“I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it."
Last week, I saw a comment on a social post, from one Sherlockian to another, suggesting that books should be shared and not hoarded. "Hoarded" seemed like a strong word for the collecting impulse that has run through Sherlockians like a virus since our early days, but I understood the point. Eventually one reaches an age when they start to wonder how their books will live on past their owner, which can cause one to wonder "Why DO I have all these books?"
When I was younger, non-Sherlockian, non-reader visitors would often ask, "Have you read all those books?" It seemed like such a silly question. Why would I own books that I hadn't read? Over time, however, as the Sherlockian collecting impulse wore away at me, I started to own a lot of books I hadn't read. Reference books, of course, which aren't meant to be read cover-to-cover. Biographies, which might have been meant to be read cover-to-cover, but often just serve as reference books after the fourth or fifth book on the same man's life. And those alternate copies of the same sixty stories -- old pirate editions, editions with unique illustrations, etc.
Enjoyable new novels of Sherlock Holmes, both pastiches and those featuring Holmes-based characters, remain on the shelves as reminders and tributes to the authors who wrote them. The dull, pedestrian works tend to get re-homed at one Sherlockian event or another. As the decades have passed, a lot of Sherlock Holmes books have left my library when they proved less than memorable, for reasons good OR bad. And at this point, even some quality works have left the shelves as the honest realization comes that I'm never going to refer to the particular subject at the heart of the book in my remaining years. I hate to say which, as I especially don't want to upset fans of a particular actor since my home went particular-actor-free a little while back. But that move also delighted one particular fan of that particular actor in the largess they received as the books left my house.
And that's the point that I think the "hoarding" comment was intended to make. When we're young we dream of shelves and shelves of books filling our house. But as lovely as a home library can be, it can also turn into a graveyard of books that won't see another reader until an estate sale. At some point, setting a few free to find new owners to love them is not a bad thing.
When Sherlock Holmes said that notable thing about brain-attics and lumber-room libraries, he was talking about internally held facts, but it also can apply to our external libraries. A person should keep all the books they are likely to use in the future, whether for reference or rereading. But there are also a good many that can be put away in the hands of other Sherlockians, where they can finally get to them if they want them.
There are personal libraries, organized, curated, loved. And then there are lumber rooms where books are just piled and stored as time goes by and we let it all get away from us. I've had both, so I'm not going to shame anyone for letting the Sherlockiana pile up. It happens. But eventually . . . eventually! . . . it's good to take an objective look at the books one owns and decide where their best home might be. Or not. You do you and enjoy whatever that winds up being.
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