user19877: I once had 1800 chess books before I sold off about 600 of the least-good ones and doubles (I used to buy entire collections from people, so you get some stuff you do not want).
I know an IM friend of mine has thousands of books, and that Karpov is said to have a massive library (although I cannot find confirmation of this, or how many), but who has the largest library of chess books?
Even the top few would be interesting to me.

user21061: Some good stuff about chess libraries but let's face it, the great libraries are hundreds of kilometres/miles away from where many of us live. I collect and have seen the M.V. Anderson Chess Library in Melbourne Australia 4 times over 30 years and examined the websites of Cleveland and The Hague. Trouble is many books are kept in storage offsite and one needs days notice to get to them. No random browsing works now, though still pleasant. Libraries are good to use but the pressure of time is always there. The SLNSW has a 1 hour time limit on computer research. Bit sad but life. It is good to write articles based on one's library and great when it can be uploaded onto Edward Winter's 'Chess Notes' or Karel Mokry's site. One feels that progress is being made.

user4418: According to Wikipedia:
Public

The three significant public chess libraries are:
The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection at Cleveland Public
  Library has the largest chess and draughts [chequers for those in the
  US] library in the world, with over 32,000 chess books and over 6,000
  bound volumes of chess periodicals. It was started with the donation
  of a quarter of a million dollars and 11,000 books from John G.
  White's private library upon his death.
The Chess & Draughts collection at the Bibliotheca Van der
  Linde-Niemeijeriana (part of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National
  Library of the Netherlands). The second largest public chess
  collection in the world is built on the donations of the private chess
  libraries of Antonius van der Linde, Meindert Niemeijer and G.L.
  Gortmans. It contains about 30,000 books.
The M.V. Anderson Chess Collection held at State Library Victoria
  (Melbourne, Australia) is the largest public chess collection in the
  Southern hemisphere. This contains in excess of 12,000 books and many
  journal and newsletter titles. Additional titles are added each year.
  It is based around M.V. Anderson's personal collection of 6700 volumes
  donated between 1959 and 1966.

Private

Grandmaster Lothar Schmid of Bamberg, Germany reportedly owned the
  world's largest private collection of chess books and memorabilia. In
  1992, Hooper and Whyld stated that Schmid's chess library "is the
  largest and finest in private hands, with more than 15,000 items". In
  2008, Susan Polgar stated that Schmid "has over 20,000 chess books".
  Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam states that Schmid "boasts to have amassed
  50,000 chess books.
David DeLucia's chess library contains 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a
  similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and
  about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items
  as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from
  Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of
  the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred
  Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract
  of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten
  Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest
  chess collection in the world".
Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov has a large chess stamp
  collection. He has a private chess library of over 9000 books.


19877: <p>I once had 1800 chess books before I sold off about 600 of the least-good ones and doubles (I used to buy entire collections from people, so you get some stuff you do not want).</p>

<p>I know an IM friend of mine has thousands of books, and that Karpov is said to have a massive library (although I cannot find confirmation of this, or how many), but who has the largest library of chess books?</p>

<p>Even the top few would be interesting to me.</p>
 21061: <p>Some good stuff about chess libraries but let's face it, the great libraries are hundreds of kilometres/miles away from where many of us live. I collect and have seen the M.V. Anderson Chess Library in Melbourne Australia 4 times over 30 years and examined the websites of Cleveland and The Hague. Trouble is many books are kept in storage offsite and one needs days notice to get to them. No random browsing works now, though still pleasant. Libraries are good to use but the pressure of time is always there. The SLNSW has a 1 hour time limit on computer research. Bit sad but life. It is good to write articles based on one's library and great when it can be uploaded onto Edward Winter's 'Chess Notes' or Karel Mokry's site. One feels that progress is being made.</p>
 4418: <p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_libraries" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>

<p><strong>Public</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The three significant public chess libraries are:</p>
  
  <p>The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection at Cleveland Public
  Library has the largest chess and draughts [chequers for those in the
  US] library in the world, with over 32,000 chess books and over 6,000
  bound volumes of chess periodicals. It was started with the donation
  of a quarter of a million dollars and 11,000 books from John G.
  White's private library upon his death.</p>
  
  <p>The Chess &amp; Draughts collection at the Bibliotheca Van der
  Linde-Niemeijeriana (part of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National
  Library of the Netherlands). The second largest public chess
  collection in the world is built on the donations of the private chess
  libraries of Antonius van der Linde, Meindert Niemeijer and G.L.
  Gortmans. <a href="https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research-guides/kb-collections/collections-by-theme/chess-and-draughts-collection" rel="noreferrer">It contains about 30,000 books</a>.</p>
  
  <p>The M.V. Anderson Chess Collection held at <a href="https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/chess" rel="noreferrer">State Library Victoria</a>
  (Melbourne, Australia) is the largest public chess collection in the
  Southern hemisphere. This contains in excess of 12,000 books and many
  journal and newsletter titles. Additional titles are added each year.
  It is based around M.V. Anderson's personal collection of 6700 volumes
  donated between 1959 and 1966.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Private</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Grandmaster Lothar Schmid of Bamberg, Germany reportedly owned the
  world's largest private collection of chess books and memorabilia. In
  1992, Hooper and Whyld stated that Schmid's chess library "is the
  largest and finest in private hands, with more than 15,000 items". In
  2008, Susan Polgar stated that Schmid "has over 20,000 chess books".
  Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam states that Schmid "boasts to have amassed
  50,000 chess books.</p>
  
  <p>David DeLucia's chess library contains 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a
  similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and
  about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items
  as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from
  Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of
  the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred
  Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract
  of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten
  Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest
  chess collection in the world".</p>
  
  <p>Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov has a large chess stamp
  collection. He has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov#Hobbies" rel="noreferrer">private chess library of over 9000 books</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
