The Tolkien Coming of Age Club 2

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

What I find infinitely fascinating about the article is that there apparently is a wealthy collector of Tolkien manuscripts who has decided to store his collection on his own private property rather than loan them to an academic institution, as is the general trend of such things these days in NA.

He--or she--isn't sharing.

I have a friend in the Tolkien Society who owns virtually everything Tolkien ever published (including the rare early stuff like Songs for the Philologists), along with some of the books from his library, though he isn't 'wealthy'. I think his intention is to donate them to the Tolkien Society library when he dies - though he may simply arrange for some to go to second hand bookshops - which is where he got many of the items himself.

Collecting such things isn't something I've gone in for, though its not difficult (or that expensive apparently) to get hold of stuff if you know where to look. I wonder what the 'manuscripts' actually consist of? As far as I'm aware CT owns all the M-e stuff apart from the stuff he sold to Marquette.

Some Tolkien 'artifacts' are not as valuable as people think though. As Ive noted elsewhere I saw a book once owned by Michael Tolkien on ebay for £300, whereas I picked up the six volume set of Gibbon Tolkien gave to Michael for £100 just last year & I know the dealer had quite a few other books of Michael's as he bought his entire library, so if anyone wants to own something with a (tenuous) Tolkien link it won't break the bank. And you can be a bit cunning - people reckon a 'First Edition' of LotR will break the bank but apparently the (pirated) Ace Books edition can be picked up quite cheaply if you just want the first ed. text.

It would be interesting to know whether the collection is worth the money spent on housing it....

[Child of the 7th Age]

It would be interesting to know whether the collection is worth the money spent on housing it....

davem,

That's probably true, if you're judging the worth of a collection in terms of dollars. Some people who collect are in it for financial reasons, but for others the money really has little bearing. If someone is crazy enough to build an odd structure like this (whether you like the thing or not....it's definitely out of the ordinary), they must be doing this for reasons other than pure monetary worth. Frankly, a cottage of that type does not look very secure (unless it's part of a large gated estate with guards prowling at the entrance and along the walls). If the goal was to provide a secure environment to protect a valuable financial investment, that's probably not the setting a person would choose, even if they had boatloads of money at their disposal. Someone has to be a bit dotty...in love with the books themselves and what they represent....to build such a strange sanctuary for them.

I personally don't have any problems with a collector sitting on his books and keeping them in the private domain. Most books have multiple copies and it's generally true that a special collections somewhere does own a copy. Even with an extremely rare item like Philologists, there are at least a few other copies(13?) floating around. What does bother me is when someone sits on historical manuscripts....a source that is unique. I am surprised at how often Tolkien letters turn up on ebay. Every time I see one, I make a copy of the text. Most are nothing special, but there have been some, which throw light on some question or problem. I hate to see those things gobbled up dropping off the public map.

[Bêthberry]

Yes, the value of a collection lies always in the eye of the collector first and then of course in those of any he can persuade to his obsession.

I had gathered from the article that the Tolkieniana under discussion was in fact manuscripts, which I had thought a little odd as I had assumed that all the important stuff with either with CT or at Marquette.

Originally Posted by Deb Silber, Inside the Hobbit House

Asked to design a fitting repository for a client’s valuable collection of J.R.R. Tolkien manuscripts and artifacts, architect Peter Archer went to the source—the fantasy novels that describe the abodes of the diminutive Hobbits.

It could all be journalistic hyberbole, but I would hope it isn't artifacts such as the teeth and pipe Childe found earlier for sale on eBay (see her post near the top of this page). That could be a great ironic laugh, though--folly indeed.

I'm going to keep an eye out on youTube for a video of Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" put to some screen captures of orcs.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

It could all be journalistic hyberbole, but I would hope it isn't artifacts such as the teeth and pipe Childe found earlier for sale on eBay (see her post near the top of this page). That could be a great ironic laugh, though--folly indeed.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't do this but over on the Plaza there's a thread about Tolkien's teeth. It started with a quote from Tolkien in an interview:

I"m afarid I really must go now...I have an appointment with my dentist. My mouth has shrunk, you see, so my false teeth no longer fit and are inclined to drop down unexpectedly, with a portcullis -like effect.'

& one of the posters added an anecdote:

But this bit about the portcullis finally confirms for me that my friend's older borother, who read English at Oxford, was probably telling the exact truth when he reported that on his first attendance at Tolkien's Beowulf lecture, when they were all so excited that this famous Prof was going to lecture to them, Tolkien began to read the poem but on the declamatory Hwaet! - his teeth fell out.

(Actually, I don't feel so bad about this as in an old thread over there someone linked to a post of Child's over here....)

[Mithalwen]

In the Carpenter biography htere is something about him handing shopkeepers his false teeth when they put their hand out for money....

[Samwise]

Nothing from the 'Downs for AGES, and now like 10 messages in a row....

Trippy....if you understand my meaning....

~Samwise, aka Mrs. G

[Child of the 7th Age]

Samwise,

Good to see you. Check the dates on those pms. The Barrow-wight put in a new version of the website today. Some very "old" mail was inadvertently forwarded in the changeover. For example, I had an e-mail message that Bethberry had posted on a thread I had subscibed to. Her post was back in 2004. (Better late than never! )

If you come back to see this, are you still doing any collecting in the area?

[Samwise]

Hullo, Miss Child...good to see you, too! They weren't PMs that I recieved, but rather posts to threads I was subscribed to. I see there are new things going on...

Well, I haven't been able to collect since I lost my job....been selling lots of stuff (not LOTR related) on ebay. Trying to sell some of my needlework on different auction sites, but haven't done much, so far...

[Samwise]

Oh, THOSE PMs....Thank you--I've cleared out my inbox now.