Hello All
I've been collecting books all my life - now got around 2000 of them. Some just paperbacks, some nice (but not expensive) hardbacks, a couple of full Odhams Leisure collections from the 1970's (eg complete set Agatha Christie novels, and same for Charles Dickens) and some nice Folio society volumes...no first editions or really mega expensive books, but they've taken me over 40 years to collect and a lot are irreplacable.
Now a friend of mine has just had a house fire - fortunately his family are OK, but the house was gutted and all possessions lost. He also had a lot of books and was told at first by the insurance chappie that they weren't insured because a lot of books altogether on a shelf are classed as a collection. He argued that the books weren't a collection - but a lot of single items bought on separate occasions (rather like my own position). He further argued that the insurance company wouldn't class his wife's addiciton to shoes as a collection and disbar them - or the mass of cutlery in the kitchen drawer come to that. He finally won his point and the Insurance company agreed to pay for the books - but even though he had a new for old policy and could supply the book titles and ISBN numbers, he was only given a nominal 35p per paperback and 50p per hardback.
Now if this happened to me I would be heartbroken - the only answer seems to be to insure the books on a stand alone basis - but I can't find any information on who would offer such a policy and how much it is likely to cost...can anyone offer advice please?
TIA
Lucy