Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Amelia Soth, an honorable mention in the 2024 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Contest for women collectors aged 30 and younger.
Where are you from / where do you live?
I live in Madison, Wisconsin, which is also where I grew up.
What did you study at University? What do you do now for an occupation?
I studied Islamic history and art. Today, I’m a freelance writer. I have a column for JSTOR Daily called Cabinet of Curiosities, which I love working on, although my bread is largely buttered by copywriting gigs.
Please introduce us to your book collection. What areas do you collect in?
I’ve had a lot of trouble defining exactly the parameters of my collection. One way of putting it would be “books that act in some way like reference works, but are not in fact reference works.” It’s a nebulous category and very hard to search for, but also very interesting (at least to me). It includes books like the Codex Seraphinianus, an encyclopedia of a fantastical world written in an indecipherable, invented language, and Édouard Levé’s Works, which is a catalogue of unrealized artistic projects.
How many books are in your collection?
The bibliography I shared with Honey & Wax lists 32, which is probably about right, and does contain some ‘edge cases’. But I also have a number of books that feel closely allied to the collection, even if they aren’t quite perfect fits – for instance, I also collect shuffle-books, like Anne Carson’s Float and Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch, where the conceit is that they can be read in any order, another reference-work-esque quality that intrigues me, even if they didn’t feel quite on-point enough to list.
What was the first book you bought for your collection?
The first book I bought for my collection was The Dictionary of the Khazars, but I already owned a couple books that fit into it, notably Invisible Cities and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
How about the most recent book?
Ursula Le Guin’s Always Coming Home, an ethnography of a future culture of Northern California.
And your favorite book in your collection?
Of course, my favorite has to be one that was written by my grandmother, A Field Guide to Northfield, a really witty and loving guide to her sleepy college town.
Best bargain you’ve found?
Most of them, really. I found a lot of my collection serendipitously, by hunting through second-hand stacks.
How about The One that Got Away?
In high school I checked out from the library a strange little book of invented holidays, one for each day of the year. I loved it, but forgot the name, and have never been able to find it again.
What would be the Holy Grail for your collection?
Goodness. I don’t know. How about, dreaming big, a beautiful illuminated Book of Hours?
Who is your favorite bookseller / bookstore?
How am I supposed to pick! I love A Room of One’s Own and The Book Deal in Madison, and I spent a lot of time at the Seminary Co-Op, Powell’s, Myopic and Quimby’s in Chicago. If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, the Hyde Park used book sale is a must-visit; all the UChicago professors offload their excess in one fell swoop, and you can find amazing stuff at a great price.
What would you collect if you didn’t collect books?
Actually, I do collect other things – perfume samples, seeds, craft skills, jewelry boxes (which I fill with other little things I collected).
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