People say I buy too many books. Of course I buy books. I read them, too. “Do you need more library books?” a friend asked. She was ready to do an intervention. I could feel it.

“Oh no.” I was kind of appalled. “I just love books!” And then I blurted out, “I collect books.”

And that changed everyone’s perception. I’m not “just” a reader, I’m a collector! And books are much less expensive to collect than cars (one for every household member, it seems), iPhones, food, tickets to plays, movies, concerts, etc.

For instance, a book came in the mail today. It is an illustrated Folio Society copy of Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley, published in 1968. It was very cheap: under $10. And I bought it for the gorgeous lithographs by Walter Hoyle.

Shirley is relatively rare, as Bronte’s books go. This sprawling industrial novel never caught on with readers or critics. Fascinated by the Luddite riots in 1816, Bronte did an enormous amount of research before she carefully delineated a clash between the workers and a cotton mill owner in Yorkshire. However, most of the novel revolves around the friendship between two women, a wild heiress and a quiet vicar’s daughter. And the impetuous Shirley was based on Emily Bronte, who died before Charlotte finished the book.

It is easy to find a paperback edition of Shirley: Penguins, Oxfords, and Wordsworths. But I was disappointed that Shirley is not one of the titles in the Penguin hardcover classics collection.

Could I find a comparable hardcover edition? I asked. Well, I was browsing on the internet, and found this one.

Another “collectible” reading copy! I couldn’t be more pleased.