I love books. I own a lot of them, but I don’t have a lot of shelf space. You’d think, then, that I’d have only one copy of each book. Not so. Repeats abound in my library. Here are some of them:
Four Copies
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: I have a softcover copy from my friend Sprite, who introduced me to this wonderful series. I also have a hardcover copy to match the rest of the series. My husband gave me French and Spanish versions. Believe it or not, I read most of the French version. The vocabulary level was just about right for a high-school French student, so I was able to get along pretty well. I enjoy having the occasional foreign-language book in my library.
Three Copies
Heidi by Johanna Spyri: I bought the first one so that I could revisit a childhood favorite, but it didn’t strike quite the chord with me that it had when I was a kid. I started to wonder if the translation was part of the reason. I then bought two more versions to see how different they might be, and boy, were they different! Someday I hope to read those two (as well as another version on my Kindle) and decide on a winner. Whether I do or not, that strange experiment at least proved that my leeriness of translations is totally justified!
The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien: I have a pretty copy with illustrations by Alan Lee and I have an annotated version. I also have Bilbo le hobbit, which is a French-language version (“Dans un trou vivait un hobbit. . . .”) I want to read this version, but since I couldn’t get past the first few pages at a time when I was actively studying French, I doubt I ever will. I don’t want to let it go, though.
Two Copies
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge: I have two softcover versions of this book: one that’s old and falling apart, and one that’s fairly new but lackluster in appearance. Neither copy is quite satisfactory. I would like to get a collector’s edition (if such a thing exists) or at least a decent hardcover copy.
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett: The copy that I inherited from my aunt is still in readable condition, and I love the Tasha Tudor illustrations, so I really had no reason to buy another copy. But I found one languishing at the library’s use book shop. It was so bright and nicely sized, and the illustrations (by Graham Rust) were pretty good. I felt sorry for the book. How could such a great book be sitting there unwanted and unloved? I brought it home with me. In retrospect I realize that I might have deprived some young girl of a great book. Sorry! But I’d do it over again. Yes, I would. The Secret Garden was not meant to go unread! I also have a version on my Kindle, just in case I’m ever stuck somewhere and have a sudden desire to read it. I’m not including that version in my count, though, since it doesn’t take up shelf space.
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: I have an old copy that I inherited from my aunt and a new annotated version. While I think annotated versions are interesting, they are not typically good reading copies, so none of them is ever going to be my sole copy of a book.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare: I technically have two copies of this play because it is contained in The Yale Shakespeare, which I bought for reference purposes. But the Yale is big and unwieldy, good for research but not for leisure reading. My individual copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is compact. It is also utterly gorgeous, thanks to the Arthur Rackham illustrations. It may not be a first edition, but it’s a beautiful one and worth owning for that reason alone.
The Odyssey by Homer: Who but an English professor would have two copies of The Odyssey? Me! I have a verse translation which I bought for a college class. I also have a prose version that my friend Sprite gave to me. That version is one of those books that you just love to look it. And when you look at it, you have to pick it up and run your hand across the green cover with it’s blue wavelike swirls. I haven’t read it yet, but you can be sure I will.
Do you have any repeats in your library?