Group B

Who are the weirdest people in the world? Collectors, that’s who. I own hundreds of books on automotive matters; but I don’t own a collection, I own an accumulation. I buy a book because I want to read it – that’s what books are for.

In France, it used to be the practice to sell books with the pages uncut. To a collector, a first edition of a book with its pages uncut is “Important.” Collectors like the word “Important,” it brings light into their sad lives; but what is the point of a book you cannot read?