Four bookcases, six shelves each (not counting books on the top, sloppily piled at the bottom, recent acquisitions on a side table or poor, neglected tomes exiled to a box in the garage):
Bookcase #1 is art and photography, highbrow and lowbrow.
Bookcase #2 is movies, except for the top shelf, which is a complete set of the 11th edition Britannica (1910-11).
Bookcase #3 is nonfiction potpourri: espionage, various topics of history, science, philosophy, crime.
Bookcase #4 is fiction, biography, movies annex, oversize/odd-sized books that don’t fit neatly in the aforementioned sections.
Fiction (on two shelves) groups books by the same author together, and the authors are in rough chronological order of when they wrote. The same strategy is applied to monographs on artists and art movements, as well as the biographies. Apart from books by the same author being grouped together, no real coherent organization affects books on any other shelf.
Most shelves have toys, art or found objects on and on-top of them. The two bookcases at opposite ends of the study are topped by speakers, each of which has a plastic Australian frilled lizard on it (one of them with a very cheap plastic go-go doll crammed headfirst in its mouth).
Up on my stair case landing I have a book shelf with a set of nice encyclopedia. (does anyone have those anymore?) They were in our house when I was a kid. We used the heck out of them. The S-TUV has crayon marks from my baby sister. The C is missing. Not sure when that happened. They were all together when I got them from my Daddy. So, presumably it’s here somewhere. I occasionally pull one out and look at it. They’re kinda like old friends. They are in the book case that they’ve always been in.
You’re going to think I’m a terrible philistine, but I arrange mine by spine colour, from white, through cream, orange, reds, purples, blues, greens, greys, blacks. In my defence, I’m a graphic designer, and it’s very aesthetically pleasing.
(Large books are separate and laid flat, travel books have their own shelf).
I feel you. Same here. It’s gotta look good to my eye. I have this one bright red bound book that just gives me fits. It doesn’t look right anywhere. Right now it’s laying flat on a table top with a bird figurine sitting on it. I don’t like it that way either. Someday I’m gonna put it in a drawer.
My 50 or 100 cookbooks have their own shelf in the kitchen.
About 20 books relating to hiking and backpacking have their own shelf.
The twenty or so books I intend to read next have their own shelf.
Hardcover and trade-paperback fiction is alphabetized by author on one set of shelves. Mass-market paperback fiction is nearby on another set of shelves, organized the same way.
Mass-market paperback non-fiction (of which I own only a few dozen volumes) are shelved together in no particular order.
Most of my trade paperback and hardcover non-fiction is arranged by the Library of Congress call numbers. It may seem like overkill, but I have over 1000 volumes in this category. Several years ago, I got sick of never being able to find any of my books. I bought a lifetime membership in LibraryThing and entered all my books there. It was kind of a PITA but I’m glad I did it. I’ve never had any trouble finding books since.
A couple hundred books I’ll probably never read or consult again are stored in the attic. I will probably donate most of those to Goodwill eventually. These are also catalogued on LibraryThing with references pointing to what box each book is in. So if I ever do need one of them, it will be easy to find.
Like most of the responses so far. Primarily by subject. When a subject occupies a full shelf or more—and there are more than 100 shelves in total—further sorting usually takes place. History is generally chronologically. Books about individual architects and firms in alphabetical order. Books about places in rough ZIP Code order (as a one-dimensional way of organizing the two-dimensional array of states and cities). Size also plays a role, but I have the kind of spatial memory that generally knows just what shelf to go to and what the spine looks like.
Basically at complete random. They go where there’s space and they fit. The only books that go together on purpose are a set or series, provided they’re mine and not my wife’s.
Books that I’m currently storing in totes due to lacking space are in no particular order - I don’t even track which one is in which tote. I will live to regret that.
I also have a few books that are out and on counters or tables waiting for me to remember they exist, find time, and read them.
Of the books that are on shelves:
Graphic novels are kept separated and alphabetized by series title.
My other fiction books are alphabetized by author, and within the author it’s often in series order or publication date, but sometimes is alphabetic by title (if even that) if order doesn’t seem to matter.
My collection of nonfiction books and decades-old textbooks is in no particular order jammed on an inaccessible shelf under my DVD collection holding up a significant quantity of dust.
a.) Very large bookcase - European and Latin American history.
Initial sections are chronological first, geographic/topic second. So starting with ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, Roman era, etc. By the medieval period they start going geography first, chronology second. So for example English history by chronology, with biographies intermixed in chronological order. Then Irish, Scottish, French, German, etc… There is also smallish general European section.
b.) Two medium bookcases - Near/Middle Eastern, Asian, African history. Much as above.
c.) Fairly large bookcase - About half biology, very loosely grouped by topic. North American history by chronology first, topic second as above. Some “modern” military history by topic, though military history in general is widely scattered in other appropriate history sections as well.
99% of my fiction - currently in storage as I moved recently. Usually lightly organized by author if at all. I am and probably always will be short of shelf space despite discarding reams of books( mostly old fiction ).
I push them all the way back because that’s easiest ;).
I intellectually get the appeal of catalogs, but it sound like way more work than my own personal interest/satisfaction with it would warrant. I’m content with knowing very generally where everything is in my head.
Stratigraphically. According the the principle of superposition, the more recently read books are towards the top of the pile. Unless the cat knocked the pile over, which necessitates more care in interpreting the evidence.
I have seventeen bookcases throughout the house. The science fiction and mystery books are in the spare room and office, sorted by author but not alphabetically. Any series is chronological. There are two main bookcases in the living room. One holds the quantum physics, cosmology, consciousness, “new agey” stuff. These are mostly single books but multiple books by an author are together. The other case is a tall 4 shelf that holds my old occult books (Crowley, etc.), the works of Robert Anton Wilson and my Philip K. Dick collection (I have everything he published). The Wilson and Dick books are in chronological order except for a few oversized books.
There are a couple bookcases in the dining room that hold random books. There are two bookcases in the living room and one in the hallway that hold books I haven’t read yet. These are books I’ve picked up over the years that looked interesting but weren’t something I needed to read right then. I’m saving them for my retirement and there is no order to them. I’ll browse when I’m ready to pick one.
If a bookcase has a back, I push the books in. If it is an open shelf case, I line them up neatly sort of in the middle.
I do not have a copy of that, no. I’ve seen it referenced several times. Given the subject matter, I’d be tempted to shelve that with general Slavic folklore, i.e., Alexander Afanasyev, Linda Ivanits, Vuk Karadzic, etc. I have Burton’s Vikram and the Vampire in with South Asian folklore for the same reason.
The Reynolds translation looks as though it can be purchased for $47 on Amazon. Were I but a little more wealthy.
Bottom row, right bookcase: Travel books Next row up: Horse books Next row up: Books from childhood Top shelf: Comfort books, books I like to read when eating popcorn
Top row, left bookcase: Books I will eventually read
Bottom row, left bookcase: Harry Potter
Other 2 rows, left bookcase: Assorted
Books are pushed to the back edge of the shelf so I can put pictures, objects d’art in front.
We are going to figure that out tonight. Most of our books have been in storage for the last 3 years, and we planned to unpack them today. I will not agree to go to bed tonight without doing some work on them.
First by category:
Most of Mr CK’s books are history, so pirates, Civil War, crusades and Medieval history, etc., are sub-categories.
There are also Bible commentaries and many Christian books, and his small collection of fiction, mostly classics and Sherlock Holmes.
Music books all go in the music/media room with all the CDs, DVD’s VHS (yes, we still have some) and the instruments.
My books are mostly fiction, so by author, series in order.
Education books will most likely be stored away until the great burnt-out teacher yard sale.
The real problem will be, what will we do when we run out of shelf space? There are some built-in shelves, but not enough for the entire collection. We don’t have money to buy any, so we’ll have to improvise. We’ll see how it works out.
