Walter Benjamin, was a passionate bibliophile and book collector, who owned many, many books. He wrote a famous essay on the subject, called “Unpacking My Library,” in which he elaborates the ways a collector can acquire books. He can buy them or win them at an auction. He can inherit them or borrow them with no intention of returning them. But, Benjamin says, “Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.”
