Do you keep each book as a different line item even if its the same edition and print, and the only difference is the condition? Still undecided if its better to group them and indicate quantity, but probably the best idea is to keep each one separate even if it makes the spreadsheet larger.

Spreadsheet: A line for each book with my#, title, author, impression, condition, origin, notes, price paid, probable value, Box#, if boxed.

Can't see much reason to retain much more info than that, personally.

I have created a spreadsheet with several lists: US Versions, UK Versions, Non-Middle-earth books, Foreign Language Versions, and UK Deluxe Versions.

Each list has book entries with the following information: Item #, First Published (year), First Thus (year), Book Title, Edition Specifics (signed, illustrated, anniversary edition, etc.), ISBN-13, Publisher, RRP, Price Paid, Print/Bound (place), Impression, Purchased From, Purchase Date, and Notes. I think I have to add "Placed stored" or something to that effect.

So far if I have two identical items with only difference being the condition, I put QTY 2 in Notes. Maybe would be better to have a separate line for each. I just don't want the spreadsheet to become unmanageable, so it is important to have a good system from the get-go.

If you are technically minded, spin up a PostgreSQL instance (or MySQL if you want to use a rubbish database :)), create a few tables and do it properly. You can store records for a 100 million books and it will still give you 20ms access to the individual record :)

I must admit, it isn't something I get hung up on. All the bibliographic info is available online (tolkienbooks.net, etc), so all I really need is a list describing each copy for insurance purposes, more than anything.

Someone just reminded me of this great article on the subject from Wayne and Cristina.

https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/keeping-track/

Very interesting read from W&C. Thanks!