My Secret Vice

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I've noticed that a number of people (myself included) have hardback copies of Tolkien's works that they admit they never use and said books normally fulfill the very important job of looking spiffy in the library.

When did Tolkien's works become a prestige item? Have they always been? (I personally don't think so.) Is it a result of the influence of the movies? ("Oh, you've seen the films have you? Well, I've read the books! In fact they are all over there looking pretty and heavy and practially unusable on my shelf!

Hmmm...Well, I'm a rather avid collector of books (my significant other is rolling her eyes at the understatement), some dating to the late 18th century. I have some very nice editions of Tolkien's work (1st editions, deluxe editions, etc.) that I do not open very often (the acidity of one's fingers and all) because of their intrinsic value (or their future value when I eventually kick the bucket and my children inherit them).

Considering the worth of many editions of Tolkien's work, I would certainly consider the books to be prestige items and classics of their genre (and the movies had only a minimal impact on the skyrocketing cost of Tolkien 1st editions). I also have 19th century editions of Poe, Hugo, Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, etc., spiffily displayed in glass-enclosed cases which I don't read either, but I of course have dog-earred duplicates of each.