What’s the first book you fell in love with?
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I misbehaved a lot as a kid. But I was very lucky: The punishment was to go to school on Saturday morning and sit at a desk and read. You could read whatever book you wanted. It was my idea of heaven. 

Did you ever misbehave on purpose? 
Oh, definitely! All we did was sit there and read. It was the best punishment on God’s earth.

Did your parents read a lot?
They were good, but not great, readers. We had plenty of books, including a full run of the Britannica, the big 13th edition [published in 1926]. My father loved Victor Hugo and Anatole France. Don’t ask me why. Dad was a Harvard Ph.D. in political science and Mom was a Smithie, so it was a literate childhood. Brookline, Massachusetts, had a very good library, and I used it often. 

How did Dartmouth’s letterpress workshop influence you as a student?
For three years I haunted the workshop and learned the physical techniques of cutting a woodblock, engraving, setting, and printing type. My grades were totally mediocre, but I had a genuine passion for making books and printing.

Did you have any memorable professors?
Ray Nash. He would get you looking at books in a way that the average art teacher would never think of. He combined that with actual practice: He got us printing. 

When did you start collecting books?
In 1964. I decided on books because great prints were out of my price range. Books provide more prints for the buck. You can create a substantial collection of books for the same price as a single third-rate Picasso. And books are far more interesting than prints.

How big is your collection?
I have roughly 1,300 books I would count as rare. 

What are they worth?
I have no idea. If you put books up to an auction, all you need is two or three lots where you have two birds who really want the same worm. It’s a very tricky question. It will depend on when these books are sold, how they’re catalogued, how well a dealer can describe a book and make it sound attractive. Probably between $3 million and $7 million.

Which of your books has been untouched the longest?
I think a better question might be how many books have I forgotten I have! For any show I have to go through the shelves and ask myself, what do I want to include? I frequently turn up a book that, my God, is perfect, but I’d forgotten that I owned it. 

Do your books require any special upkeep? 
I apply British livery oil, made with neatsfoot oil and lanolin, to preserve the leather covers. And I keep some books in Mylar sleeves. One dealer told me, “This is the worst idea you’ve ever thought of. The books will mildew.” My feeling is it really protects the binding. You need Mylar that’s thin enough to fold but heavy enough to protect the book.

You frequently host groups to view your collection. Why?
If you’re into books, there’s a certain responsibility involved with educating the public about the importance of books in the history of art and civilization. Libraries—with some exceptions—rarely bring in people to look at book shows. 

Godine, author of Godine at Fifty: A Retrospective of Five Decades in the Life of an Independent Publisher, sold his company in 2020. He lives in Milton, Massachusetts, with his wife, book designer Sara Eisenman.