I haven’t any doubt that I have several thousand books. So does my wife. Most are either in bookcases or packed in boxes. I have at least one book by Exapno out on my shelf.
They’re arranged by subject, with entire book cases devoted to, say, Religion or Classics. All my Tolkien are on a couple of shelves, as are all of my Jules Verne and my Dave Barry and my James Bond books. Science fiction/fantasy is alphabetical by author, but I’m forced to have separate sections for paperbacks and hardcover/trade because of the sizes. Paperbacks are shelved two rows deep.
Blights, blights, blights! Want to read about An Essay on Diseases Incidental to Literary and Sedentary Persons by the Swiss physician Samuel-Auguste Tissot from 1768? You will feel much relieved by comparison. I for one never knew I had it so good.
Hmm, you make me wonder where my copy of Animals Parasitic in Man has gotten to. It should be next to Rats, Lice, and History, but I’ve moved all my books around recently, so things are a bit stirred.
Ooh, i read rats, lice, and history as a kid, but sadly, that was one of the books my parents pruned over the years, and it wasn’t on their bookshelves when i was cleaning up the estate. Neither was plagues and peoples. I would have kept both.
I keep my oversized books in a separate bookshelf in my bedroom. Since I have two rows of books per Ikea bookshelf, I can’t put paperbacks and hardcovers together. I’ve run out of space already, that would just make it much worse.