Duplicate specialist books let a lecturer keep a personal copy while lending another to students. Clarke keeps two copies of the HMS Birmingham plans: the gift from his girlfriend stays protected, while the other copy can leave his library. That second copy helps students whose libraries do not stock the title. Two or three copies can therefore be useful even when a larger collection of duplicates would serve little purpose.
Notable Point · 15:33-16:44
Why a historian may deliberately keep duplicate specialist books
An extra copy of a specialist book can give students access to material their libraries do not stock.