Bibliophile

Of my many addictions, my most intense at the moment is to books- all sorts of books. The most common varieties are: coffee table, children's (mostly ones that I remember from my youth), cookbooks, design books and especially vintage (predating 1950). Of course there are others, but these categories comprise my main collection. Securing most of my finds has previously consisted to sporadic visits to the local Desert Industries with a few online purchases. But as of late, I find myself obsessed with a visit, sometimes two, to said D.I. The books are fairly inexpensive, though I think they are starting to catch on to the trend (I am not the only one bagging books) and have started to raise some prices based on size and age of the bound volumes. Even still, they are a steal. I have not once come out of a shopping stop empty-handed. I'm like a fiend! I make my rounds and grab everything that might have some merit to me and then find a spot to dig through and find the real gems from there. It is a process that I very much enjoy. But I am starting to run into a space issue. I want to display most, if not all of my prized finds. They are great treasures to me, though I have read very few of them. My philosophy is that people should surround themselves with the things that make them happy. I am a collector so I am ensconced in heaps of my precious things- books, movies, music, art, friends, the list goes on... Anyway, here is a work by artist Rogier van der Weyden from 1460 that I recently found in one of my books that I am very taken with. It is entitled, "Portrait of a Lady".