How do you arrange your collection?

How do folks physically arrange their LOA volumes on the shelf? By number? Color? Author? Something else?

I only have about 50 volumes, but I have them split between fiction and non-fiction. For fiction, I put all the volumes by a given author together, and then just try to get as much color variety as possible.

For non-fiction, I try to go roughly chronologically by subject matter.

I'm curious to see how others do it!

I follow a similar approach as you describe for fiction, without splitting fiction and non-fiction. Eventually I'll go that route, but I have fewer than 20 volumes presently so there's no need.

elenchus: Ya gotta build up your book collection!! When I was in my 20s, I would often cut back on the food budget -- and/or make my macNcheese or spaghetti last a week -- so I had more money for books. Haven't had less than a few thousand ever since (living a traveling sort of life, sometimes you have to pare down the collection when moving from continent to continent).

They are just mixed in to Literature home library shelves, along with Everyman's, Penguin, Oxford, NYRB, trade paperbacks and hardcovers, alpha by author, with anthologies at the end. Sontag is next to Sophocles; Emerson next to Ellison; Hurston next to Huxley. I don't really make a fiction/nonfiction distinction with these books, especially since I like to keep all the works of a particular author together and LOA treats them all the same anyway. My quirk is that I have the dust jackets on all of them plus the subscriber slipcases.

>4 bsc20: I'm curious--how does one go about obtaining both a dust jacket and slipcase for each volume?

>JacobHolt: Jackets are $2 each from LOA; boxes for the sets are $6. I believe you can also buy the appropriate slipcases if you don't have them, but I bought the books via subscription so that was already settled.

>6 bsc20: Thank you! I've never bought books from LOA via subscription, but I'm more likely to do so now that I know I could still get the jackets.

You can buy the slipcases as well. I think they are $4 each.

My books are split between fiction and non-fiction. Most of the LOA books I have are fiction, and I have them all grouped together alphabetically by author. If the volume has some fiction and some non-fiction, I still stick it in with the fiction (Mark Twain's Mississippi Writings).

I think I have about 75 or 80. Some are in slipcases, which I prefer, but a lot of them are in the dust jackets as well. It just depends on how I bought them. I like the slipcases and I have thought about buying slipcases for the ones I am missing, but I haven't ever committed to throwing a bunch of money away on slipcases when I could just buy more books. I actually like some of the unique looking boxed sets with dust jackets, like the Science Fiction sets.

The few non-fiction LOA books I have are mixed in with rest of the non-fiction books by subject.

I have all of the LOA Main Series volumes through Joan Didion (No. 325), all purchased via subscription, supplemented via purchases as a subscriber directly from LOA. I have them arranged in alphabetical order by author, or, where more than one author is involved, the volumes are inserted in the same alphabetical order. They are shelved in four identical bookcases, but since that model is no longer available and I am running out of space, I have purchased all available empty boxes for box sets and shelve those sets separately to make more space. I also have all the American poets project volumes, which are shelved elsewhere, but together (formerly in order of issue, bust since I moved, they are in random order). The special volumes (non-Main Series) are scattered in various places throughout my library.

Having never seen an LOA volume live in person with dust-jacket before, can someone enlighten me what is so special about them as I am reading some are collecting the dust-jacket as well as are slipcases.

>10 ironjaw:
I prefer the dust jackets. They are black with a portrait of the author on the front and some information about the contents on the flaps. If you order from Amazon, these are the ones you will get.

I haven't seen dust jackets offered on LOA's subscriber web pages. I think that you have to ask customer service for them over the phone.

As I recently moved, my library - LOA books and otherwise - looks randomly shelved. I've tried putting all the books in some sort of order by fiction or non-fiction and by author but I have been limited by needing to put books on shelves where they will fit. :( Some shelves have room for tall books, some don't. Fortunately the LOA volumes are not tall, so they will fit in more places than some of my other books, and I think I finally have them all shelved together, starting with the poetry anthologies. I do not divide the LOA by fiction or non-fiction because I want all the books together by author, which is simpler for me to find what I may be seeking.

Elfa system shelving is a lifesaver—space efficient and flexible in maximizing wall space. You’ll never go back to bulky bookcases again.

bsc20 -- Ikea's prefab bookshelves (book units, would be a better word) are pretty darn awful (and Target or Kmart actually sells similar pieces that are sturdier) but I would STILL say they were far closer to the proper home for a book than the Elfa "sytem" racks, which aren't built to properly support a goodly amount of weight (I suspect whomever is behind the concept thinks of books as only coming paperback form). Of course, if your renting, have to choose one over the other and the Ikea or Target/Kmart prefab stuff is sturdier than Elfa.

But, let's face it, when you eventually own your own home (or mortgage) you can get REAL bookshelves: shelves built for and installed in the particular room or rooms of your choice. Had some when we lived in KC, MO. Beautifully made, but a local craftsman.

Truett Yes, my book cases are pre-fab. They are not low-end but are not nearly as good as custom built book cases either... The main problem seems to be that my books are not uniform in size, and the book cases are not all the same model either. Many of my books are over-sized so they don't fit well on any shelf. Though I have several more book cases than in my previous apartment, there still isn't enough space to shelve my entire collection... and there isn't any more room for book cases.

1dragones -- If your prefab shelves are made by the likes of Ikea (or whomever/whatever makes similar shelves for Target or Kmart) you SHOULD be able to adjust the shelves so that you have SOME shelves that accommodate oversized volumes. We -- my family and I -- have. Lots of artbooks on shelves in one room. In the main book room -- library, if you prefer -- containing 99 percent fiction, there are shelves that have both standard sized volumes (which, as most book-lovers know, can alternate, depending on publisher, and particular volumes) as well as over-sized books (I can see some Morpheus volumes and some Charnel House books from where I am sitting). In addition, being a frustrated comic book artist, I have volumes of stuff published by DC (mostly) and Marvel, and Vertigo and few others, and THOSE books are both oversized AND heavy! So, if I could adjust the shelving, you can, too.

NOW: Bringing this thread BACK to its original subject:
There's no excuse for it -- the books in my main library, largely fiction (all 9 prefab shelves) are sorted by author and by publication date -- but...my LOA books (likely over 200 hundred, now -- or close to it) are shelved rather haphazardly. Except for one row of exceptions, I DO keep the books grouped together by author, and I line them up according to publication date (original, not LOA publication date). Unless they are pre-grouped (as with, say, Le Guin). But they are NOT separated by fiction/nonfiction. And because those shelves -- located in another room, upstairs -- are staring to overflow, a bit, some books are even (gasp!) laid on their sides, stacked ontop of other books lined up neatly and properly. Those shelves also contain quite a few EVERYMAN'S and some MODERN LIBRARY volumes as well (some of the Modern library books were put out in extra short volumes, thus the one row of exceptions, with stuff by, say, Dickens and E.L. Doctorow and Styron, next to a volume by Freud. I also have a few other "oddments", including some Eastman Press editions of Harlan Ellison's books -- _Angry Candy_, _I Robot: the Screenplay_ (brilliant) and _Deathbird Stories_ (I'll replace them when LOA gets busy publishing at least ONE volume of Ellison stories (and or scripts, essays -- even _The Top of the Volcano_ would work for me). And an errant volume like the one I bought in this country containing all of Fitzgerald's novels. Need to get another short shelf or two, so some of those volumes can spread out (especially since the coming years promises to be full of LOA purchases).

Truett Yes, I have adjusted some shelves... but there just are not enough. And for every shelf that I adjust to accomodate the tallest books, another has to get designated for short books or other odds and ends, decor items, etc. I honestly don't have THAT many short books. I do try to make the best arrangements possible, and keep the decor items off the book shelves as much as possible.

I've been subscribing since Library of America first started in 1982, so I have a lot of books. They are arranged alphabetically by author or, for multi-author volumes, title. Fiction and non-fiction are interfiled. I had to buy new bookcases recently for the LoA volumes and what I have now should hold me for a couple of years. After that, I may need to buy a bigger house.

THIS doesn't have as much to do with arranging the LOA collection as it does with other publishers. I noticed that I'm not the only one who also buys the occasional EVERYMAN'S or MODERN LIBRARY, shelving them with the LOA books, since they are generally of similar size. Has anyone else here purchased either the PENGUIN DROP CAPS COLLECTION and/or most (or all) of the HARDCASE CRIME paper and hardbacks?

I've been getting the HARDCASE books since before moving to Australia, got it in on it from the inception because of the job I was working. :) And I still buy them because 1) I'm a sucker for good, pulp fiction and 2) the artwork is ALWAYS dynamite! :) (For those who insist on literary pedigrees, Pulphouse has always published works by Donald Westlake -- if you don't know who he is/was, shame on you -- and they have also published books by the likes of Joyce Carol Oates and Gore Vidal).

The DROP CAPS books were printed/published in hardcover -- A to Z (author's names) -- in a variety of colors that makes them look like they were plucked from someone's flower garden. There are unusual volumes (NATIVE SPEAKER by Chang-rae Lee, SKY BURIAL by Xinran) as well as the usual classics ( PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen). Some of the usual fare sometimes has some unusual addtions. MOBY-DICK, for instance, comes with a LOT of interesting drawings, of cetaceans and of the whaling ship(s).

https://www.penguin.com/static/pages/classics/penguindropcaps.php

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/

Those drop cap books look nice! How is the quality compared to Everyman or LOA? Are the bindings sewn? What material is used for the covers?

RRCBS: Gonna flaunt my lack of knowledge here -- about the actual making of books -- and say, I think they spines are sewn (or somewhat sewn -- or, perhaps glued and sewn?). With the LOA books -- which are, I'm told "sewn" -- there is a visible cloth border at top and bottom of the spine. I'm guessing that is part of the "sewn" process. (Feel free to enlighten, if I'm completely wrong).

The covers: they DON'T have cloth (boards, like LOA, underneath); they are made with something slicker, almost feels like vinyl, and all the wording -- front, back, spine -- is either embedded or slightly raised. The quality of the paper inside seems pretty good (there is no info page, stating what grade of paper, etc.). I've seen some Amazon reviews -- which can be about as accurate as wikipedia -- stating that the books are only glued, and that pages "fall out upon opening the books". I've had all 26 of mine for a few years, and have had to move TWICE (packing and unpacking, the books being moved and bounced around by the usual hairless ape types), AND they have survived with the Australian sun shining down on them at times (it's hotter here in the southern hemisphere), as well as enduring the godawful cooling systems 99 percent of the houses here have (because of the knuckleheads in the building industry): evaporative cooling. Anyone who has had to live with it KNOWS it only serves to make a house more humid (while barely cooling during the hottest parts of a hot day).

So MY collection of Drop Caps have survived all of the above, and they SEEM to be sewn on the spines.
I WOULDN'T say the material is as great as that used by LOA, but it's pretty darn close.

My LOA books, and as far as I know I have all of them, are alphabetical by author, except when there is no single author in which case they are alphabetical by title. And in a slightly different place.