Collecting writers

My Evelyn Waugh collection
When I like an author I do not only want to read their own books, I also want to read the books written about them.
A collection with books about an author makes me very happy, and there are two collections on my bookshelves I particularly enjoy.

Anton Chekhov
I discovered Anton Chekhov last year when I read a book about him written by a Dutch journalist. I loved this book so much I fell a little bit in love with Chekhov and wanted to read his own works. I began with a couple of his stories and then decided I wanted all his stories. Luckily there is a Dutch publisher (Van Oorschot) who publishes Russian authors in really beautiful editions.(The Russian Library)  I have the five books with all his short stories and a part with his letters. Part six is with his plays and since I do not like to read plays (very hard to read), I do not own that volume. But I must confess there is every chance I will buy it some day, just to complete the collection.
You can also find the letters between Chekhov and his wife Olga Knipper here, the memoires of his brother and a biography.

Virginia Woolf
When I am honest I have to say I am more interested in the person Virginia Woolf than in her novels (is this very bad to say?)
I had a decent collection of books by and about Virginia Woolf, but recently I had a few new additions and the collection has grown to two shelves.

On the first shelf are her letters, biographie and diaries. Here are also the other non-fiction books about the different members of the Bloomsbury group. You can see the letters by Vanessa Bell and the letters by Lenard Woolf and his biography, The Bloomsbury cookbook (amazing book!) etc.

On the second shelf you see Virginia Woolf's own novels and on the pile on the right you see novels that have Virginia Woolf as a character.

I love my collections.

Comments

  1. What a great collection of Virginia Woolf novels. I go through phases with authors, where I want to read all their books, and buy them, too. Like Woolf, and Henry James, and W.S. Maugham...to name a few. Books are the best thing to collect.:-) They never go out of style.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, I also have phases of reading certain authors (or about certain topics). I only think Chekhov is in my life to stay!

      Kind regards,

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