Books Tell You Why. All About Collecting Rare Books

The Remarkable Life and Work of Mario Vargas Llosa

By Abigail Wheetley. Mar 28, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Nobel Prize Winners

Mario Vargas Llosa may be one of the finest writers of his generation, but that is not all the man does. His passion for language is coupled with his passion for book collecting and a desire to do great works as well as write them. Among numerous other endeavors, he is finding his place on the stage, and he has recently donated two massive collections to the Arequipa Regional Library. Along with his ongoing commitment to donate further from his personal collection, this donation brings the total number of volumes into the tens of thousands.

Five Influential Books by Nadine Gordimer

By Audrey Golden. Mar 15, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Literature, Nobel Prize Winners

One of the most prominent literary voices for political freedom and racial equality in South Africa, Nadine Gordimer wrote fifteen novels, more than two hundred short stories, and numerous other essays and works of criticism. Gordimer resided in Johannesburg, South Africa, a city that features prominently in her fiction. After her death in 2014, literary magazines across the world published tributes to the writer and her role in the anti-apartheid movement. Gordimer’s literature remains essential to any consideration of the relationship between fiction and politics. With so many works to choose from, where should a reader begin? Tracking a career that spans more than sixty years, here are five of the most influential books of Nadine Gordimer.

Collecting Nobel Laureates: Giosué Carducci and Grazia Deledda

By Leah Dobrinska. Mar 7, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Book Collecting, Nobel Prize Winners

We’ve recently been offering collecting tips and ideas for those looking to acquire the works of German Nobel laureates. Now, we’d like to make an Italian pit-stop. After all, Italy and the arts go hand-in-hand. From Ancient Roman times to Michelangelo to modern-day thought leaders like Umberto Eco, it’s safe to say that a huge amount of artistic work is produced in and pours forth from Italy. For those who may be interested in collecting the works of Italian Nobel Prize in Literature winners—there have been six Italian authors awarded the prize in total—today, we spotlight and present book collecting information on Giosué Carducci and Grazia Deledda.

Familial and Literary Influences: The Making of Gabriel García Márquez

By Brian Hoey. Mar 6, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Nobel Prize Winners

Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez is undoubtedly Colombia’s best known and best loved literary export. His novels, often placed under the umbrella of Magical Realism, bring an unmatched blend of styles and ideas to the rendering of love, death, and loss in his native South America. Though his works—including One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), and many other internationally acclaimed novels—are unmistakably his own, much of his success has come from the inimitable ways he draws on his literary influences.

The Many Homes of Ernest Hemingway

By Audrey Golden. Feb 11, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Literature, Nobel Prize Winners

What would it look like to take a trek across the country (and outside the country, too) to visit all of the homes and favorite haunts of Ernest Hemingway? The novelist and short-story writer made his homes in seemingly disparate parts of the United States and the Caribbean, not to mention the years he spent living abroad as an expatriate in Paris, France. We’re intrigued by the varied climates that captured the writer’s interest, particularly in relation to his relatively domestic beginnings in Oak Park, Illinois. So, if you were going to take a tour through Hemingway’s life, what homes would need to make your list?

Collecting Nobel Laureates: Mommsen, Eucken, & Heyse

By Leah Dobrinska. Feb 10, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Literature, Nobel Prize Winners

Collecting the works of Nobel Prize in Literature winners is a great way to focus one’s collection. Nobel laureates are the best-of-the-best, so a collection full of their works is one way to guarantee exceptional titles. Today, we’d like to focus on information about the work of three German-language Nobel Prize in Literature winners from the early part of the twentieth century: Theodor Mommsen, Rudolf Christoph Eucken, and Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse. For more about our previous Nobel laureate spotlights, see the end of the post.

Notable Speeches: The State of the Union and Nobel Lectures

By Stephen Pappas. Jan 4, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: American History, Nobel Prize Winners

As the first president of the United States, George Washington established many precedents for the office. Indeed, he began one of the country's most enduring traditions: the delivery of a State of the Union address. The Constitution required the president to update Congress on the nation’s progress, but didn’t specify how or when. It was Washington who decided those particulars. The State of the Union remains one of the major speeches of the year, both nationally and internationally. The annual Nobel lectures are also notable on a global scale. Today, we present a sample of noteworthy public speaking moments ranging from United States presidents to Nobel laureates.

Collecting Nobel Laureates: Hermann Hesse and Nelly Sachs

By Leah Dobrinska. Jan 1, 2016. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Book Collecting, Nobel Prize Winners

Collecting Nobel Prize in Literature winners makes sense: there’s a list to follow; a new author is chosen each year from all around the globe, allowing for an eclectic reach (again, congratulations to the 2015 winner from Belarus, Svetlana Alexievich!); and your collection will be filled with the best of the best. We’ve recently been spotlighting Nobel laureates from Germany, and today, we’d like to continue by providing some collecting tips for Hermann Hesse and Nelly Sachs.

Five Rare Rudyard Kipling Editions

By Nick Ostdick. Dec 30, 2015. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Rare Books, Nobel Prize Winners

With dozens of major works to his name, Rudyard Kipling was one of the most prolific writers of his time and a stalwart in the British literary landscape. Kipling was a master storyteller whose books transcended genre and audience, and his impact on the modern short story, children’s books, poetry, and long-form narratives like the novel still resonates with writers today.

Collecting Nobel Laureates: Thomas Mann & Herta Müller

By Leah Dobrinska. Dec 12, 2015. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Book Collecting, Nobel Prize Winners

Collecting Nobel Prize in Literature winners makes sense: there’s a list to follow; a new author is chosen each year from all around the globe, allowing for an eclectic reach; and your collection will be filled with the best of the best. Today, we continue our efforts to spotlight Nobel laureates, and picking up where we left off last time, we’d like to feature two more German winners. Read on for tips and tricks for collecting the works of Thomas Mann and Herta Müller.