I’ve tried to make arrangements for my stuff to be properly disposed of — what isn’t wanted put in an estate sale and what can’t be either donated to libraries and other appropriate places or otherwise taken care of, but I have no confidence any of it will be done by my rather careless self absorbed family.
Their loss, my complete first edition UK James Bond collection is worth a pretty penny according to some first edition sites (hell, I’m afraid to open a few of them). I suspect when I’m gone they will just dumpster the whole mess. I may check and see if some local estate specialist will come in and dispose of it when I’m gone, but don’t have a lot of faith in that.
Oh, well, I enjoyed it while I was here, and while I would prefer to pass it on I suspect there is little chance of that.
I’d try and take it with me, but I don’t think the neighbors would approve of the house being turned into a tomb. I guess a pyramid in the neighborhood would lower property values.
Yes, it is sad, but at the same time the man had the things he obviously loved while he lived. There are much sadder stories than that.
I donated nine huge boxes of mystery books, to the mystery collection at Michigan State University Library. Will be giving more in the future. These are the overflow of my mystery library. By doing this, will make these old mysteries available to current and future generations of readers. These aren’t rare books – just “good reading copies”.
Veteran collectors might start thinking seriously of donating books, comics, etc to University libraries that will preserve them.
Don’t wait.
Do this while you are active and in charge and organized.
It is never too early to Do Good.
Good point. I would like my family to get some of the value of some of the books, but donations to university libraries are always a good idea.
When my second wife died her daughter didn’t want her doll collection or her vast collection of chidrens books from her years with Head Start so I donated the books to the day care she was retired from and the dolls to the a local library that displays them every Christmas.
Of course I’ve left instructions for the disposal of my stuff, but since there isn’t much cash involved I suspect no one will have sense enough to follow any instructions even though it could mean some profit.
My mother-in-law had a notable collection of antiques and carnival glass and arranged before her death that when she was gone it would be catalogued and sold by Christies. Her estate recieved considerably more for the collection that way than they would have trying to sell it themselves or use a local estate sale.
Still, much as passing them on is worthy and important, I’m mostly glad to have had them while I’m here. I’d rather it was shared, but I can’t say I’ll ever know one way or the other.
I’d leave it to the cats, but they’d just blow it all on automated litter boxes and treats.
Reading this reminds me of something that happened to a collector a few years ago. A friend asked me if I wanted to see one of the greatest collections of dime novels and artwork in the world. He took me to a house in Brooklyn owned by a collector in his 80’s, who lived alone. He had filled the house with a lifetime accumulation of dime novels and the rare cover artwork. It was an amazing sight.
A few months later I heard the horrifying story similar to the one described above. The elderly collector had died leaving no relatives or instructions concerning his estate. The collection was simply shoveled out into dumpsters and sanitation trucks. Very little survived and what was not destroyed was accidently picked up by strangers. A neighbor related the details of what can only be described as a criminal act in terms of popular culture. This was prior to ebay and the internet, so the landlord was just the usual ignorant non-collector, who thought the collection to be junk and of no value.
And trying to educate your relatives may not work either. When the artist Walter Baumhofer and his wife died, his relatives received all sorts of things like hundreds of photos showing Baumhofer using models for cover art, the honeymoon cruise photo album that he and his wife took in the 1920’s, and the certificates showing that he graduated from the Pratt Institute, etc.
They had no interest in keeping any of these things and simply gave them away to a dealer, who happened to be a friend of mine. I bought some of the photos, the cruise album, and the graduation diplomas. Behind Baumhofer’s diploma, is his wife’s diploma, showing she also graduated in the same year. They evidently met while taking art classes.
It is a sad thing but most of the time, non-collecting relatives just want to get rid of what they see as clutter and trash.
If people can make money selling a collection, that’s good too.
My mysteries have little economic value – they are just old reading copies.
But they can help mystery readers, now they are in the library.
Selling or donating – it might be better to do this NOW, rather than hoping relatives will do it later.
Yes, I’m sure the gentleman who died received a lot of pleasure from his possessions, and this case, it sounds as though much of it ended up in the hands of people who’ll appreciate having it.
As has been said and as we all know, the latter is not always the case.
The saddest part of stories like this one are the relatives and family who don’t care or (like the landlord) think the life of the one who’s passed away is worth so little.
What was tossed were only material things, we all know that, but sometimes memories stay fresher and longer by keeping things that were left behind by the one who’s died and were cared about.
I love old books, and I love finding the things that people have left inside them: restaurant bills, letters, envelopes and so on. Some people leave annotations in the margins, or the blank pages after the book has finished. I have an old copy of the collected Sherlock Holmes stories, and hidden somewhere in the middle of this edition is a slip of paper with the titles of all the cases that Watson mentions but never recounts (The Giant Rat of Sumatra, and so on). I will never know who did this, but somehow I feel a certain kinship with them. One day I might slip some short letters into copies of my favourite books. It would be amusing to think that after I’m gone something of me would be passed on to a new owner.
Thanks for the link, Jeff. And thanks for the heads up, Steve. Yes, I decided back in 1995 to donate the bulk of my 30,000 books to SUNY at Buffalo. I made the right decision. The librarians cataloged the collection (it took 5 years!) and have been active in promoting it. I considered selling the collection, but since I was a librarian in a former life, the donation strategy won out (and I needed a nice tax write-off). Sadly, my book addiction continues undiminished so I’ll be making another large donation sometime soon.
Your story, George, and Mike Grost’s, turned out well. I have heard stories where donating to libraries didn’t work out as planned. You have to make sure that libraries can and will do what they promise. It does no good to donate material that sits in a closet or a storage unit for years and accessible to no one.
Though I’m no one to talk. That’s exactly where most of my accumulation of books is now. It’s time to do some thinking about this!
You’re exactly right, Steve. I know Walter Albert donated part of his collection to the University of Pittsburgh and a decade later, they were still in boxes in a library basement. Fortunately, SUNY at Buffalo has a long tradition of supporting Popular Culture (Leslie Fiedler may have had something to do with that).
There’s also the Risk Factor of keeping a large collection of books. James Reasoner lost his collection in a fire. I lost about a 1000 books during the 2006 October Storm that knocked out power in our area for several days. With no power, my sump pump couldn’t work and my basement (where my present collection resides) slowly filled with water. How I wished I’d donated those 1000 books to SUNY at Buffalo instead of losing them to a disaster!
March 18th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
I’ve tried to make arrangements for my stuff to be properly disposed of — what isn’t wanted put in an estate sale and what can’t be either donated to libraries and other appropriate places or otherwise taken care of, but I have no confidence any of it will be done by my rather careless self absorbed family.
Their loss, my complete first edition UK James Bond collection is worth a pretty penny according to some first edition sites (hell, I’m afraid to open a few of them). I suspect when I’m gone they will just dumpster the whole mess. I may check and see if some local estate specialist will come in and dispose of it when I’m gone, but don’t have a lot of faith in that.
Oh, well, I enjoyed it while I was here, and while I would prefer to pass it on I suspect there is little chance of that.
I’d try and take it with me, but I don’t think the neighbors would approve of the house being turned into a tomb. I guess a pyramid in the neighborhood would lower property values.
Yes, it is sad, but at the same time the man had the things he obviously loved while he lived. There are much sadder stories than that.
March 18th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
I donated nine huge boxes of mystery books, to the mystery collection at Michigan State University Library. Will be giving more in the future. These are the overflow of my mystery library. By doing this, will make these old mysteries available to current and future generations of readers. These aren’t rare books – just “good reading copies”.
Veteran collectors might start thinking seriously of donating books, comics, etc to University libraries that will preserve them.
Don’t wait.
Do this while you are active and in charge and organized.
It is never too early to Do Good.
March 18th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Mike
Good point. I would like my family to get some of the value of some of the books, but donations to university libraries are always a good idea.
When my second wife died her daughter didn’t want her doll collection or her vast collection of chidrens books from her years with Head Start so I donated the books to the day care she was retired from and the dolls to the a local library that displays them every Christmas.
Of course I’ve left instructions for the disposal of my stuff, but since there isn’t much cash involved I suspect no one will have sense enough to follow any instructions even though it could mean some profit.
My mother-in-law had a notable collection of antiques and carnival glass and arranged before her death that when she was gone it would be catalogued and sold by Christies. Her estate recieved considerably more for the collection that way than they would have trying to sell it themselves or use a local estate sale.
Still, much as passing them on is worthy and important, I’m mostly glad to have had them while I’m here. I’d rather it was shared, but I can’t say I’ll ever know one way or the other.
I’d leave it to the cats, but they’d just blow it all on automated litter boxes and treats.
March 18th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Reading this reminds me of something that happened to a collector a few years ago. A friend asked me if I wanted to see one of the greatest collections of dime novels and artwork in the world. He took me to a house in Brooklyn owned by a collector in his 80’s, who lived alone. He had filled the house with a lifetime accumulation of dime novels and the rare cover artwork. It was an amazing sight.
A few months later I heard the horrifying story similar to the one described above. The elderly collector had died leaving no relatives or instructions concerning his estate. The collection was simply shoveled out into dumpsters and sanitation trucks. Very little survived and what was not destroyed was accidently picked up by strangers. A neighbor related the details of what can only be described as a criminal act in terms of popular culture. This was prior to ebay and the internet, so the landlord was just the usual ignorant non-collector, who thought the collection to be junk and of no value.
And trying to educate your relatives may not work either. When the artist Walter Baumhofer and his wife died, his relatives received all sorts of things like hundreds of photos showing Baumhofer using models for cover art, the honeymoon cruise photo album that he and his wife took in the 1920’s, and the certificates showing that he graduated from the Pratt Institute, etc.
They had no interest in keeping any of these things and simply gave them away to a dealer, who happened to be a friend of mine. I bought some of the photos, the cruise album, and the graduation diplomas. Behind Baumhofer’s diploma, is his wife’s diploma, showing she also graduated in the same year. They evidently met while taking art classes.
It is a sad thing but most of the time, non-collecting relatives just want to get rid of what they see as clutter and trash.
March 18th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
If people can make money selling a collection, that’s good too.
My mysteries have little economic value – they are just old reading copies.
But they can help mystery readers, now they are in the library.
Selling or donating – it might be better to do this NOW, rather than hoping relatives will do it later.
March 18th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Yes, I’m sure the gentleman who died received a lot of pleasure from his possessions, and this case, it sounds as though much of it ended up in the hands of people who’ll appreciate having it.
As has been said and as we all know, the latter is not always the case.
The saddest part of stories like this one are the relatives and family who don’t care or (like the landlord) think the life of the one who’s passed away is worth so little.
What was tossed were only material things, we all know that, but sometimes memories stay fresher and longer by keeping things that were left behind by the one who’s died and were cared about.
March 19th, 2011 at 6:07 am
I love old books, and I love finding the things that people have left inside them: restaurant bills, letters, envelopes and so on. Some people leave annotations in the margins, or the blank pages after the book has finished. I have an old copy of the collected Sherlock Holmes stories, and hidden somewhere in the middle of this edition is a slip of paper with the titles of all the cases that Watson mentions but never recounts (The Giant Rat of Sumatra, and so on). I will never know who did this, but somehow I feel a certain kinship with them. One day I might slip some short letters into copies of my favourite books. It would be amusing to think that after I’m gone something of me would be passed on to a new owner.
March 19th, 2011 at 7:09 am
Some of us make plans and carry them out while we’re still here.
Think about it.
And yes, Steve, that was very sad.
March 19th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Thanks for the link, Jeff. And thanks for the heads up, Steve. Yes, I decided back in 1995 to donate the bulk of my 30,000 books to SUNY at Buffalo. I made the right decision. The librarians cataloged the collection (it took 5 years!) and have been active in promoting it. I considered selling the collection, but since I was a librarian in a former life, the donation strategy won out (and I needed a nice tax write-off). Sadly, my book addiction continues undiminished so I’ll be making another large donation sometime soon.
March 20th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Your story, George, and Mike Grost’s, turned out well. I have heard stories where donating to libraries didn’t work out as planned. You have to make sure that libraries can and will do what they promise. It does no good to donate material that sits in a closet or a storage unit for years and accessible to no one.
Though I’m no one to talk. That’s exactly where most of my accumulation of books is now. It’s time to do some thinking about this!
March 21st, 2011 at 7:39 am
You’re exactly right, Steve. I know Walter Albert donated part of his collection to the University of Pittsburgh and a decade later, they were still in boxes in a library basement. Fortunately, SUNY at Buffalo has a long tradition of supporting Popular Culture (Leslie Fiedler may have had something to do with that).
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:10 am
There’s also the Risk Factor of keeping a large collection of books. James Reasoner lost his collection in a fire. I lost about a 1000 books during the 2006 October Storm that knocked out power in our area for several days. With no power, my sump pump couldn’t work and my basement (where my present collection resides) slowly filled with water. How I wished I’d donated those 1000 books to SUNY at Buffalo instead of losing them to a disaster!