The first rule of book collecting for any novice should be "Collect, don't merely accumulate." Otherwise, you will end up with an assemblage of unrelated, miscellaneous books. An unconnected group of dissimilar books might make a great reading library, but it doesn't constitute a collection. A good collector makes the connections that link one book to another. By necessity, collections of any sort should be limited and focused, and a good book collection has weight, scope, and narrative. It should tell a story, with each book helping to advance the plot, and in this manner, the whole of the collection becomes worth more than just the sum of its parts.

Although monetary value is a standard and readily appreciated measure of worth, the value of a well-constructed book collection is calculated in more than just dollars. By itself, the 1959 first edition of the Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Golden Pavilion, in the original dust jacket, for example, is likely to be no more than a beloved and treasured talisman from a vanished girlhood. However, combined with all 56 volumes in the original series, which was authored under the house name of Carolyn Keene, and which spanned popular culture from the late 1930's to the early 1960's, the complete Nancy Drew mystery collection constitutes a veritable treasure trove of depictions of changing popular images of the idealized American girl through a large part of the 20th century. In fact, one customer of mine earned her master's degree in Women's Studies by writing her thesis on this very topic, using her own carefully assembled Nancy Drew collection as the raw material for her research.

Collections devoted to books by a single author are probably the most common ways that individuals collect books. Bear in mind, however, that few authors create works that are classic enough to transcend the era in which they were written. In the long run, an ill-considered author collection might prove to be no more than a monument to an interesting, but ultimately dated journeyman writer. Compare James Clavell, for example, to James Michener. Both were enormously successful popular authors, who wrote widely read novels set in the Orient, many of which were adapted into successful movies or television dramas. Without making any claims as to the relative merits of either writer's books, it seems clear that a Michener collection is much more likely to have staying power than a Clavell collection because Michener's body of work is much larger and more varied. James Michener furthermore became an American institution during the course of his lengthy career, and a complete collection of his books helps to document his evolution from best-selling historical novelist to American icon.

Aside from individual authors, book collections can be organized in any manner of ways. Single subject collections, high spot collections, in-depth ("completist") collections are some popular possibilities. In the case of some enduring books, many collectors have chosen to collect as many different editions of a classic book as possible, compiling an entire collection devoted entirely to different copies of just one great book like A Christmas Carol, Two Years Before the Mast, Alice in Wonderland , or Gone With The Wind.

Taking the long view of book collecting, it should be apparent that possessing a personal fortune is not a prerequisite for successful and rewarding book collecting. "Keen curatorial judgement" almost always proves superior to large bank accounts. Although it helps, of course, as it almost always does elsewhere in life, you don't need to be rich in order to collect books; however having "a good eye" for what to collect is virtually indispensable.

In my career as a bookseller, I have had the great pleasure to become acquainted with many wonderful and interesting individuals who collect books as varied as those by Jane Austen, Mark Twain, M.F.K. Fisher and Ray Bradbury. Some people I know have built fabulous and truly significant collections devoted to creationist theory, California missions, cookbooks, and chess books. "Whatever floats your boat" is a mandate for beginning collectors that I find hard to improve upon. Express yourself! Think differently! As both a book seller and a collector myself, I have come to believe, in common with Robert Frost, that in successful book collecting, "the road not taken," frequently makes all the difference.