In the ten years since John William began to lose his imaginative and prescient, he is been discovering new methods to take pleasure in his huge private library.
Right now, that entails glasses and a magnifying glass with brilliant lights illuminating the pages.
But William says it is time to say goodbye to a lot of his collection, 3,450 books.
“Aside from going blind, I’ve had four spine surgeries and my doctor has warned me on numerous occasions to stop lifting things over five pounds,” he mentioned. “Well, some of my books weigh five kilos.”
William mentioned most of the books he owns — from a massive tome on the human cell to a uncommon first version laying out the historical past of the Korean War — aren’t obtainable in giant print or audiobook type. It’s a part of what’s motivating him to promote so many.
“When that book disappears, there aren’t any other books that I think are anything like that book. I don’t want that to disappear because I die or I go blind,” he mentioned, referring to the book on the Korean War.
“I would like to pass it on to a hopefully a 30- to 40-year-old. And then they will keep it for 20 or 30 years and hopefully pass it on to somebody else. It’s an optimistic view, I understand.”
It’s not the one giant collection wanting for a home, in line with Chris Brayshaw, proprietor of Vancouver impartial bookseller Pulp Fiction Books, however he says William’s strategies are actually much less typical.
William posted in regards to the sale of his collection in a native purchase and promote Facebook group, full with a massive spreadsheet detailing every title up for sale, and he mentioned he is already discovered properties for a whole bunch, principally going to school college students and households who home college their kids.
Brayshaw says the used book market, just like the vintage market, is being flooded with ageing generations’ giant collections of books. As one of many final booksellers in southwestern B.C. providing to purchase them for money anymore, he sees a number of heaps this dimension each week.
“Part of being successful [as a bookseller] is being able to winnow down what feels, some days, like a fire hose just shooting books through the front door, into things that have current market value and that are desirable and hard to find,” he instructed CBC News on Monday.
But Brayshaw says he solely takes about 5 to seven per cent of what is supplied, and the remainder is donated to charity thrift shops with which he companions.
He says what stays within the store comes right down to which books have stood the check of time or are new sufficient to nonetheless have a present viewers.
“Sometimes things that folks feel like they spent a fair amount of money and a fair amount of time accumulating turn out to not have a lot of current interest or current market value, and sometimes the reverse is true,” mentioned Brayshaw.
Stranger than fiction
Perusing the greater than a dozen bookshelves that line most partitions in William’s condo, you would possibly come throughout a profile of the oil large ExxonMobil, books on the Cold War and even a pocket information to timber.
The fiction choices are rather more sparse, it is one thing he principally avoids, until you wish to chat in regards to the classics like “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy.
“Real life has so many unbelievable stories and twists that anyone who reads fiction should be satisfied with reading non-fiction, and knowing that these things actually happened,” he mentioned.
The 68-year-old mentioned his love of academic studying materials began in college, the place he double majored in philosophy and English literature and went on to get a masters in philosophy.
William has a choice for smaller bookstores — just like the Vancouver staple Duthie Books, which closed its final retailer in 2010 — over bigger nationwide chains, as a result of he mentioned they provide a extra curated choice picked by folks with a comparable love for books.
“I’ll pick up a book because it looks like it might be interesting. I’ll flip through it. I’ll look at the table of contents, or look to see if the bibliography makes sense to me, and then, if I think the content is worthwhile, I’ll buy it,” he mentioned.
He mentioned he is resigned to the truth that he quickly will not be capable to see, however hopes his books could have discovered good properties.
“It’s approaching, I’m falling into it. There’s nothing I can do about that,” he mentioned.