I’ve talked about having multiple copies before. If you haven’t seen it, that post is here. Anyway, that post mostly talks about having multiple copies because of alternate covers or foreign editions. This is a little different.
See, there’s another reason I have multiple copies of a book, and that is for lending purposes.
For most of my books, I just have the one copy. If someone wants to read that I’m happy to lend it as long as I know they’re trustworthy. Basically that is like a list of 3 people right now. But there is a small subset of my books that are on a WILL NOT LEND list. Usually they’re signed copies or first editions that are collectable for some reason. For instance, my John Green boxed set which are signed hardcovers. Only one of those books has ever been lent and it was to one of my closest most trusted friends.
So for books like that I usually have lending copies.
My lending copies are often paperbacks or alternate covers, just so I don’t have multiples of the same cover on my shelf. After all, i’s the perfect excuse to have multiples of the same story. I often get them used, though not always, and they’re usually not in pristine shape because most people aren’t as careful with books as I am. See, I want my friends to read the books I like but I also like my collection to stay all nice and pretty. Lending copies solve that problem. And if something happens to a lending copy? It’s usually pretty easy to grab a replacement.
Lending copies are never my rarer to find copies. For instance, though my primary Harry Potter set is the American hardcovers, I probably wouldn’t lend out my UK copies because they were such a bitch to find. The best versions of books for lending copies? Movie covers!
So what do you do as far as book lending? Do you have special lending copies or no?
I don’t really have set lending copies, though I love this idea. I don’t lend books out to many people either though. Most of the people I DO trust to take care of them, but it’s a matter of getting them back in a timely manner!
-Lauren
I don’t have lending copies, but I do see the appeal. I once loaned a book to a friend, she never spoke with me again. I bought a new copy of the book and ended up loaning it to a new friend. She also quit speaking to me!! And I had to buy another copy. Weird!