But Sanders loves the dust jackets, too. The gaudier the better, he said. He loves all manner of fancy covers, and he loves the spines, too. He not only judges books by their covers, get this, he judges them by their spines.

"You can see such elaborate things on spines," he notes. Old mystery books have cobwebs or skull-and-crossbones on their spines, for example.

But you have to have a critical mass to have a beautiful collection, he said. You can't say you love the way books look if you have only a dozen gorgeous old covers. You'd need at least 100, he believes. You need to fill an entire case with dazzling spines — with or without their dust covers.

As for Kent Tschanz, he collects new books. The covers on the books by McSweeny's Quarterly are a big part of the reason he wants them. "They do really cool stuff with covers," he said, as he pulls out the hardback of "McSweeny's Volume 16" and unfolds it four times to show four different pockets.

In one pocket is a comb, monogrammed with the name of a fictional main character. In another pocket is the quarterly itself, with fiction by Roddy Doyle, Adam Levin, Brian Evenson, and the like. Then, in the third pocket, is a novella by Ann Beattie, "Mr. Nobody At All."

In the fourth pocket, the reader finds yet another cunning feature: Oversize playing cards on which is printed a short story called "Heart Suit," by Robert Coover. The cards may be read in order from Ace to King, then rearranged in any order and reread. Of course the meaning of the story changes when its pages are shuffled.

The AIGA awards seem to confirm Tschanz's choice of collectibles. Among the recently announced 2004 winners are two McSweeny's publications — "How We Are Hungry" and "McSweeny's Issue 13."

Tschanz works in the rare-book section at Sam Weller's Zion's Bookstore. He first learned of the McSweeny's press in the late 1990s, shortly after McSweeny's began publishing, when a customer came in asking for the latest edition of the literary quarterly.

Tschanz liked what he saw when he picked up a McSweeny's Quarterly and he also liked the writer, Dave Eggers, who started the press. Tschanz said McSweeny's continues to published his favorite authors.

McSweeny's now has published more than 60 books and literary quarterlies. Tschanz has all but six.

It might not be easy for him to complete his collection, Tschanz said. In the first place, McSweeny's does small print runs, about 10,000 copies. Also, the books sell for a reasonable price, less than $25. Thus the McSweeny publications do not sit for long on the shelves. Signed copies of the early editions of McSweeny's Quarterlies have been going for $500, lately, Tschanz has learned.