Shelf placement

[Kat]

I'm putting this here for maximum exposure.

We've recently moved into a bigger house..we even have a room for a library!! Though we're having a tough time fitting all 3,000 plus into it.

My DRoP collection is going somewhere seperate.. the dining room actually because I have a husband that loves me and is fine with me using the big wonderful (currently blank) wall to showcase,put my map of Pern and all the 15 panels of individual Holds surrounding it,as I always envisioned them.

But I'm not sure how I want to put the books,so was curious as to how others have theirs on the shelf/shelves.

Are they by publishing date?chronological?. Do you seperate the paperbacks? Are they by height so paperbacks first?

I guess it's a disadvantage of being nerdy/geeky

But I know you'd all understand.

[P'ter]

I try very hard (usually successfully) to keep the all of one series together. so I have a shelf of Pern paperbacks. Another shelf holds Acorna and romances. Another self ... and so on. All the hardbacks are togwether on the bottom shelf where there's the height for them. That way I get more adjustable shelves in the stack.

[Greenrider Tresa]

Somewhat like P'ter. All hardcovers together. Shorter series are arranged by author thugh, so all McCaffrey is together. Decided to lump coauthored books in with those since I only have one other by Jody Lynn Nye, for example. Helps that Elizabeth Moon can be right next to them even though that pushes Jack McDevitt out of order.

[Almaron]

Like P'ter, I try to keep all books in a series together, although I don't separate paperbacks from hardcovers; I just put them in chronological order and try to make that fit, then place other books on top if I either run out of space on a shelf - never crammed in; only placed across books with a consistent height so the covers or pages don't crease.

The top two shelves of one of my bookcases hold my Anne McCaffrey material; on the top shelf are the main novels and short stories - mostly paperbacks, although Moreta, Legends II (with Beyond Between), Skies of Pern and Gift of Dragons are a bit bigger - with the three books I have from the Brainship series flat on top of them and to the left, and the two Crossroad game books to the right. The Guide, Atlas, and People books, along with the graphic novel, are on the next shelf down - the remainder of that shelf being home to my Terry Pratchett collection; since that was the only shelf left that had the space for it.

[Kat]

Thanks all... I do appreciate responses,and again I knew you'd understand.

Space isn't a problem. I'm back to two whole units.(we just bought three short units for the knick knacks home in the living room)

They're close to 6 feet and have four shelves. I've read all the series of Anne's but I only collect and own the DRoP.

I have the whole series in hardcover,both Legends in HC as well. I don't have the whole series in pb.I do have the Bantam Elizabeth Littman cover Harper Hall series. It's the edition I first found. And I like them better than others.(even if the fire lizards aren't very accurate).The Crossroads,all the companion books,and the Mayfair and Nova games.And The Weyr Book of Ista


Originally I was thinking of putting my short(3feet) shelves on the wall where the maps will be.But Leelan commandeered them because they match the shelves he had that are in the library now.

And he put the two odd white ones in the dining room. Which is fine since my kitchen has white wood cabinets.

So then with much more space I pictured wouldn't it be cool to spread out the collection and add pics I have of the McCaffreys.(with and without me.). And oooo then I envisioned finally completing another project..making life sized sculpture of fire lizards in each colour. And have them in different positions so like draped on the corner etc.

Thankfully I have an understanding creative hubby,who helped and encouraged me finishing the panels so won't be against the fire lizards. It's just time and money. But sounds like a good vacation project,and certainly not an all at once venture.

[Hans]

By publishing date US hardcovers folowed by UK hardcovers, followed by special editions (e.g. Suede boxed Moreta) .
Paperbacks, again according publishing date, US series first, UK series next.

Uh... we're not going into the other 600 AMC hardcovers and paperbacks, right?

[AnnMarie]

I'd separate the pbs and HCs, and put them in chrono....that's me.

[Brenda]

My big bookshelves are from a secondhand bookstore that went out of business, and I can only put paperbacks of a certain size in them unless I stack them horizontally. So I have a section with all my SF/F paperbacks (by author, by series), then a section with all my "regular fiction"/literature paperbacks, then a shelf with all the hardbacks stacked, then all my "kids' books" - which I still read all the time.

[granath]

Originally Posted by AnnMarie

I'd separate the pbs and HCs, and put them in chrono....that's me.

Me too. I loosely alphabetize and separate by genre. We've moved now and have two libraries. One, where I'm sitting surrounded by boxes of books is for non-fiction and magazines. It's upstairs and also our workroom. Currently it holds two computers but that will change when my son demands his own. He's already pretty good with the mouse and can select the youtube video he wants to see. Luckily his attention span isn't yet long enough for it to hold his interest for more than ten minutes or so at a time. :p

The downstairs library is for fiction and is also our home movie theater. It has lights with dimmers and our 7.1 sound system and the big HDTV (40", it's not gigantic... ). All my AMC + coauthored paperbacks just fit on one shelf, even if that's 1.2 meters (about 4 ft) long.

Our house is located on a downward slope, so that the main entrance is upstairs.

[Lady Maelin]

I have always grouped all my McCaffrey books together in order of subject...Pern, Ship, Talent, Romanc...etc.
I have all the Pern books together, but unlike most of the other collectors here on MoM, I put the hardcovers and the paper backs of the same book together... artistically, so they look good to me.
I do also have several different covers [hardcover and PB] of the same story, and want to be able to see all the different ones I have at a glance...this way I don't end up rebuying one that I already have.

Have fun arranging all your goodies...that really is the most important thing, IMO...when it comes to your book collections, reading them always seems to be the best part...

[Bruce]

Kat, I used to have my Anne books in alphabetic order with the rest of my books, but as my collection grew I dedicated separate book cases to her work only. Currently I have 3 standard 5 shelf book cases for her work, with a separate half book case, 3 shelf for dupes, and 5 shelf half book case for misc., such as games magazines, books with an Anne story in it, and books on cd, mostly DRoP books.
The 3 main book cases start with DRoP books,DF, DQ, TWD, then the Harperhall books. I use to separate Hb from Sb, but now I start with the Hb, then Trade, some book club editions, then Pb. I have usually many dupes and/or different versions of the same book with cover variations. Also included are any UK and foriegn editions I have.
From there I preced into all of her other wonderful series. Like Lady M said, it has an artistic feel for my eyes to be able to see the rise and fall of the different sized books. Many is the hours that I have spend just enjoying looking at my books. Only a fellow book lover can appreciate that feeling. Hope all turns out well.