Too many BOOKS! Where do you keep them?

[SophieJenkins]

When we moved here I reckoned on keeping most of the furniture but didn't reckon on the enormous number of books I had inherited from my grandparents...there are tons...I'm really stumped as to where to keep them, the existing bookcase is full, the children's one is also full upstairs (both are about 4-5ft square old wooden ones) and I've got one on the very narrow landing, which isn't ideal.

There's no other wall space for furniture, are there any other options - currently lots are just stacked on the floor under my desk, around the fireplace (not currently used) and on the back of the sofa.

I may have to get rid of something else eventually just to have another bookcase but for the time being, has anyone got any novel (sorry) ideas?

I've got a narrow landing but had a bookcase made which fits along the wall. It's massive. Narrows the landing even further so you have to turn sideways along it but can fit loads of books.

We have a whole wall of the dining room covered with books. If you have a fireplace, have you made use of the alcoves either side already?

Above door frames if you hahave high ceilings. For books you want to keep but won't necessarily read in shelves over stair wells. A pain to get to but massive amounts of storage

Thank you very much. Stair wells may be a possibility, there is a heck of a lot of wall space there! The alcoves each side of the fireplace are crammed already - one side has a big old school cupboard which holds art materials and the other side is a bookcase with the TV on it and CDs etc. I did put a load of big books there yesterday but it looks odd.

I think we might need an extension at this rate

Um why can't you cull them?

I would cull them too. If their from your grandparents in assuming they are not all the type you would have chosen anyway.

Here we got rid of all adult fiction and only have that on kindles now. Kept reference and similar books and children's ones

Not everyone wants to cull old books. Some books there is a pleasure just in owning them

That said I would totally cull any modern paperbacks. Especially those you are unlikely to read again

I've been through them a few times already and 'culled' any I instantly don't like.

I'm also working my way gradually through them, filtering out those I cannot read and don't want to keep - but it takes time.

I didn't know my grandparents as well as I would have liked to so I am grateful for the opportunity to look at the books they had, many of which are very good - New Yorker cartoons, lots of large art books (they were both artists/teachers) and loads of vintage/antique stuff that is irreplaceable. School prizes with inscriptions from the 1920s, really beautiful. Things like that.

There are very few modern paperbacks.

I have thousands of books in this house (literally) so I really think you have to sort them even though it may take a lttle time. It sounds as if you have some quite collectable items there - have you thought about selling some of them?

Thank you - yes thought about it - I don't know where to begin, ebay seems a bit of a sad place to sell stuff like that.

We took a few children's books to a friend who deals in books and he wasn't interested in many of them.

One or two he said would be worth selling, can't remember now - there are some Orlando and Babar books, original Tintin, Rupert etc.

A lot of them aren't in perfect condition though so it doesn't seem worth it really. We might as well enjoy them

I've heard that art books can be particularly valuable,especially those relating to an exhibition. I'd look for similar titles on Amazon or a specialist site that must surely exist? See what prices have been achieved recently.

Or maybe pull out and make a display of framed New Yorker cartoons?

Oh I didn't know about the art books. I will see if any of them looks promising.

Nice idea about framing prints, but for now I think I'll concentrate on storing the books - there are too many to do that with!

Loads and loads have already gone to the Oxfam book shop.

I've always taken the view that if someone buys something on - eg - ebay, they actually want it so it's a bit of a Win Win and doesn't worry me at all.

(Giving books to charity shops can be a little chancy as they might just bin them these days: the shops near me only sell fairly new books so I don't like to think of the fate of those which are not shrieking out 'Look how rare and valuable I am!')

ikwym The Oxfam near us is run by a very very good and clever chap who is also a friend, who really knows his stuff. He also collects boxes of books for nothing - bonus

I think if lots of them were valuable then I'd do ebay, but for just a few that I like anyway, it seems a lot of faff for a few quid.

I have some old theatre programmes though that I will probably put on at some point. My Grandmother collected autographs but I think she gave them all to me when I was a kid and my Mum told me to bin everything at the time, so they didn't survive

Mum wanted rid of all this stuff as well but it was Dad's parents so we protested, I'm slowly sifting through all of it, and she just sighs at it all now

I think try and sort into locations of what type of books is easiest. So the children's books put in the children's bedrooms, on shelves on in basket by bed for those read often, rotate. Any cook books in kitchen, art books in a study area/ by dining table.

PS - if you have a lot of books that are 'heavyweight ' - eg the art books - you could always consider donating them. Do you, for instance, have any colleges near you that have an art department or similar? It could be worth an email from you.