Collecting Tolkien Books
"I wish life was not so short," he thought. "Languages
take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lost Road
Collecting Tolkien books is like a never ending
story: you'll never finish your quest. There will always be something
new you like to have. Whether you are a collector wishing to get your
hands on every single book ever written (try Songs for the Philologists,
privately printed in 1936, 13 or so copies believed to exist; or the Leeds
University Verse Anthology from 1924 containing three poems by
Tolkien), or you are simply trying to read everything he wrote, your quest
will every time seem endless.
Finding even a well-read copy of The Devil's Coach Horses
(a discussion on a point of Anglo-Saxon translation) in the 1925 Review
of English Studies Volume 1 Number 3 is going to be very hard
due to the fragile nature of the object. And if you find one up for sale
be ready to pay a lot of money.
Most people however, whilst admiring Tolkien's academic achievements,
are primarily interested in The Hobbit and The
Lord of the Rings. And since the last couple of years, Peter
Jackson's movies have added an enormous amount of 'new' Tolkien collectors
who are all eager to get their hands on as much precious Tolkien as possible.
This of course changed the prices of collectible Tolkien books.
If you plan to collect the best known First Editions of The Hobbit (Allen & Unwin - 1937), The Fellowship of The Ring
(Allen & Unwin, 1954), The Two Towers (Allen &
Unwin, 1954), The Return of The King (Allen & Unwin,
1955) in fine or near-fine condition, you are going to need really a lot
of money. For The
Lord of the Rings, around €10,000-€17,000,
and for a nice copy of The Hobbit, somewhere in the €20,000.
Signed copies are extremely hard to find and the prices can go from € 2.000 up to € 150.000 depending on the provenance, association and especially the state of the book(s).
Still you do not need to despair since there are so many beautiful collectible
Tolkien books out there that are easy to find and some are very cheap. Among
my favorites are for example the first editions of Farmer Giles of Ham,
Smith of Wootton Major, The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil,...
To get you on the road, i made a complete section on collecting Tolkien
books. First about what to collect, secondly a list of all the books there
are, this can come out handy when going on your quest for books. Thirdly
all places to go and buy these books, followed by some collector terms,
sources and a list of rare books i saw up for sale. I will only add really
rare items. This list will hopefully become a profound source for info
on the 'real rare' Tolkien books out there.
Next follow a variety of articles that discuss different topics related to collecting Tolkien books, Tolkien collector profiles and articles about some of the most amazing Tolkien books out there.
Articles about collecting Tolkien books and other Tolkien related items
New Collector Profile added - Marco Maniezzi (@TolkienBooks1)
I'm very happy to announce the collector profile of Marco Maniezzi, a collector of Italian Tolkien books from Milan in Italy. He mainly focusses on collecting books directly related to the Middle-earth history from The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth to The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Read article
New Collector Profile added - Pierre Dobrzykowski (@Pieeru)
I'm very happy to announce the collector profile of Pierre Dobrzykowski, a collector of German and Japanese Tolkien books from Munich in Germany, who can sit in front of the books and enjoy their beauty, especially the designs drawn by Tolkien himself, which have significant Japanese elements in them. Read article
New Collector Profile added - Myla D'Avanzo (@maaahla)
I'm very happy to announce the collector profile of Myla D'Avanzo, a Tolkien and Middle-earth movie merchandise collector from Connecticut in United States, who primarily collects Tolkien books and while she focused mainly on the movies and merchandise from that, in the last few years started to branch out. She sees herself as a beginning collector but we are very proud to show her collection! Read article
Oronzo Cilli Tolkien Collector Profile update
Oronzo Cilli just send me an update of his Tolkien collector profile. He is a Tolkien collector from Puglia in Italy and copy-editor of the Second edition of The Annotated Hobbit, by Douglas A. Anderson. All Tolkien collectors are invited to sent in their own profiles or update the ones already online. Read article
The Hobbit Hunter profile update
Henk Brassien, the Hobbit Hunter, just send me an update of his profile. He is specialized in collecting The Hobbit. He currently owns all the Dutch imprints (75 out of 75 imprints since 1960) and at least one copy of any language in which The Hobbit ever was published. All Tolkien collectors are invited to sent in their own profiles or update the ones already online. Read article
Icelandic Lord of the Ring Comic by Luis Bermejo
Yvan Strelzyk from elrondslibrary.fr sent over scans of the Icelandic translation of the Lord of the Rings comics by Luis Bermejo. Hopefully more will be added soon. Read article
The most expensive copies of The Hobbit in the World - Association Copies
What copies of The Hobbit are worth over USD 100.000? And what do they look like? Let us try and see in this article which are the most expensive copies of The Hobbit and let us determine why they are so expensive. Take a look at the most fabulous copies of The Hobbit in existence. Read article
The Lord of the Ring Comics by Luis Bermejo
The first comics of The Lord of the Rings were published in 1979 in Italy and were drawn by Luis Bermejo. They are based on the Ralph Bakshi movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Translation were made in Spain, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden and most probably in many more places. Read article
The amazing art of bookbinding - The Silmarillion
It has been a nice four days, looking at some of the most beautiful copies of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the incredible book art by Philip Smith. We have seen bindings by some of the most re-known companies, we have seen craftsmanship and book art. Today we will look at The Silmarillion. It was very difficult to find nice rebindings of The Silmarillion, in fact it seems not a lot have been made. Read article
The amazing art of bookbinding - The Hobbit
Today we will look at some splendid fine bindings of The Hobbit. Some have a very lavish binding, other a perfect classic binding, some can only be catalogued as pieces of book art. Read article
The amazing art of bookbinding - The Lord of the Rings - Part 2
Today we continue our journey and I will show you a lot of Lord of the Rings copies that I like a lot. Some have a very classic binding, of the highest possible quality, others can only be catalogued as pieces of art. The Lord of the Rings is a wonderful book and it seems also a big inspiration for bookbinders, since all the of the best binders all across the globe like to show their take on the amazing art of bookbinding The Lord of the… Read article
The amazing art of bookbinding - The Lord of the Rings - Part 1
Over the next days I'll talk about the amazing art of bookbinding, in a series of articles where I will first look at The Lord of the Rings and show some amazing book art. In this first article in the series I am obliged to start with the best art binder in the world, Philip Smith. He is one of today's most unusual and extraordinary bookbinders. Read article
Something to celebrate: 30 years The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
This year it is exactly 30 years ago that we saw the publication of The Letters by J.R.R Tolkien. Since then many fans have hoped for a second volume. Here I will write down my opinion on the possibility of such a volume and the value of Tolkien letters in general. We will also have a closer look at Tolkien's use of template letters, much before the computer existed! Read article
The Tolkien Collector Magazine no. 31 almost ready
Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull have just posted on their blog, Too Many Books and Never Enough, that the latest issue of The Tolkien Collector, no. 31, is almost ready.In addition to the usual description of recent books by and about J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien Collector 31 contains a lengthy comparison by Christina of the editions to date of Tolkien's Father Christmas letters. Read article
Collecting Tolkien books
When you combine the love for books and a passion for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien then somehow it always turns into a massive or very specialized Tolkien book collection. Around 2006 I started one section on this website that focuses completely on Tolkien collecting. Still, since then I have seen and learned a lot. So now I have decided to rewrite that section completely and rework it into a more comprehensive section of the website. I'… Read article
Avoid Buying Fake Tolkien Signatures on Ebay
Anything with the name Tolkien on it is valuable and people with the wrong intentions like to abuse the name Tolkien to make profit. It is sad and a pity Tolkien friends and fans spend their money on worthless items like these. I hope examples like this somehow help to avoid buying fake items online. Read article
Collecting Tolkien owned books
J.R.R. Tolkien had the tendency to sign all the books which were in his personal library, which was really huge. Most of Tolkien's personal books were donated and/or sold towards libraries (fe. the English Faculty Library of Oxford) a lot of his manuscripts and handwritten papers went to Museum's. Yet on the market came up for sale a lot of his books, mainly philological works, at various times after Tolkien's death. Read article
Collecting Tolkien Advance Reading Copies
In collecting JR.R. Tolkien first editions, the earlier the better is the rule. The first issue of a Tolkien book is always more desirable and more expensive than a later issue. So for fanatic Tolkien collectors the best copy, or state, of any given book would be Tolkien. This article talks about collecting proof copies. Read article
Collecting The Silmarillion
When collecting Tolkien books most people stop when The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings is on the shelves. Yet there is another treasure to explore. For most in the beginning a hard read, but maybe the most valuable literature treasure for others. I'll try to tell more on this book, The Silmarillion, it's origin and all on collecting this marvellous work, ranging from limited to translated editions. Read article