How Do You Reduce Your Collection?

[Retreater]

You're thinking of this the wrong way. You should be Googling "DIY bookshelves".

My wife is taking evening carpentry classes and has offered to build me some... just don't have empty space to hold them.

 

[Blue]

You seem to have a handle on categorizing, and that's just one step from prioritizing.

I can tell you that I haven't sold a thing, I give it all away. I've shown up for a session with a storage box full of other RPGs and told people to take what they want. I put up a FB post for all my 3.x and 4e stuff, free to any friend of mine who was actually going to use it. (Not a 2nd copy going to sit "just in case".) I mailed a bunch of AD&D (or was it 2e) to a fellow ENworld poster who was going to use them to run for students.

That it was going to someone I knew (or a friend of theirs), to actually get used to play the game, was worth more to me then getting some payback against their initial cost. I've invested in things like M:tG cards back when and those I kept nice and resold. but my gaming (and reading) books get loved to death, aren't mint, and I'd rather just give them away.

Same when I need to purge my library. I go though, fill a couple of bags with books I judge I'm never going to reread, and then ask around for friends willing to take the bag.

 

[TerraDave]

I've been considering selling some old stuff to nobleknight.com. I have a few things that have crept up to a pretty good price, books that I have never once used. I'm also going to sell all my 5e stuff.

I have had good luck with nobleknight. The problem is that I end up buying from them as well!

And I do still have a few gaps and things I want to add, or get back.

Speaking of which, if something does bring back good memories or have some meaning, keep it.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I have been in the process of shedding a lot of my collection of books, miniatures, and games. Anything that didn't immediately spark joy was put into the give away/sell pile. I made a rule that only two plastic storage containers could go back into our storage room. I ended up keeping a bunch of miniatures/hobby supplies along with some sentimental childhood things; the rest had to be displayed in my library or given up. I feel a lot better now that there isn't as much clutter and it allows me to focus my collection towards my real passion, Star Wars, in a much healthier way.

 

[Blue Orange]

That would be how to oxidate your collection. If you want to reduce it, pop it into a vessel filled with chlorine gas.

I regret to inform you that this is not the case. Chlorine is an oxidizing agent as well.

Reducing agents are rare in everyday life and usually extremely flammable (as they are prone to oxidation), and tend to be things like sodium metal (they're notorious for causing the explosions in methamphetamine manufacture, among other things). Sodium borohydride is sometimes used in paper preservation, but has a bleaching effect and could presumably remove the text with enough.

 

[delericho]

I've culled the collection twice. The first time was to get rid of a whole lot of stuff that I was sure I would never use again - games I'd never played or just didn't like, orphaned supplements, loads of d20 dross, and so on. That got rid of about two shelves of stuff, and left me with a smaller, but higher quality, collection.

The second time was to get rid of all of my hardcopy Pathfinder material (except adventures) - I'd tried it in the interim and decided that is just wasn't for me.

In both cases, I gave my extended RPG group first refusal, and gave what was left to a charity store.

The third cull, if it comes, will almost certainly be to get rid of a lot of old magazines. I'll probably keep Dragon and Dungeon for nostalgia's sake, but the same can't be said for White Dwarf, Arcane, Backstab, and the like.

 

[schneeland]

As others have mentioned: since you have already done the effort of sorting things into mental buckets, it's just the question what to cut. Personally, I would sell or give away everything that doesn't see regular use or has (really) high nostalgic value - from your categories, I would only keep 1 and 2, maybe 5 since you say you like reading physical books; not sure if that's an option for you, but I found that reading RPG texts on a 12.9" iPad works really well for me (it's admittedly a rather pricey ebook reader).

 

[Mezuka]

If you sell stuff use the Marketplace function on Facebook. You will get a better price than the local store without the hassle of eBay.

 

[aco175]

I sold a box when I moved to the FLGS and got store credit. I have another box that made the move, but could sell as well. I sold the older editions of D&D when the new ones come out and are ok with it. Save some of the adventures and supplements on guilds and general concepts that I may read again. If I thought about it I would give to the local high school if they had a club. I gave a couple sets of old golf clubs to the scout camp and know that they have a D&D badge where it is part of another badge of gaming.

I would go through the collection and sell/donate anything not used in the last couple years.

Watch the show Horders.

 

[MGibster]

Back in 1997, I sold most of my RPG collection to a friend of mine. These were mostly AD&D 2nd edition books, and while I don't remember how many books exactly, I was able to stack them about seven feet high. I've also sold various books on eBay over the years. I had the Deadlands special edition bound in leather that I sold to someone in Great Britain for about $250 back around 1999-2000. I've also just given away a lot of games over the years.