" Hesse the autodidact, who had acquired all his learning from books that he had chosen himself (in this, he was in good company with other important authors, such as Thomas Mann), knew that anyone who motivates themselves to read, reads differently than someone who is simply working their way through a program of compulsory reading. The self-starting readers seeks answers for his life in all the books he reads, and he expects every new volume he embarks on to open up fresh horizons. Books to him are the food of life, one might even say an essential means of survival. Yet alongside this function they also have an intrinsic value as beautiful objects with which he likes to surround himself. He recommends certain books, at the very least identifying favorite books that he will read over and over, and will have rebound several times - or, should he possess an aptitude for handicraft (as Hesse did), rebinding them himself. In this way, the book collector becomes a co-creator. "

― Hermann Hesse