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 also 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 everytime 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.
Still you do not need to despair since there are so many beautiful collectible
Tolkien books out there which are easy to find and some very cheap. Among
my favourites are 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 rares 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.
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