Open my library and talk about books.

I want to open my library. Yes, I am doing it. The book has not been put on the shelves, nor has it been stained with a dull and orderly arrangement. I can't patrol back and forth in front of their team to show it to the friendly audience. Don't worry about that. On the contrary, I have to invite you to join me in the open and messy boxes and baskets. The air is full of sawdust and dust, and the floor is covered with pieces of paper. I have to ask you to get involved in that pile of books that have been kept in the dark for two years, and maybe you can share a state of mind with me. Of course, this is not a sad mood, but a hope that a real collector is inspired by these books. Because such a collector is talking to you, and if you look closely, you will find that he is only talking about himself. If I want to be objective and persuasive, I will list the main parts and treasures of a collection for you to see; Would it be presumptuous for me to tell you the history of these books and even their usefulness to a writer? Personally, I have at least one clearer and less subtle intention than this: what I really care about is to let you know about the relationship between a bibliophile and his books, and to let you know about books rather than books. If I talk about collection by talking about different ways of collecting books, it is completely arbitrary. This or other practices only serve as a dam to stop the memory tide that any collector will be slapped when watching his cultural relics. Any kind of passion is on the verge of chaos, but the collector's passion is adjacent to the chaos of memory. Things don't stop there: the opportunities and destiny that have focused in the past years and emerged in front of my eyes are very eye-catching in the chaos that these books are used to. Because, this pile of books is only adapted to its chaos, in order to appear orderly. What else could it be? You have all heard that some people can't afford to fall ill if they lose books, or some people become criminals in order to get books. It is in these fields that any order is a critical and unstable equilibrium behavior. "The only accurate knowledge," Anatole France said, "is the knowledge of publication date and book format". Indeed, if there is any correspondence between the chaos in the library, it is an orderly book catalogue.

Therefore, in the life of a collector, there is a dialectical tension between chaos and order. Of course, there are many other things involved in his existence: he has a mysterious relationship with ownership, which we will talk about later; In his relationship with objects, he does not pay attention to the function and utility of objects, that is, their uses, but studies and caresses objects as scenes and stages of their fate. For collectors, the most fascinating thing is to lock a single work of art in a magic circle, in which the item is sealed and motionless, and the strongest excitement, that is, the heartbeat, passes over it. Everything he remembers, thinks and understands becomes the base, frame, foundation and lock of his property. The age, origin, technology and former owner of the collection-for a real collector, all the backgrounds of an item have accumulated into a magical encyclopedia, and the essence of this book is the fate of this item. Therefore, within this delineated scope, it is conceivable how the outstanding fortuneteller-the collector, that is, the fortuneteller in the image world-becomes the interpreter of fate. We just need to observe how a collector fiddles with and appreciates the items stored in the glass cabinet. He studied the object in his hand, and his eyes seemed to catch a glimpse of its distant past, as if fascinated. I will talk about this aspect of the collector, his eternal image.

Books have their own destiny. This Latin motto is probably intended to sum up the characteristics of books in one sentence. So books like The Divine Comedy, The Ethics of Spinoza and The Origin of Species all have their own destinies. However, collectors have different understandings of this proverb. For him, not only books, but also versions of one book in another have their own destiny. In this sense, the most important fate of a book is to meet the collector and his collection. It is no exaggeration to say that when a real collector gets an old book, it is the day when the book is reborn. This is the collector's naivety, mixed with his old habits. Children can transform existing things in a hundred ways. Among children, collection is just a renovation process; Other means include copying objects, cutting human figures, posting decorative patterns, and a set of children's collection methods from coloring to naming. Updating the old world is the deepest desire of collectors when they seek new things. This is why an old book collector is closer to the origin of the collection than those who seek hardcover classics. How do books cross the threshold of collection and become the property of collectors? Let me talk about the history of buying books.

Of all the ways to get books, writing books by yourself is considered to be the most famous one. When it comes to this, many people will think of the book collection of Wutz, a poor little teacher in jean paul. Wu Zhi saw many titles he was interested in at the book fair, but he couldn't afford them anyway, so he wrote them down and gradually established his big library. In fact, writers write books and sell articles not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with books they can afford but don't like. Ladies and gentlemen, you may find the definition of this writer strange. But from the point of view of a real collector, what I said above is very bizarre. Among the common means of obtaining books, the most suitable one for collectors is to borrow books and not return them. The really excellent borrower we infer here is actually a senior bibliophile. This is not because he enthusiastically defended his borrowed treasure, nor because he turned a deaf ear to the warnings of daily legal circles to return books, but because he never read borrowed books. If my experience can be used as evidence, people who borrowed books at that time generally returned books and rarely read this book. So if you don't study, you will ask, which should be the characteristic of bibliophiles? You will say, this is really unheard of. This is nothing new. I said this is the oldest thing in the world, and experts can testify for me, but it is enough to quote Anatole France's answer to a layman. After enjoying his books, the layman asked the same question: "So, have you read all these books, Mr. France?" "Less than one over ten. I suppose you won't use your Sevic porcelain every day? "

By the way, I have tried the privilege of this attitude. For several years, it accounted for at least one-third of my book collection history. My book collection had less than two or three bookshelves, which only increased by a few inches a year. This is a period of strict military discipline. There is no evidence that I haven't read it yet, and no books are allowed to enter my collection. In this way, if it weren't for the price increase, I might not have increased my collection to the size of a library. For a while, the focus shifted, and books gained real value, or were hard to buy, at least in Switzerland. In times of crisis, I made a big order from there, so that I could buy rare books like Bachofen's Der Blaue Reiter and Sage von Tanaquil. These books were still available from publishers at that time.

You may say that after you have explored all these deviant ways, it is time for us to finally embark on the road of obtaining books, that is, buying books. Buying books is a thoroughfare, but it is not straight and comfortable. There is nothing in common between a bibliophile buying books and a student buying textbooks in a bookstore, a gentleman buying gifts for a lady, or a businessman buying books to pass the train journey. As a passer-by on the journey, I also had some unforgettable purchases. Property and all areas that belong to tactics, collectors have tactical instinct. Experience tells them that when a strange city is captured, the humblest Zhandong store will be a fortress, and the most remote stationery store may be a strategic location. I don't know how many cities revealed their secrets to me during my book search.

Not all the most important purchases are made in bookstores. Mail order bibliography is much more useful. Even if the mail-order person knows the books he wants to buy like the back of his hand, individual versions are always surprising. Mail order always implies gambling. Sometimes people are depressed about the books they bought, and sometimes they are happy to find them. For example. I remember one time, I ordered a book with color illustrations for my original children's book, just because there were fairy tales written by Grimm and published by Grimm Bookstore in Thuringia. Grimma Bookstore published a fairy tale book edited by Grimma. With these sixteen illustrations, my fairy tale book is the only remaining early work of Lyser, an outstanding German book illustrator who lived in Hamburg in the middle of last century. In addition, my homophonic response to the name is correct, so I found another work of Lese, Lena's Fairy Tale Book. The author of Lese Book is not aware of this book, and it should be more detailed than what I introduced here for the first time.

Buying books is not only for money, or just for professional knowledge. The combination of the two is not enough to build a real library. A real library is always unfathomable and unique at the same time. Anyone who mail orders through bibliographies must have taste in addition to the above-mentioned goods. Details such as publication date, place, specification, previous owner, binding and so on must be hinted to the buyer-not a boring and isolated fact, but a harmonious whole. According to the quality and intensity of this harmonious whole, he must be able to identify whether a book is to his liking. Auctions require collectors to have another set of skills. For the readers of the bibliography, the book itself should be able to convey meaning. Or, if the source of the version has been determined, it may represent all previous owners. A person who intends to participate in the auction should not only keep a cool head to avoid being carried away by competition, but also pay equal attention to books and opponents. People often insist on high-priced products, because their bids are getting higher and higher, mostly to show themselves rather than buy books. On the other hand, the best moment in a collector's memory is to save a book that he never thought of and missed in vain, because he saw the book abandoned by himself at the book market, bought it and released it. Just like the prince in the Arabian Nights bought a beautiful slave girl. You see, for a collector, the real freedom of all books lies somewhere in his bookshelf.

Balzac's Peo de Chaglin stands out among a long list of French books in my library, and it is still the testimony of my most exciting experience in the auction house. This happened at 19 15 at the Ruhmann auction house hosted by Emile Hirsch. Hirsch is an outstanding writer and excellent bookseller. I said this version of 1838 was published in Paris by Laabs Publishing House. When I picked up this book, I saw not only the book number of Lu Manxing, but also the label of the store where the former buyer bought the book at one eighth of the current price 90 years ago. It says "Pabitli FarLang Nuo". It's time to buy such a beautiful version from a stationery store. The steel depiction of this book is designed by the most outstanding French graphic artist and carved by the best sculptor. But I will tell you how I got this book. I visited Emile Hirsch auction house in advance and browsed 40 to 50 books. Balzac's special book aroused my strong desire to have it forever. Fortunately, according to the auction schedule, the full set of color illustrations of the book will be auctioned in front of the donkey skin edition and printed on Indian paper separately from the book. The seller sat at a long table at right angles to me. In the first round of auction, there was one person who got everyone's attention. He is a famous collector in Munich, Barcon von Simolin. He is interested in this set of illustrations, but he is facing a competitor. In a word, the competition is fierce. As a result, this set of illustrations won the highest bid in the whole auction, far exceeding 3 thousand marks. No one expected such a high figure, and everyone present was quite excited. Emile Hirsch has been indifferent. I don't know if he wants to buy time or has other considerations. He went straight to the next auction, and no one paid much attention. He bid, and now my heart is pounding, knowing that I am no match for these collectors. I only asked for a slightly higher bid than usual, and the auctioneer went through the usual formalities without attracting the buyer's attention and said, "Any more bids?" His gavel struck three times at short intervals, like eternity, and then the auction fee was increased. My experience of going to the pawnshop the next morning was beside the point. I want to talk about another thing, which I want to call the opposite of auction. Last year was an auction house in Berlin. The quality and subject matter of the auctioned books are varied, and only a few rare works on mysticism and natural philosophy are worthy of attention. I bid for several books, but every time I noticed that a person sitting in the front row seemed to be waiting for my bid, and then offered a higher price to fight against it, obviously prepared to beat any bid. After several rounds, I have given up hope of buying the book that I was most interested in that day. This book is a rare "last words of a young physicist", which was published by john williams William Ritter in Heidelberg in 18 10. This book has never been reprinted, but I always think that its preface is the most important example of German romantic personal style; The author tells his life story by writing an obituary for an unknown friend who is said to have died. In fact, the author is no different from his friends. When the book was auctioned, I suddenly had an idea. It couldn't be simpler: as soon as I bid, the guy took it away, so I stopped bidding. I controlled myself and kept silent. What I hoped came as scheduled: no one was interested, no one bid, and the book was put aside. I think it is wise to refer to this book every few days. As a result, when I visited the bookstore a week later, I found that the book had been placed in the second-hand bookstore. I got the book because no one was interested.

Once you walk into the mountains of boxes and baskets, find books from them to make them see the light of day, or stay awake at night, how many memories flock to you! Nothing can clearly show the charm of opening a book, but it is extremely difficult to interrupt this activity. It started at noon and didn't pack the last few boxes until midnight. Now I picked up two booklets bound with faded cardboard. Strictly speaking, these books shouldn't be in the bookcase. They are two photo albums I inherited from my mother, which contain sticky photos posted by her when she was a child. They are the seeds of children's books, and they are still growing, although they are not in my book garden. There is not an existing library, and there are few collections like books to decorate the corner of the library. These are not necessarily books or family albums where photos can be pasted, books signed by authors, and folders containing pamphlets and religious proverbs. Some people are keen on leaflets or content briefs, while others prefer handwritten or printed versions of unusable books. Periodicals are certainly part of the colorful corner of the library. Let's go back to the photo album just mentioned. In fact, inheritance is the best way to get a collection. Because a collector's attitude towards his property stems from the owner's sense of responsibility for his property. Therefore, in the highest sense, the collector's attitude is the wish of an heir. The most striking feature of a collection is always its inheritance. You should know that this is what I am talking about, and I fully understand that this discussion about the spiritual climate of collection will strengthen the belief that many of you have outdated enthusiasm for collection and deepen your doubts about collectors. I have no intention to shake your faith and doubt at all, but one thing should be noted: with the loss of the owner of the collection, the collection phenomenon will lose its meaning. Although from the social point of view, public collections may be less harmful than private collections and more useful in academic fields, only in the latter can articles get their due value. It's not that I don't know that the kind of people I'm talking about here, which is a bit redundant to show you, are dying out, but as Hegel said, only when night falls, the owl of the goddess of wisdom will spread its wings and fly. The extinction of the collector is also the day when he is understood.

Now I have packed the last half-opened box, and it's past midnight. My heart is full of very different ideas from what I am talking about now-not ideas but images, but memories. I found so many memories of cities: Riga, Naples, Munich, Danzig, Moscow, Florence, Fiji, Paris; Memories include the luxurious residence of Rsenthal in Munich, the Danzig stock exchange in the cashier's office of the late Hans Rhaue, and the moldy book kiln in Susengu, north of Berlin. Memories show the room where these books are, my dormitory in Munich, my room in Bonn, the tranquility of Saward-on-Behrends, and finally my childhood room. Now I have four or five thousand books at that address. Ah, collectors are so happy, and idlers are so happy. People have the least requirements for this kind of person, and among them, the most comfortable person is the one who can live a notorious life by wearing spitz Weger's nerd mask. Because he has a soul inside, or at least an elf. This spirit ensures that a collector-I mean a real and valuable collector-owns this work of art, making it his closest relationship with external things. It is not that things are resurrected in him, but that he lives in things. So I built his bedroom in front of you, using books as bricks, and now he's going to retreat to the back room. It should be like this.