Picky Collecting

"Picky Picky" was the cat in Beverly Cleary's Ramona series.  It could be my name the more I collect Stephen King.  Once upon a time, I collected everything King.  I started with paperbacks as a teen, then moved on to trying to collect all the hardcovers -- then hardcover first editions.  I did it, too -- with a few notable exceptions (Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining, Dark Tower 1 and some others). 

The problem is, bookshelves are unforgiving for collectors!  There isn't space to store it all.  I have Laser Disks of Carrie and Creepshow -- but I'm not sure why I have them!  Full dark No Stars that I would not buy the first edition hardcover.  There are a billion copies, so it held little value as a collectible.  Instead I hose to buy the Cemetery Danse edition, which is beautiful!  Cemetery Danse books are always well done!

I had made a similar decision with Under The Dome.  I was unable to buy the signed edition, so I purchased the special edition -- same thing but not signed.  Turned out, there really wasn't much too it!  Then, Simon and Schuster put out word that some of their big buyers for the signed editions dropped the ball and they had a few huge lots up for sale.  I got a signed copy -- my one and only signed copy of a King book!

I have not yet purchased a copy of 11/22/63.  Oh, wait. . . we have it on Kindle, and audible -- but no hard copy.  I'm in the lottery to get the wonderful opportunity to buy a signed copy.  If that doesn't pan out, I'm going to wait for the paperback.  Why?  Because a book with that many copies on the market isn't really all that special. 

So what's worth collecting at this point?  What will I still give shelf space to?

• Bachman books.  (Originals)  Fun to collect because they were King at work under the radar.  Also, there are not as many copies out there, so getting one feels like more of a "find." 
• Dark Tower firsts.  Still waiting for Dark Tower 1 to show up somewhere. . .
• Signed books.  I don't know why this matters to anyone, but for some reason we all like the thing to be signed.  Does his scribbling on a copy make it more valuable?  Well, it does!  But does it change anything -- really?  The book is the same book, except that once it is signed I don't allow anyone to read it!  Thus nullifying is purpose as a book.  I'm not sure I understand this, thus the reason I only own one signed copy. 
• Cemetery Danse and special publisher editions.  Ahhh, what I would do for a copy of From A Buick 8 Cemetery Danse edition.  Grant has also published a few special edition volumes worth noting, like Desperation.
• Old magazines that have King stories.  I have almost all of the first appearances of the Dark Tower in F&SF magazine.  I really like the old magazines, because they give you a flavor of the times the stories first appeared in.
• Older books -- first editions.
• The red leather editions still interest me.

Interestingly, some of the things I treasure actually can't be bought!  A scrapbook by a super-collector is precious to me.  Also, a box full of odds and ends and can't really be explained, but it's fun to dig through. 

Here's what I've about given up on:

• Needing a copy of everything!
• Anything not first edition.
• Books without covers.  (I didn't used to care).
• Paperbacks -- unless they are special.
• Most foreign copies.  a few are fun, and the British editions usually get better covers, but no point in rebuilding my library with books I already have.  (That actually might be my wife speaking through me!)
• Books with King introductions. 
• Posters.  Had a guy at a poster shop tell me excitedly that he had an original movie poster of "The Shining."  I just found myself wondering if there was wall space in the kids playroom.
• Reprints that look like the first edition, but are not. 
• Signatures alone.  Why do people pay for just the signature, like on a piece of paper.  Or a hand scrawled quick note.  I don't understand!  Really, people, enlighten me.  The note is not his art, his art is in the book!  So if he sits at a book store and writes a note that says, "I'm the spooky do man", someone will find great worth in that.  Why?  Does this pass some vital information from him to us?  I can do the same thing!