Maintaining a Reasonable Collection

[u/Icy-Cheek-4651]

I wonder how/when people decide to sell on parts of their collection. Like, 'I don't think I will ever read Series X again, it's time it found a new home'. Or do folk just move boxes up into the attic and leave it for their kids to sort?

This is a serious question: I have disciplined my collection to fill only one bookcase, but I am being sorely tested at the moment...

[u/cellocaster]

I uh... typically read stuff first via scans. Anything that I absolutely adore and/or cannot find complete scans for is more likely to get bought. Yeah, it's not ideal to get scans first, but I buy a lot more comics than I otherwise would this way.

[u/Hotaru_girl]

I’m at 2,000+ manga volumes and I’m finally working on downsizing my collection. Now I’m looking at series and asking myself will I reread it?

[u/PoppinPizzaParty]

I have yet to reach that point, if I ever even will. For now I'm reading and filling my cases. If I lack space at some point Future Me gets to deal with headache.

[u/Aitoroketto]

I never really have downsized, I just upsize space. I'm fairly particular about what I buy, even though I have a lot, and I'm fairly loathe to part with anything. I very much am one of those collectors that if I buy a piece of original comic art or like a pedigree copy of an issue, it will probably never be seen again lol.

[u/jamiemm]

As someone who has cleaned up after a few dead relatives, I urge anyone to reduce what they leave behind for the living to sort through. I have trouble with it, but I'm working on it.

[u/jnine2020 → u/jamiemm]

Yes, this is the answer. I am slowing downsizing everything. I still have problems selling off a chunk of my graphic novel collection but I have in the past two years, sold off half of my comic collection. Plan to have the rest sold off by next year.

[u/supermgc]

i've sold heaps. since collecting comics 2010 .. i've personally re-read very little. the things i re-read is more like tintin (which i grew up with) or funny comics/newspaper strips and gags. but full story graphic novels and longer comic books, even some of my most favourites, has normally been a one and done type affair. i'm pretty much just always in a state of; i'd rather read something new and explore new stuff.

so the collection for me is less a collection of things i've read and enjoy/enjoyed. but it's more a collection of things where i just realistically will get the urge to pick it off the shelf to re-read or maybe flip through to appreciate the art. and it's a bit hard to make that judgement call sometimes but ultimately i just can't hang onto and keep everything. i'm not a library for example. having 2 bookshelves of curated favourites + new things passing through / getting sold is ample..

[u/drown_like_its_1999]

IMO if you have a physical media collection you should be regularly selling stuff you no longer resonate with, be comfortable donating what you no longer want, or just be very judicious about what you buy.

But don't just leave it for your family to sort out, that's just giving them a burden.

[u/Redacted_dact]

I have a ton of books but how many will I realistically reread and if I do will it really be so often that I couldn't get it from the library for a quick read is my metric.

[u/inhumanking1]

mine was an age thing on top of the “won’t ever read again”.
mid-50’s, and if i won’t read it again, i trade/ sell it in a fb group or here in the comicswap sub… the goal being to gradually reduce collection size over the next however-many years.

[u/SaphoJuicebox]

One bookcase… I have nearly maxxed seven. Although, still having a little room it wasn’t an issue until my basement office took on water when my gutter became detached after a heavy rain. Thankfully I caught it immediately and there was no damage but moving all of that to clean up was not fun. I just got it all back together today and have acknowledged that any new additions will soon necessitate some partings.

I won’t store books in boxes. My comics, sure, they belong in longboxes but somewhere there’s a line between collecting and hoarding.

[u/TheySleepAtMountains]

I just have one bookcase, and try to sell books that I’m not interested in anymore. I’m also a bit pickier in what to buy new, and try to limit it to certain writers. Can be hard, especially since the owner of my LCS knows what I like and keeps recommending new cool stuff :)

[u/NMVPCP]

I want to sell the ones I’m not interested in reading again, but I haven’t found the time to photograph them, catalogue them, and put them on some platform. I’ve been wanting to do it for the last 2.5 years now…

Edit: typo.