Picture and Book
The picture and the book are not related twins. Nearly without exception, all art collectors are book collectors as well. Often the work of art and the book have something in common: once in the world, important publications attract the interest of collectors. When the publisher's edition is sold out, antiquarian prices often rise. This has often happened with art volumes; a four-volume work on Monet by Daniel Wildenstein, for example, published in 1996 for the equivalent of 100 euros, is now traded antiquarian for 3,000 euros.
Wisely chosen book acquisitions, like works of art, have a potential return on investment beyond the mere utility value - even if this is certainly always the first priority for the art collector.
The "use value" is in the proverbial eye of the beholder and cannot be calculated in money alone. It is the pleasure and satisfaction that the owner feels when looking at a work of art. Because in the same way that book lovers assemble fascinating editions of books and repeatedly pick them up, the works in an art collection are friends that they enjoy repeatedly looking at.
