My Secret Vice

[Mithadan]

Uh... hello. My name is Mithadan... and I'm... a Tolkien hoarder.

There. I've said it. Not a "collector", though some of my hoard is undeniably collectible. A hoarder, with all the negative connotations that the word bears with it.

I first read the Hobbit in 1971. My copy was a loaner that I respectfully returned in the same condition as when I borrowed it. About a year later, when I learned there was a sequel to the Hobbit, I bought a new copy to re-read before I went on to LoTR. Ballantine paperback, white covers, Tolkien's own artwork. The copies of LoTR that I bought a bit later were the same edition. I treated them well and, as they were more durable than current paperbacks which seem to last as long as an over-ripe banana in the sun, they lasted until 1996 or so, at which time a certain small goblin gleefully shredded them one by one as I read them (I actually reassembled them and bound them with duct tape; I technically still have them). At that time, in 1996, I also owned (and still own) a copy of the Silmarillion (HB purchased the first day it came out), Unfinished Tales (HB), Lost Tales I and II (both HB), Pictures by Tolkien (HB, slipcased) and The Road Goes Ever On (HB), the Tolkien Reader (sc), Farmer Giles and Smith of Wooten Major (sc) various analyses/critcisms, biographies, and an obscure one, The Jewel of Arwen.

I did not immediately replace my poor, abused copies of LoTR. At around that time, I came across paperback versions of HoME 3 - 5 and wandered through those. Then I began looking for a new copy of LoTR. By that time I had discovered eBay. I bid on and won a copy described somewhat inaccurately as a slipcased hardcover version of all three volumes. It turned out to be a first reprint Folio Society edition, beautiful, particularly at $15.00. Clearly this could not be my reading copy. Back to eBay. I next bought exactly the same edition I had read in the early 1970's, except it was also slipcased (gold foil, with Elvish heraldic symbols). When it arrived, it turned out to be in mint condition. The books had bever been opened. Clearly this could not be my reading copy. Back to eBay.

Second American edition, hardcover, slipcased, better save that one. The Special Edition commonly known as the Big Red One (HB, single volume, slipcased). Too nice to mess up. Finally a single volume Book Club edition. This is my current reading copy... and it's getting a bit worn. Oh, and the first version of the Ballantine paperback edition with the funky psychadelic covers; on the shelf virtually untouched. Oh, and 2 more copies of the Silmarillion, so I can read three at once, and one more Unfinished Tales.

The ten volumes of HoME I did not have in hardcover (including replacements for the 3 paperbacks I had purchased) and Letters. I read those. Artist and Illustrator, I sometimes look at that one. Children of Hurin. Atlas of Middle Earth. The Inklings, I've had that one for two years and haven't even cracked it open.

The Hobbit, let's see. Four paperback copies, both versions that I read in the early 1970s. The Annotated Hobbit, read once. A Deluxe Edition, slipcased, which I gave to my kids and replaced with a 50th Anniversary edition... that I never read.

Lot's of books. Multiple copies of the same books, many untouched, all stashed away. There's no rhyme or reason to it either. It's not as if I'm trying to collect versions of LoTR with different covers or slipcases. Nor am I trying to collect first editions, or second editions or anything in specific. I simply gather them all unto myself. This sounds like a hoard to me. Does anyone else do this? And if so, can you help me understand why? Why do I need 6 copies of LoTR, 3 of the Silmarillion, when I have 1 reading copy of each. Why all these other books, some of which I've barely glanced at?