I arrange mine chronologically by author's first major work (or rough date of the first work in it in the case of collections, like Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian

I arrange mine chronologically by author's first major work (or rough date of the first work in it in the case of collections, like Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature) so my very shelves are didactic. Even if I can't tell you exactly when a book was written I can probably imagine where it is on the shelves and pin it down to "after Fielding, before Dickens... after but very near Austen, I think". Can't really do that with e-books. Even if you set up your collection to be displayed that way, you're not going to look at it several times every day as you move around your house. Won't be effective—probably just annoying. [EDIT] slackism for italicizing to HNism.