[Mithadan]

I am long overdue for a return to this topic.

Most embarassing public Tolkien moment: Taking on the high school Orc for "annotating" the map to my copy of the Silmarillion during study period (purchased on the first day it was issued). The powers that be had no idea what got me so angry.

Second most embarassing public Tolkien moment: Circa 1975, going into a book store and asking for copies of the Silmarillion (referred to in Tolkien's biography), The Fall of Gondolin (referred to in both the Hobbit and LoTR), the Akallabeth (referred to in LoTR Appendices) and other works mentioned in Tolkien's works only to be told they were not listed in Books in Print.

My original LoTR set (Ballantine with Tolkien art covers) survived until 4 years ago when the ill-abused bindings finally gave way. This led me to my first ventures onto eBay where I eventually acquired an identical 4 volume set (gold box with heraldry). One problem. The set was absolutely mint. The books had never been opened! I could not bring myself to read them. Back to eBay where I got a hardcover set for a ridiculously low price. This one turned out remarkably to be a first edition Folio Society set; couldn't read that one either. So I eventually got a new Book Club one-volume reading copy (followed by a second edition boxed hardcover set, followed most recently by the "big red one" which I received today!).

I have never known anyone interested in Tolkien in real life and, until recently, only knew one or two people who had ever even read LoTR. It was my "closet" hobby until I discovered on-line message boards.