English

Noun

completist ‎(plural completists)

1. A collector who strives to obtain a complete collection of some type of thing.
   • 1944, Speer, John Bristol, Fancyclopedia, Completist:

     completist - A dope who tries to have a complete collection in some line. The line may be as broad as having all the prozines ever published, or as narrow as collecting all the Golden Atom tales or all official correspondence during one's incumbency in some office. The trouble arises when the collector misses purchasing an issue (or fails to keep a carbon copy, or whatever), or when his ambitions extend back to a time before he started saving the stuff. Then he prowls the 2d-hand magazine shops, writes letters to everybody who mite know where a particular prize is, worries librarians and other public servants, and occasionally makes a marvelous find in some unexpected place and goes around rejoicing.

   • 1953 Winter, Tucker, William "Bob", “The Philadelphia Story”, in Science Fiction Newsletter, number 28, page 13:

     Ozzie Train, secretary. Ozzie needs little introduction, other than that he is the remaining half of Prime Press, and a genuine completist.

   • 1997 June, Pekar, Harvey, “CD Reviews”, in JazzTimes, ISSN 0272-572-X, pages 120–121:

     There's no new material on it, just previously issued bits and pieces. That rules out the completist collector. Go figure.

   • 2008 June 21, Selman, Matt, “The Completist”, in Time:

     But it’s even harder for me, because… I am a completist. Once I start reading an author’s work, I need to read everything that writer has written. I can’t veer away. I need to check all that author’s books off my mental list. My knowledge of their work must be complete.

Adjective

completist ‎(comparative more completist, superlative most completist)

1. Which attempts to collect something completely.
   • 1982 Spring, Laughlin, Charlotte, “Conan in Paperback”, in Paperback Quarterly, volume 5, number 1, page 21:

     The completist collector of Conan will want not only all the Conan paperbacks, but also those about Conan or using the name Conan to promote sales of other books by Robert E. Howard.

   • 2013, “Jazz Since the 1980s”, in Essential Jazz, ISBN 9781133964407, pages 215–216:

     The company decided to include every scrap of recorded material, no matter how insignificant. Sometime excerpts were only a few seconds long, with the recording cut off by Parker, the recording engineer, or the producer following a false start, technical problem, or other blatant error. No matter—every flub was issued, available for scrutiny. This completist philosophy was subsequently extended to Parker's other two record companies, Dial and Verve, as well as to his live performances, often captured on amateur equipment in informal settings.

   • 2013 November, Shuker, Roy, Popular Music Fandom, ISBN 9781134467693, Record Collecting and Fandom, page 173:

     Many collectors have a strong interest in particular artists or genres of music, often combining these with a general collection, but taking a more completist approach.

Related terms

• completism

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007) Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-530567-8, page 25
• completist n. at the OED Science Fiction Citations Project

Etymology 2

Noun

completist ‎(plural completists)

1. A person who champions any philosophy which somehow includes the completeness of something; as, a completist philosopher who holds that a definite complete body of knowledge exists to be discovered

Etymology 3

Adjective

completist ‎(comparative more completist, superlative most completist)

1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of completest