Some good folks created a tool where collectors can flag all the books they own so they know how far they are from a full set. I stopped buying old gamebooks some time ago because I wasn’t able to keep track of them.
So, this evening, I dug into the dusty shelves, and using that tool, I flagged all of my gamebooks. It took me almost two hours. I was surprised by many things, some pleasant, and some not.
- I only have 230 gamebooks out of 491. I thought I owned a lot more than that, given how much space they take. I somehow Imagined that I have 300+.
- There are maybe 20-ish I was absolutely certain I owned that didn’t appear, including some I purchased within the last 1-2 years. Maybe I mixed the shelves at some point.
- Found 5-6 duplicates.
- Found two super-rare books I had no idea I owned and prepared one of them for reading.
- Found 2 books that I own but the tool doesn’t have 😀
I’m not sure how I feel about this experience. I need to think about it. Buying and reading gamebooks brings me joy but keeping them at home brings me dust and clutter. I don’t like dust and clutter.
Veselin.blog 
I had a similar experience with Discogs. I think my best find was a self-produced and -financed LP I had from MDC (the one where people took the chant “No War/No KKK/No Fascist USA” and variously modified it). First, I was shocked my copy was a true rarity. Then I saw the estimated value and about fainted. I’d purchased it for pocket change, used, in about 1987. It’s worth significantly more than that now.
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My rarest books are worth under 100 euro each. I probably have 20-ish of this kind.
I have one that I bought from the bookstore in 2004 and looks like a brochure with maybe 40-50 pages. Apparently, very easy to lose or destroy because it’s essentially a newspaper.
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That’s nothing to sneeze at. Wow. You opened a treasure chest of sorts.
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I should probably sell it to someone who cares more than me. It’s abysmal.
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