Stephen A. Schwarzman Building > Collections & Reading Rooms > George Arents Collection

A Brief Survey

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The following text, and images above, are reproduced from:
The Arents Collection of Books in Parts and Associated Literature
"A Complete Checklist" with an Introductory Survey by Sarah Augusta Dickson , p.7-20. (N.Y.: The New York Public Library, 1957), revised 2002.

AFTER he had assembled an important tobacco collection, George Arents, as a veteran bibliophile, started to collect books in parts. His reason for doing this can be given in his own words: "A collector of gems has much in common with the collector of books. A man may buy a beautiful diamond. . . If it has a bad flaw, every time he looks at it he will think of that flaw. If a collector has a first folio of Shakespeare with the title in facsimile, every time he shows it to someone he thinks about that title-page. Neither the book nor the gem can be improved. Books in parts, however, are like a pearl necklace. If some of the pearls are off color or not perfectly shaped, it is possible to replace them. If you have a set of David Copperfield  in parts and one of the issues is defective -- a torn page, some missing advertisements or not the first edition -- it is possible for you to pick up a very defective set, but one which has that part in perfect condition, and so to complete your good set." ¹
So far as has been ascertained this is the only library assembled on the principle that the books therein appeared serially in separate numbers and are still in their original state. Since the collection is now housed in The New York Public Library in a room adjoining the Arents Tobacco Collection and may be visited by interested persons, it is appropriate to give a short account of the books and other material contained in it.

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