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starofdunedain
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Post How many is too many?
on: May 27, 2011 04:07
I was just wondering how many copies of The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit you have? And do you think any reasonable limits should be observed. *cough* :blush: These are my favorite books and I've been scouring bookshops and books sales for copies since I was thirteen so I've amassed quite a few over the years. :naughty: I have over a hundred Tolkien or Tolkien related books. That includes his works, the HoME series, movie related books, commentaries, artbooks, and random fun books. I hardly ever pay full price and usually get them used for a quarter or half price or even free! Everyone knows I collect them so I've gotten quite a few duplicates that need weeding out.
Anyone else have a large number of books or am I the only crazy cuckoo?

[Edited on 28/5/2011 by starofdunedain]
LadyBrooke
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 27, 2011 04:37
Wow....I wish I had that many Tolkien related books. Unfortunately, I live out in the middle of nowhere, with no half price book store...and the only one even moderately close is tiny, and I'd be lucky to find a copy of the Silmarillion in there.

Still, I have 3 copies of LotR (one hardback, one paperback, and one on my Kindle), 2 Hobbits (1 hardback, 1 on Kindle), 3 Silmarillions (2 paperback, 1 on Kindle), 2 copies of Unfinished Tales (1 paperback, 1 on Kindle), The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook by Alan Lee, Letters from Father Christmas, Letters from J.R.R. Tolkien, Morgoth's Ring, Peoples of Middle-Earth, War of the Jewels, The Tolkien Reader, and this one book that has his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo. Plus I bough Final Witness (excellent book for anybody who likes court dramas or mysteries) just because I wanted to see if Simon Tolkien was as good a writer as his grandfather. My collection sounds like nothing compared to yours, but it's a work in progress.
starofdunedain
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 27, 2011 05:09
Not at all LadyBrooke! That sounds like a wonderful collection. I've had a lot of people give me books and we have lots of thrift stores around here. I wish I could give you my duplicates.
cirdaneth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 28, 2011 03:00
Some of your Tolkien items may be (or become) valuable, so check the second-hand book market before you hand any duplicates on for free.

As for me, I have a one-volume LotR illustrated by Alan Lee
and a three-volume set with repro Tolkien dust-jackets.
Somewhere there is also a tattered old one-volume with the Ralph Bakshi ringwraiths on the cover.
I have HoME in a three-volume hard-cover edition,
Silmarillion,
Unfinished Tales,
Letters,
Index to Home,
Carpenter's Biography,
Hammond and Scull's Chronology and Readers' Guide, (2 vols)
Hobbit
Rateliffe's two-volume critique of The Hobbit
Salo's Gateway to Sindarin
The Journey's of Frodo
Atlas of Middle-Earth
Howe and Sibley's Maps of Middle Earth
Children of Hurin,
Sigurd and Gudrun
Tree and Leaf,
Monsters and Critics
Finn and Hengist
Tales from the Perilous Realm
Both Tom Shippey's books
and a number of movie related volumes (art, costume etc)
and the wonderful Music of the Lord of the Rings, which goes through Shore's process of composition, theme by theme and then follows the themes and their development scene by scene through all three extended movies

Sigh ... bliss ...



tarcolan
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 28, 2011 10:59
No wonder I can't find any, you've got them all! Seriously though I have limited funds, as many fans do I guess, and buy a book if it turns up in a charity shop. There are loads of these in austerity-hit Britain. There's always a copy or three of LOTR and The Hobbit somewhere if I want to read it, then I take it back. I even got Unfinished Tales for a quid but I haven't finished it yet. (Heh heh)
starofdunedain
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 29, 2011 06:15
I don't know about valuable cirdaneth. I don't have any first editions and I don't think anything special. What would I be looking for? All the second-hand bookstores I go to give you either cash or store credit for them or they don't take them. I'm getting rid of a duplicate of LotR:TTT Creatures. A book about the different creatures from the movies. Two beat up copies of the Sil that have their covers torn and taped. One copy of the Hobbit with water marks and a torn cover. One copy of the Return of the King also with watermarks and torn cover. I have exact duplicates of these books already and really don't need more. If they were really valuable I would have been able to sell them at Powell's I think.

[Edited on 29/5/2011 by starofdunedain]
Dolwen
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 29, 2011 07:09
Wow that is a lot of books starofdunedain. And I think it is great to collect books. I love books but my Tolkien related collection isn't near as big as yours. I have:

3 copies of LotR -a 3 volume paperback set, hardcovers of the collector's edition and the 50th anniversary.
Collector's edition of The Hobbit and a paperback
A 1977 hardcover copy of The Silmarillion (really want to get the Nasmith illustrated one)
All hardcovers of:
Unfinished Tales
All 12 volumes of HOME
Children of Hurin
Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
Roverandom
A Tolkien Miscellany
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien Biography by Carpenter
Tolkien Author of the Century
Tolkien World Paintings of Middle-earth

I will probably add some of these to my kindle at some point as well.
cirdaneth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: May 30, 2011 01:11
Oops! I forgot I also have
Artist and Illustrator
Ring of Words
and Foster's Complete Guide to ME, HB, illustrated by Nasmith. I also own Nasmith's original pencil sketch of Gandalf for the Balrog fight illustration.
starofdunedain
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 20, 2011 12:14
Some more interesting books:
A large hardback version of the Hobbit with illustrations from the cartoon.
Bilbo's Last Song
A Hobbit's Journal-With Space for Notes
SparkNotes on the Hobbit
Cliffnotes on The Lord of the Rings
A Walk Through the Shire-Hobbit Life, with space for notes
A Hobbit's Travels:being the hitherto unpublished Travel Sketches of Sam Gamgee, with space for notes.
The three journals, A Hobbit's Journal,A Walk Through the Shire, and A Hobbit's Travels aren't that rare I discovered. You can get them on Amazon for a good price.
I'm not sure what else would be considered unique.
Galadeth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 07:06
3 copies of The Hobbit (the italian graphic novel edition, a 1987 hardcover italian edition, a paperback english edition)
2 copies of the LotR (italian and english paperback editions)
1 copy of the FotR (a 1987 hardcover italian edition)
The Silmarillion
Unfinished tales
Roverandom
Legend of Sigurd and Gudrùn
Farmer Giles of Ham (italian hardcover edition)
Tree and Leaf (italian edition, it contains the Smith of Wootton Mayor)
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (italian edition with english parallel text)
Children of Hùrin

I should add the Letters in a short time!
I am desperately searching for an english edition of the HoMe: the italian translation has come to a stop due to a poor translation quality and only the first 2 books have been translated (named Lost Tales and Discovered Tales). I can't seem to find it even in the biggest bookshops in this country though

[Edited on 30/6/2011 by Galadeth]
LadyBrooke
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 07:20
Have you tried the Italian Amazon? I believe that they have them.

Since my last post, I've added the Kindle versions of Book of Lost Tales I&II and Tales from the Perilous Realm to my collection. :disco: Now, I just need to get the rest of HOME...
Galadeth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 08:30
I'm not allowed to buy anything from the Internet
Next time I'll happen to visit an english speaking country, I'll take an empty bag with me and I'll fill it with books! :evil:
LadyBrooke
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 09:06
That's too bad...I live way out in the country, so the internet is where I do most of my shopping. Have you checked to see if any of the bookstores near you could order them for you? I know some of the ones here will do so.

Can one of you that owns Roverdam recommend a good, but not too expensive edition of it? I want to get it, but since I'll be ordering it off Amazon most likely, I want to get a recommendation, since it'll be bought without seeing it first....

cirdaneth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 09:21
Wow Galadeth! You have a serious collection there. If you can afford it get the three-volume hardback edition of HoME plus the paper-back full Index. They stay open at the page, they don't fall to bits after a few months of reference and because several volumes are in each cover, you can refer back and forth between them very easily. Book 1 has the volumes before LotR. Book2 has the volumes concerned with writing LotR and Book 3 has all the later stuff. My copes spend most of their time out of the shelf.
Galadeth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 10:14
I must confess I didn't try asking for the HoME at my local bookshop. They have a few english books and that means they actually can order books from foreign countries. I'll try asking next time I'll visit the bookshop!
*Hoping that, in the case I can order foreign books, they'll arrive at the shop... like, I waited 3 months for the italian Tree and Leaf when I actually had to wait a fortnight!*

I sooo wish I could get the hardcover edition of the HoME! Some paperback books cost 18-20 euros here, so the hardback edition (if the prices on Amazon are reliable enough, each volume costs 70 e.) of the HoME isn't expensive at all compared to those books!
I'll try to ask the shopkeeper then!

Then my parents will kick me out of the house because I spend a fortune to buy Books

About Roverandom, I don't really know how to help you, sorry!
Ilandir
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 10:20
Here follows mine ...

By Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings (3 volume - paperback)
The Hobbit (paperback)
The Silmarillion (paperback)
Unfinished Tales (paperback)
History of Middle Earth (13 volumes - paperback)
Tales from the Perilous Realm (paperback)
Tales from the Perilous Realm (hardback)
The Children of Hurin (paperback)
The Children of Hurin (hardback)
Tree and Leaf (paperback)
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (paperback)
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (deluxe edition hardback)
Letters from Father Christmas(hardback)
Mr. Bliss (hardback)
Bilbo's Last Song
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (paperback)
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (paperback)
Finn and Hengest (paperback)
The Road Goes Ever On (hardback)

(plus on the way, 'The JRR Tolkien Collection' Deluxe Edition Set)

On Tolkien/Related:

Ring of Words
Tolkien's Gedling - 1914
Letters of JRR Tolkien
The Road to Middle Earth
JRR Tolkien Author of the Century
Roots and Branches
The Annotated Hobbit
History of the Hobbit
Maps of Tolkien's Middle Earth
Atlas of Middle Earth
The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth
The Complete Tolkien Companion
JRR Tolkien: A Biography
The JRR Tolkien Companion and Guide
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
JRR Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator
A Gateway to Sindarin
The Inklings

1 copy of 'Songs for the Philologists' (this is not actually in my possession - it's only stored in my mind )

cirdaneth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: June 30, 2011 09:22
Dang it, Ilandir! You beat me. I don't have the Father Christmas Letters. (Exits stage left ... sulking)
Galadeth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: July 01, 2011 05:23
Ilandir, that's the biggest collection I saw ever! *.*
Ilandir
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: July 01, 2011 06:58
Hehe thanks! And I thought MY collection was small! Seriously though, I've spent the last 6 years collecting little by little. There are a lot more books that would fit in the collection and that's what keeps such a hobby interesting - always something new to collect
starofdunedain
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: July 01, 2011 10:04
Dang it, Ilandir! You beat me. I don't have the Father Christmas Letters. (Exits stage left ... sulking)


et: You could have my paperback copy.

cirdaneth
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Post RE: How many is too many?
on: July 02, 2011 05:53
Aw!! Bless you! I expect I'll get a hardback for my birthday soon. Thank you for thinking of me anyway.
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