But why shouldn't other people be able to collect books the same way they collect anything else and treat them as untouchable artifacts if that's what they want to do?
It's a lot better than people who turn books into lamps and tables, which I've seen designers do on television. That does raise my hackles a bit. Especially because they use old books to do this, and some rare gem may be rendered unreadable (or uncollectable) because of it.
I've seen some of those designers on TV... it's like they have no understanding whatsoever of what you're supposed to do with a book. There was one who, with a straight face, recommended to a homeowner that she make a small display of books on her coffee table or shelf -- not choosing them for their titles or even the subject matter. The designer thought they would be good to include because their covers were a particular shade of blue!
I've been collecting science fiction and fantasy books for over 30 years. Some of my books are literally falling apart, and some are in mint condition. Most are somewhere inbetween. I definitely take better care of them now than I did before. Mind you, when I started collecting, I could only afford second-hand books. Still, I preferred to get ones that wouldn't fall apart as soon as I touched them (as is often the case with new books due to shoddy binding).
Likewise, those I have that are autographed range from well-used to pristine. I recently pounced on a Robert Silverberg book because the copy I'd had him autograph was not in great shape, and it's one that hasn't been in print for over 20 years (
Up the Line). So now I have the autographed one to keep safe and another one to read.
I have a hardcover edition of
The Darkover Concordance. I wasn't lucky enough to get one of the 200 copies that were autographed, but it's still rare enough. Only 500 hardcover copies of this were ever printed, and I've got one of them. There is NO WAY I would dream of treating it shoddily -- considering the amazing fact that I found it at a convention in Calgary, of all places, it's pretty much irreplaceable. And I didn't buy it for its value, although I suspect I could probably sell it for a lot more than what I paid. I've read every word of it, more than once. For a Darkover fan, it's a good reference for the novels published prior to 1978.
The most special occasion I ever had when asking an author to autograph one of his books was with Frederik Pohl. The book I'd chosen was his autobiography,
The Way the Future Was. It was a hardcover edition I'd found in a second-hand bookstore, minus its dust cover, and had been well-read. I found it a fascinating account of the early days of fandom, and it was interesting to read about several events that I'd also read about in Isaac Asimov's autobiography. When it was my turn to ask him to autograph a book, he looked a bit curiously at it; after all, it wasn't one of the usual paperbacks that were all over the dealers' room downstairs. And when he saw that it was his own autobiography, his eyes lit up and he leafed through a few pages... and lingered at a page of photographs. There he saw himself, around age 8 or so. I don't know what memories came to his mind at that moment, but it made me very glad I'd chosen this book. Right now, it has a place of honor on one of my bookshelves, and you may be sure that I will do everything possible to preserve it.
