[Michael R 1974]

One thing I'll raise at this point, considering OP is starting out, perhaps one or maybe two books is enough. Start there, and instead of spending the extra $1,000 on a library at this point, use that money to take a workshop after you've got some of the basics down and some practice.

I'm saying this because I have found no matter how in-depth, voluminous and detailed my personal library might be, I recall very few books which didn't leave me with further questions when I was learning, not mention all the contradictions from one book to the next. And often it can really help more to watch someone do things and be in the room to answer questions as you go.

Even a basic book like The Print in the Time Life photography series would be a good start in that case. Reading too many technical books at the beginning can simply overcomplicate things and prevent you from doing.

Best to keep the technical stuff simple (says a guy who's wasted way too much time on technicalities). In fact if I look at my total photography library, I can honestly say I learnt at least as much, possibly more about printing from the non-technical books (monographs by Tice, Sexton, Adams etc). When it comes to the technical books, aside from Adams, and a few idiosyncratic things here and there in other books, there isn't much else required. The rest of it is largely just interesting reading.