didnt start til I was about 30, how old were you? Began when I found there were a few PT books I hadn't read (the ones which came out in the mid 80s onwards when I had grown out of reading kids books) and bought them off ebay. Then really got back into reading them all again and realised all my copies were scruffy dropping to bits and missing gaps.
I must admit I am starting to get sucked into other non-pony genres too recently.
One thing about being a bookseller is that you are prevented from getting too large a collection by the fact you have to sell some of the damn things in order to pay the bills - much as you'd like to keep every nice edition! When I started to sell less horse books and more Enid Blytons and other authors I thought I wouldn't be so tempted. But now I am seeing loads of nice EB with lovely illustrations I'd like to keep not to mention Lorna Hills with dustjackets, etc.
Books other than pony that are tempting me:
Enid Blyton 'Adventure' series with the wonderful jackets and Stuart Tresilian illustrations.
Enid Blyton farm and animal/nature stories, again gorgeous jackets and/or illus.
Lorna Hill ballet series, Lone Pine series by Malcolm Saville.
Any cat and dog stories with lovely illustrations.
Trouble is still got loads of pony books to add to my collection so I must prioritise those!
BTW wasn't Erick Berry also a pony book author...?
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 1:09:09 GMT 1
Yes, I was around 30 when I started collection too....I think it's the dangerous age....just enough distance from childhood to be nostalgic  One hates to add to another persons addiction, but have you read any of the Drina books by Jean Estoril (pseud Mabel Esther Allan)? They are lovely  Re dog books....oh, dear, I'd forgotten...just ordered a copy of Almena's Dogs by Regina Woody....kind of, sort of, a companion to her horse book Starlight  (And you're right, Erick Berry did a couple of historic horse books, but I haven't yet located either..so I'm going backwards there!) I've never got into Enid Blyton (ONE that I missed), but those djs are absolutely stunning! Outside of the theatre and ballet books, probably the most expensive British series I wound up collecting was the Worrals series by W.E. Johns, which I loved. That series was recommended by someone on a book forum....yet another snare for the unwary obsessive collector  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 7:39:41 GMT 1
I've just started to get sucked into her farming stories...eeek help! Can't afford any more books!! As I said on another thread I didn't start collecting pony books until about four years ago. It's far too addictive! I'm now trying to sort out which ones I'll definately have for keeps and woud read again and again and anything which I wouldn't have got to go. Your lists are impressive Susan! |
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Post by Claire on Mar 27, 2013 12:08:33 GMT 1
It is a very addictive hobby - especially with the internet!
I haven't read the Drina books, although I've had a lot of them through my hands. I'm not really into ballet books per se. I think I only started reading the Lorna Hill ballet series cos the first books had horses in them.
Forgot to mention a couple of other authors I'm interested in - Noel Streatfield (managed to confine myself to PBs so far) and I also really like the Melling School books by Margaret Biggs. I found out a few years back that there were more books to the series than I'd thought but have so far resisted searching them out!
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Post by rallycairn on Mar 27, 2013 12:36:14 GMT 1
See my prob is that I thought I had read a lot of horse books, at least the classics, but really I had very limiterd access to Brit authors as a child - basically only Peyton - so I have scads left to collect and read!
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 14:16:11 GMT 1
I know what you mean, Rosie, and then there is the SPACE issue!!! Where to put them all....I need magic bookshelves ;D Claire, good for you....because her dance books are just the tip of a HUGE iceberg.....she wrote over a hundred books, only a dozen or so are ballet oriented. She did mysteries, time slips, light teen romances, farming books (Strange Enchantment might be up your alley, Rosie), school stories and just plain general childrens and ya fiction. She's going to require a wing in my library (in non-existent space  ) |
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 14:20:46 GMT 1
Lucky Rally!  The early stages of collecting are so lovely....you haven't yet run out of money or space and you're not down to the last few impossible to find/afford books, so there's always something wonderful coming in the mail...........sigh........ok, now I'm getting nostalgic for my early collecting days! BTW, have you read Vian Smith? My library had almost all of his books, but for some reason they didn't have any of Peytons! I didn't discover her till I started collecting. |
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 14:24:56 GMT 1
Claire, re Noel Streatfeild....I've been semi-restrained there....in hardcover, I only have Ballet Shoes, Ballet Shoes for Anna, The Secret of the Lodge (UK title The House in Cornwall), The Growing Summer and The Family at Caldecott Place. Errm....when it's all written down like that, it doesn't look very restrained, does it? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 16:09:39 GMT 1
Can I have some too please ;D Having said I wouldn't buy any more books I just had to get Monica Edwards Under the Rose. Well it was a first edition But that's it...no more!!.......... Until the next one.......... Can we set up a pony book anonymous group Claire |
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Post by rallycairn on Mar 27, 2013 17:38:20 GMT 1
Oh, goodness, I have no room at all! DH and I have TONS of books -- wall-to-wall in the living room on one wall, and half the wall on the opposite side, and my Trixie Beldens and dog books are on 2 1/2 floor-to-ceiling bookcases in an outbuilding, and the attic and another outbuilding have books just lying in literal STACKS/piles, stacks are by each side of our bed -- it's just that I hadn't read nearly as many HORSE books as I thought! But I was always a voracious reader. And, no, sadly, I haven't yet read a Vian Smith -- will add to the list! I'm just sampling Judith Berrisford (the Sue and Ballita books and the Taff books -- I don't think I'll tackle Jackie), I want to do many more JPTs, sample the other PT sisters, then finish the few Jill books I don't have yet, then probably do Romney Marsh rather than Punchbowl. I dip in and out of modern series but I'm going to go back to being very picky about those. I read a few of the Janet Rising Pony Whisperer and then drifted away from them as they are okay but not that compelling. Knocked out one and started another yesterday (got them on Nook), but really reading them out of liking the closure of completing a series rather than really liking the books. I think I need to finish those authors I know I like first rather than trying new ones. But still, I always have a bit of a debate about an author -- do you all feel the same? -- wondering whether I should be vigilant about reading every pony book by a certain author, versus being comfortable just getting a good sampling and then moving on. Of course it is harder to read everything by the more prolific authors, but I have to admit that's kind of my ideal, especially if an author's good. |
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 18:29:24 GMT 1
LOL...isn't that what we all say? ;D
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 18:34:40 GMT 1
Rally, I agree.....if an author is really good, I do want to read all their work. I do have a tendency to fill a series though, even with an author that isn't top draw....which I shouldn't do! Only so much space! (And time!).
Re Vian Smith...ooh, you've got such a treat in store....think Peyton-ish.....not fluffy bunny, but not horrible and tragic either. Luckily, Smith was if anything MORE popular in the US than in his native UK. He wrote for adults and for children, though virtually all of his adult books got shelved in the children's section...go figure. I think the only official children's books were Tall and Proud (UK title King Sam), Martin Rides the Moor and Come Down the Mountain.
Tall and Proud had a US paperback printing, and is generally very easy to find cheap in that edition. (Just checked abebooks, copies start at $3.71, with free shipping)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 18:42:04 GMT 1
It is a long one! I've gone right off them, even the first one when she wins the pony  Oh Lord, Vian Smith now there's another one I haven't read and will just have to at some point...aghhhhh! |
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2013 19:11:24 GMT 1
Smith is sooo lovely Rosie! It's just terrible that his books can be hard to find in the UK  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 8:17:12 GMT 1
Probably just as well for my pocket they are hard to find over here Susan, but you never know I might find some in the future |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 8:21:20 GMT 1
If I like an author I try to collect all their books, I'm just thankful I cant stand the Black Stallion series  Having said that I don't want all the PT sisters books, some are brilliant but some just don't appeal like the Phantom series and the Black pony Inn series. |
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Post by Claire on Mar 28, 2013 13:25:48 GMT 1
Smith is sooo lovely Rosie! It's just terrible that his books can be hard to find in the UK Its a real shame! Still a couple of his I haven't got hold of yet. That said, altho I love his books they don't seem to be everyone's taste. Rosie - Martin Rides the Moor and Come Down the Mountain are easy to find here, as is his non-fic book Parade of Horses. Re Jean Estoril/Mabel Esther Allen - I have noticed she wrote a lot but for some reason, apart from the Drina books, they don't appear very often so I haven't been tempted too much. I'm trying very hard not to do a search for that time slip one now!!! I don't have to have all an author's books but I do feel I need to have the whole series before I can read it. The exceptions to this are the Punchbowl and Romney Marsh and Stephen Mogridge's New Forest series, both a bit expensive to get em all. (Tho the Monica Edwards series are becoming cheaper with all the GGB reprints) Book collecting can actually be quite an expensive addiction. I recall I wrote a blog article a while back about the most expensive series. Think I may do an update and add a few more. If anyone wants to read the article its here: ponymadbooklovers.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/most-expensive-series.html |
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Post by susanb on Mar 28, 2013 17:14:47 GMT 1
Fun blog post Claire...yes, I'd definitely add Mogridge's New Forest books to it....I've not yet tracked down an affordable copy, in dj, of Vagabond Re the time slip....the one I was thinking of is Time to Go Back, about a teen who slips back to the time during WWII when her mother was the same age, during the Blitz...it takes place in Mersey. I wasn't really aware till I read it that Liverpool was bombed (you always think London) and Mersey caught some of it too. |
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Post by Claire on Mar 28, 2013 18:04:34 GMT 1
Re the time slip....the one I was thinking of is Time to Go Back, about a teen who slips back to the time during WWII when her mother was the same age, during the Blitz...it takes place in Mersey. I wasn't really aware till I read it that Liverpool was bombed (you always think London) and Mersey caught some of it too. it wasn't just London and Merseyside, a lot of big cities and especially ports were hit badly. Hull, a port in Yorkshire was practically destroyed. Even my home town of Sunderland (also a port) was bombed, tho I wasn't around at the time - not quite that old |
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Post by kunuma on Mar 28, 2013 18:23:37 GMT 1
Does anyone else find if they have a new interest they have to read up on that? Whatever I get into I start trying to get books about it! I'm not a very good collector as I'm too broke to buy books most of the time, but I'd be terrible if I could afford it as I've literally got a house ful and I've read all of them at least half a dozen times!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 19:23:47 GMT 1
Definitely  |
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Post by susanb on Mar 28, 2013 19:27:20 GMT 1
Oh yes, absolutely, kunuma, I do the same thing. Though I should qualify it: I can't say I run out and buy manuals or even non-fiction about a topic, I'm usually looking for good fiction that gets into the topic, if you see what I mean.
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Post by Claire on Mar 28, 2013 23:16:41 GMT 1
Does anyone else find if they have a new interest they have to read up on that? Whatever I get into I start trying to get books about it! I'm not a very good collector as I'm too broke to buy books most of the time, but I'd be terrible if I could afford it as I've literally got a house ful and I've read all of them at least half a dozen times! Yes but I usually look up the info on the internet rather than buying boks about it. (I actually do have books on all sorts of weird and wonderful things already!) I even find when reading books I have to stop and google some of the stuff, but then I do read a lot of historical books where you tend to find out a lot of interesting things. |
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Post by susanb on Mar 29, 2013 2:39:54 GMT 1
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who does that ;D
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Post by foxglove on Apr 10, 2013 14:31:03 GMT 1
I think the point at which you become a collector is when you buy a book that you ALREADY own, because this one is a nicer edition and matches your others.....
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Post by susanb on Apr 10, 2013 16:11:18 GMT 1
and when you buy MULTIPLE copies of a book because you love it so much you need all the editions For the record, there are very few books of which I have more than one edition. Really. Not many at all. Not more than two or three. Or four. |
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Post by susanb on Apr 10, 2013 16:52:54 GMT 1
btw, the mention of Noel Streatfeild, coupled with the WWII discussion, prompted me to look again for a copy of When the Sirens Wailed...the upshot is that I snapped up a nice copy of the first US edition in hardcover/dj (horrible cover art though). Sigh.......I am soooo bad ;D |
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Post by haffyfan on Apr 10, 2013 18:52:23 GMT 1
and when you buy MULTIPLE copies of a book because you love it so much you need all the editions oh yes, know that one well...sporting several editions of quite a few...why did Armada have to do so many reprints with different covers, then of course you need a nice edition with dust wrapper as well My shelves would be only half full i'm sure if i removed all the duplicated editions, but if i did i would have to read the good edition rather than a more dog eared one Like Claire i can't read a series unless i have them all...not that it stops me collecting them in dribs and drabs of course. I also love series such as the collins pony libs and Crown pony Library (hence some of my multiple copies) and also have a weakness for boxsets. |
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(And you're right, Erick Berry did a couple of historic horse books, but I haven't yet located either..so I'm going backwards there!)
)
The early stages of collecting are so lovely....you haven't yet run out of money or space and you're not down to the last few impossible to find/afford books, so there's always something wonderful coming in the mail...........sigh........ok, now I'm getting nostalgic for my early collecting days! 
