ome people collect coins. Other people collect stamps. I, dear reader, collect Tin House.

My love affair with Tin House began with Issue #33: Fantastic Women. I first spied it late Fall of 2007 in the newsstand of the Barnes and Noble where I had just started working. Day after day I would drift toward it, debating whether or not I should buy it. I was in love with the grotesque beauty of the cover as well as the magazine’s overall design. The pull quotes from each piece sucked me in and the stories seemed interesting. One line from a story stuck with me for some reason — the line wasn’t particularly deep or anything, but it stayed with me long after the issue I had ultimately chosen not to buy had gone off sale.

Not surprisingly, I regretted my decision not to buy Issue #33, but lo! I found out that Tin House offered back issues on their website. I knew one day, I would be able to turn to the site to satisfy my Tin House craving. Fast forward two years, now Fall 2009, and I finally ordered three back issues, one of which was #33. But then something terrible happened. I accidentally got a wrong issue! Instead of issue #33 I ended up with #35, an issue I wasn’t interested in at all! Even more frustrating was the fact that, if they had to make a mistake, why did it have to be with precious #33? I emailed Tin House and got back a quick response apologizing for the mistake and offering to send me #33 at no extra charge. I was overjoyed and expressed my sincere gratitude.

Fast forward another 15 months, and I have made a fair bit of progress on my goal to own every issue of Tin House:

As can be seen from the graphic above, I own 15 issues of Tin House. I don’t have to worry about future issues because I’m a subscriber and I would sooner cancel my subscription to the Paris Review than Tin House. Tin House is less expensive ($25/year vs $40) and I think with the Paris Review, I’m in it mostly for the interviews, which I can read for free it seems once an issue is no longer for sale.

But what of the back issues? Eight are sold out, which means I’m going to have to turn to Powell’s and eBay eventually if I want to fulfill my lofty literary aspiration. There’s also the issue of cost. Each back issue is $10, and I am very much committed to giving my money to Tin House directly if I can, but it’s frustrating because it means I cannot acquire them as quickly as I would like, and there’s always the risk that more will sell out. That said, I refuse to give up! It may take years of scouring to secure every issue, but victory shall be mine!