100s of Books, 1000s of Books Revisited …

Here’s a post I wrote at the very end of February 2014, shortly before we moved from France back to England….

Hundreds of Books, Thousands of Books …

Facing the task of packing and moving our library, I was reminded of that wonderful book I used to read with my children, Wanda Gag’s ‘Millions of cats’.

‘Hundreds of cats books, thousands of cats books and millions and billions and trillions of cats books’.

Oddly, I no longer have the book, though I hope one of the offspring has. ‘Oddly’, because I seem to have most of the others that have accompanied me through life.  Both of us is incapable of downsizing when it comes to books.  Till now.

We realised that much of what we own has remained unopened since the day it arrived in France and probably for some years before that: our days of writing essays about mediaeval history are long gone. We realised something had to change.  Jettisoning them was unthinkable.  And where in France could we re-home so many books in English?

By chance, I was browsing on the web one day, and realised that many of these old faithfuls have a value.  They could be sold.  So that’s what we’ve decided to do.  But it’s really not about the money.  It’s about knowing that these books will end up with someone who has chosen them and wants them, rather than in some charity shop where, as we know from experience, some would simply moulder or even be thrown before reaching the shelves, even though many would be snapped up.

So…… we now have three kinds of book.  The central core: books we can’t think of doing without – mainly reference books and other much-used non-fiction, with some of our best-loved fiction.  The second kind, the saleable ones, are now boxed up to send to England.  And the last, and smallest group: the ones we’ve decided to do without, and which have little apparent value.  We’ve opened doors to all-comers who want to browse, and we’ve probably re-homed about half.  There are still some 450 still remaining.  They’re heading to Amnesty International in nearby Castelnaudary, who raise funds by selling to both English and French customers.  We know how excited we get when we get the chance to browse a new collection of English books, so we hope they’ll be a good money-raiser for them. (Addendum, 2024. When they were collected, by a woman with her two teenagers, she filled her boot, the empty seats, and even slotted books in and about her passengers’ bodies. They finally drove off, the back axle nearly grinding the road beneath)

Come and look at some of our books – rejected and selected.

You can tell how long I’ve had this one: it was priced in pre-decimal days, before 1972, so even many British readers may have difficulty in deducing that this scholarly work of non-fiction cost me….. 57 ½ p.

A history book that’s now history

This book was given to me as a leaving present from work back in the mid ’70s.  It was a good read then, but even more so now as a history of the area we now live in.

A modern classic describing thirty years of the history of our own little corner of France.

This book belonged to my grandfather, a man who died long before I was born. Beautiful marbled end papers such as this often came as standard in the 19th century.

Handsome endpapers

And finally, a book which though incomplete, is a real piece of history.  It includes handwritten recipes for making ink, polish, peppermint cordial, stove-blacking.  Here’s how to keep your brass and copperware in tip-top condition.

Handy housewife tips from another age.

It includes just one newspaper cutting.  By snooping around on the net and looking for this particular  (and unsuccessful) cure for cholera, I surmise it comes from the 1820s.

Cholera cure: a suggestion.

Surely even the most die-hard minimalist will forgive me for keeping this book firmly among the family treasures?

And now the books are packed.  Every single one – apart from a few bedtime stories for the next three weeks.  One room done, seven to go.

All gone …

And back in England, we realised we really did have to continue the downsizing. It took weeks and weeks. Some we sold, but most went to Oxfam books, and we still regularly get updates telling us how many have been sold and how much they’ve raised. The featured photo shows that we are running out of space again …

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

54 thoughts on “100s of Books, 1000s of Books Revisited …”

  1. Oh, goodness, Margaret! I’ve never owned that many books in my life. I’ve borrowed and read them, but my ‘permanent’ books occupy 4 shelves.

    So, you’re 10 years back in the UK now. But you have an escape clause just outside Barcelona.

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  2. That was quite the undertaking, especially alongside packing up everything else besides. Have you been able to stay with a carefully chosen few or have extras joined the ranks so that once again there are too many? I know you are a keen stalwart at the library so my guess is you are able to minimise purchases and thus ownership.

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  3. We are alike, Margaret. I have had to downsize my book collections over the years. A painful process, but ultimately necessary. I ended up donating quite a few to local libraries. And now, sadly, most of my books are on Kindle. A necessity, unfortunately. Once we settle somewhere, I’m hoping to grow my collection again…but in moderation! You had 7 rooms of books! Amazing.

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  4. I have failed a couple of times to get rid of some of my books – I just seem to want to keep them all!!

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  5. Wonderful read, especially for someone like me. I have been trying to “purge” not only books and magazines , but baby and other keepsakes for the past 18 months (the oldest magazine was from 1986 and had moved house 3 times). I’m making progress but can’t say I’ve been entirely successful. And you would not believe the stuff I manage to bring home when I travel. Most years, I coordinate several garden tours to Europe and always introduce the others to the pleasures of the charity shop. Last year I even managed to get an antique copper fish poacher from France into my suitcase…it makes the most amazing container for a floral centerpiece. Yep, it’s a sickness alright. But a fun one.

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  6. I’m very bad at getting rid of books too, but from time to time Chris persuades me that some have to go! Oxfam get many of them and like you I get the notifications about how much has been raised, which is rewarding. Today I mostly buy fiction on Kindle but the collection still grows 😆 I love those marbled endpapers and how wonderful to have a book your grandfather once owned – I assume that one was a keeper? I have two of my mother’s, one a much-treasured Sunday School prize, Little Women ❤

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      1. I started using Kindle while travelling (lots of books in a space smaller than one ‘real’ book!) and once I was accustomed to it found I was using it more and more even when not travelling

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      2. It’s a very valid point, but I quite like the serendipity of leaving books for others to discover, and finding others, even in non-touristy places not noted for their anglophone visitors/residents.

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  7. I still remember reading Montaillou. Well done on satisfactorily rehoming so many books. I’m sure you’re right about charity shop donations. I put a book box outside our house these days but you would have needed a very big pavement!

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  9. Margaret, your story resonated with my own but with CDs. I donated nearly 3,000 Brazilian music CDs to the Latin American Collection Library at The University of Texas at Austin. With all the CDs in the cloud, I noticed I had played a physical CD in several years. It was hard parting with all of them. I kept very few of them.

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  10. My son and daughter-in-law have their own interiors and building business and recently transformed the living room in my daughter’s and son-in-law’s ‘new’ Victorian house. The key features are the bespoke shelves covering every wall except the one with the feature wall paper. The colour scheme is dark blue-green! Apparently they have always wanted a dark room filled with their books. Fortunately my young grandsons have inherited their love of books.

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  11. Wonderful! We’ve been quite successful in downsizing our books, although we’ve never had as many as you. Having to pack up every two or three years whilst in the army saw to that!

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  13. Oh, it is so difficult to get rid of books! I had to smile at Jo’s 4 shelves! We have three bookcases of seven shelves in each one, and full to the brim, though not all books. There are CDs and magazines and Lever arch files, photo albums and a few boxes. (Plus the OH has his own bookcase with mostly technical / IT books) We did give away a lot when we moved from Ludlow (yes, to Oxfam) and sold loads of vinyls to a record dealer. I got rid of my collection of National Geographics that I’d had since the 1990s and several coffee table sized travel books. Facing the bookshelves now, I can see there are probably many more that could go, but I am mindful that once I reach an age when I can’t get to the library (If indeed there is still a library nearby) then I have plenty of material to read! Though do I really need 20 gardening books?

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      2. A few years ago, I resolved to cook at least one new recipe a week, and I largely stick to my self-imposed promise. Some are quickly forgotten, others take a regular place in the repertoire. But it keeps the cookery books thumbed. Well, some of them …

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  15. We have three two meter tall shelves and three 1.5 m shelves of books. We cut back around 200 when we moved 20 years ago… I think we’ve got that many again, with Eagle’s help. We are bookish. Nothing to be done about it 🙂

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  16. Oh, Margaret, how brave but yes, must be done at some point. You lead the way! I did not realise about your history background and such a fascinating place to be for that in France. My knowledge of this came through Kate Mosse’s fiction. But guess you are still close in Catalan country when you visit Barcelona.

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  18. Aaaah, this post resonates with me…the pain of getting rid of books. I now have only 7 shelves of books, and people ask me why I need so many..They are part of my history, old friends, and it’s comforting to be surrounded by them.

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  19. This is so interesting! I faced this challenge on a lesser scale when my parents divorced and I had to get all of my stuff out of the family home before it was sold. I did a lot of reselling and donating of books, then stored the remainder in my sister’s basement. On every visit to her, I take more back in my suitcases (BUT I also generally acquire more from secondhand shopping!). I’m lucky that I’ve not yet faced a total international move as an adult with all the trappings of a household.

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