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Old 02-03-2003, 07:16 PM   #201
Raefindel
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Welcome to the Downs,Krumbad The Slobberer

*raises a glass of metamucil* Cheers!

I'm kinda on the younger end of the older crowd, I was 2 years old in '67.
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Old 02-03-2003, 11:19 PM   #202
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Yes, welcome. Although I think I still qualify for this thread, [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] (I've said my age, and no one's told me otherwise), I wasn't yet born in '67 (though not TOO long afterward).
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Old 02-04-2003, 01:34 AM   #203
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Welcome to the new posters, there is a comfortable quality to reading posts from the 'older' readers.

Krumbad - I certainly wish I had my original copies. Silly me, thought I need more space on my bookshelf... I too was surprised at the number of fans I found roaming about, ME was always somewhat of a special place for me. Mine, my own, my preciousss... Now I'm glad to meet all these folks who have become my educators, so much was between the lines I didn't see.


Samwise - of course you qualify for this thread, is not this your special year? Is not this the year for Samwise the Brave to "Come of Age"? - (Pun very intended) [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ February 04, 2003: Message edited by: Tar-Palantir ]
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Old 02-04-2003, 12:41 PM   #204
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Esty's original post in this thread said:
Quote:
So how many of you have been reading LotR and other Tolkien books for at least 18 years?
In order to fill that req, one must be eighteen years plus however many years it took you to be able to read The Hobbit. No hard and fast age rules; but you should have read something by Tolkien during or prior to the year... eh... unhh... gehhh... (abandons counting on fingers and boots calculator accessory) -- ....1985.

(Smoothes grey flyaway strands, dismisses calculator accessory and stretches creaky joints)
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Old 02-04-2003, 05:24 PM   #205
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Apologies Mark if I placed undue concern on your shoulders. Samwise mentioned earlier that she had first read the books twenty years ago and was now 32 years old. I was simply pointing out that since her screenname is a Hobbit's name and 33 is the 'Coming of Age' year for a Hobbit and the thread name is the 'Coming of Age club' ..... well you get the picture.

And for my next trick... [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]
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Old 02-04-2003, 06:58 PM   #206
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It is a point well-taken! Don't you feel special Samwise? I wasn't on the Downs when I "came of age" guess I won't celebrate till I've been on the Downs for 33 years! Or make that 50 since I'm an Elf.
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Old 02-04-2003, 07:59 PM   #207
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Oh, dear. Open mouth, insert big fuzzy foot. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to cause any confusion. I'm really good at that , particularly of late....

Hey, I will "Come of age" this year, won't I?
Oh, my...I wonder if Mr. Frodo's thought about that. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
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Old 02-05-2003, 08:45 AM   #208
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All I was trying to do was assure Samwise that she wasn't about to be tossed for some unmet age minumum, or lack of grey hairs and wrinkles.

That said, Sam-- congrats on the pending celebration. You are going to celebrate, aren't you? *winks at all hobbits on thread* I don't mind another Mathom to add to my collection. Where's the party? How big will it be? Whatcha serving? You could ask Rae for help cooking. She's got a recipe for seed-cake that she needs to try.

Remember the book-collection theme from a few pages back? I've gone off the deep end... started collecting boxed sets of the trilogy. I've got five now, and two more are in the mail, and I'm sniffing around at yet another on ebay.... I could howl, "Mith it's all your fault". But that would hardly be fair. I distinctly remember that when I was a teenager (back in the mists of antiquity) I always used to check out the Tolkien boxed sets on the bookstore shelves, even thought I already had a red one, and wished I could get the gold one too-- and that nice big leather Red Book of Westmarch.

After Fellowship came out last year, the Red Book was the very first that we bought, along with the green-leatherbound Hobbit. But then after I finished the Red Book, my husband started reading it-- and of course I certainly didn't want to discourage THAT, but I just had to reread LOTR and review certain sections, so nothing would do but that I go out and get myself a paperback copy. I picked up the Ringwraith-cover omnibus. Then I decided when the Gandalf-In-Bag-End-cover omnibus came out, I liked that cover too. And then Somebody mentioned old Ballantine Heraldry-boxed sets and ebay in the same post.

Thus began the madness.... What with boxed sets and HoME and related tomes, soon I'll need to clear a fourth shelf. My goodness.
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Old 02-05-2003, 10:35 AM   #209
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Quote:
Somebody mentioned old Ballantine Heraldry-boxed sets and ebay in the same post.
Helen - Don't forget the special edition Ballantine box set, which I got for Christmas, 1972. It was gorgeous, and I wish I had it now, but it was read so much it disintegrated.

Here's a picture:
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Old 02-05-2003, 10:42 AM   #210
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**agitated**: Can't see it! Can't see it!

Ahh! There it is! Yes, with those Pauline Baynes illustrations taken from her calendar... That's one of the ones I'm sniffing around ebay for. There's lots of them this week! You could **easily** score one for old times sake, for a low cost. I however have already blown my budget big-time and must wait (or should, don't tempt me.)

But yes, it's on the menu... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ February 05, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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Old 02-05-2003, 10:52 AM   #211
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Verrrry interesting! I think I must leave the Downs at this time! Some important business to attend to! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
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Old 02-08-2003, 10:15 AM   #212
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Using a sharp knife and some tape, and with a little help from a handy color printer and a Tolkien Artwork site, I've found that certain scout-cookie boxes can be made into handy little slipcases suitable for mass market paperbacks. And if you get determined, slipcases can be made from any decent cardboard to fit any shape book... I now have homemade slipcases for HoME (3 separate ones: one for the first 5 plus Unfinished Tales, all in Mass Market Paperback; another for History of Lord of the Rings, Trade Paperback (wish I'd held out for the official box, but I bought them singly), currently I'm using the box my collector's edition DVD came in for larger hardbacks (currently holding 2 and waiting for 2 more, but in the meantime the Sil and an omnibus are parked there. ) There's another homemade slipcase for my paperback omnibus, decorated to look like The Red Book.

I've also reverted to my old high school and college habit of covering my books (folding only, no tape touching the book itself.) Only now, with help from a scanner and color-printer, I can cover 'em with a dustjacket almost identical to the original cover.

Sometimes I even cover the homemade dust-cover with clear contact paper. To quote Mith-- sick, eh? It does eat up time but it's fun. Printing to do, gotta go.

[ February 08, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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Old 02-09-2003, 11:37 AM   #213
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Liriodendron, did you snag a set?

(...why does your name make me think of an evergreen flowering shrub? Very botanical-sounding, and hence, more elvish than ever.)
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Old 02-09-2003, 08:43 PM   #214
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1420!

No, I got lost in the shuffle! It's been a bad week, colds turning to pnuemonia, sinus infections, snow after snow, and the worst....the total screw up of the made-to-order cellular shades incident! "shudder" [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] . Anyway, I will recover and get back! Liriodendron Tulipifera is the scientific name of the Tulip tree! You were right on track there!
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Old 02-09-2003, 09:20 PM   #215
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Liriodendron-- Pneumonia and sinus infections.... Yoiks! Or is that "Ai, Ai!"... No Balrogs showed, up, I hope. What cellular...?

What exatly does a tulip tree look like? It's *not* a magnolia, right? I've heard them confused, and folks arguing.


Sharon, C7A, I just bought a copy of the 1988 annotated hobbit-- even though my new one from Amazon has already shipped. Are you corrupting me??
No, I've also bought an old hardbound Hobbit even though I have a recent one, and an old Smith of Wooton major ven though I have a recent one, and an old Silmarillion even though I have a recent one-- just 'cause I wanted the old one that I had when I was...--- wanted an old one just because-- hey, wait! It WAS you! CAMI!!!

--indignant, led-astray, wide-eyed innocent Gamba

[ February 09, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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Old 02-09-2003, 09:38 PM   #216
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Now, Gamba.....you must take responsibility for your own actions!!!

Hey, Cami came up with a little find this week....I stumbled on a library sale. I picked up a first edition, first printing of the British Silm. And a Folio Society Hobbit from 2002. All for a grand total of $10, in quite good shake(at least by my standards). Yeah!
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Old 02-09-2003, 09:41 PM   #217
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Thumbs up

A tulip tree reminds me of a "poor man's" Mallorn! They grow very straight and tall. The branches are not overly long or "bendy" and grow out in neatly spaced intervals from the main trunk. They would be perfect for flet building! The leaves are largish, they look sort of like a sycamore leave, only smooth, not jagged. They have a small, orange flower in the spring, that resembles a tulip. You usually don't notice them, except when they litter the ground under the tree for a brief period. I planted a few nine years ago and they are at least 30 feet tall already! (Cellular shades are expensive window shades that give an "insulating" layer to windows.) [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I like the $3.95 price on my old hardbound Hobbit! The paperbacks must have been $.95!

[ February 09, 2003: Message edited by: Liriodendron ]
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Old 02-09-2003, 11:18 PM   #218
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Liriodendron- Tuliptree
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Old 02-10-2003, 05:41 AM   #219
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How nice! That's the flower, You can see a bit of a small leaf there too. I really think the leaves are lovely! Cheers!
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Old 02-10-2003, 02:07 PM   #220
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I like your local library better than mine, Child.

Gilthalion still hasn't checked in here? Time to bump this thread up then.
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Old 02-10-2003, 03:12 PM   #221
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Tolkien

Thanks for the bump! (An odd thing happened. I was reading this thread and then wound up on the WINTER thread, and posted to it!)

REPRISE:

I'm sure I could never catch up with everything, but let me hit a few points:
I began my reading of Tolkien back in 1977-78. There was a fellow in our Algebra class who was reading FOTR. I was surprised to see him actually READING A BOOK, first of all, and so I wondered what it was. He told me. I looked into matters and saw that TH came first, so I checked it out that afternoon at the local library. Soon I had read TH and LOTR.

Since then, I've read them both, and then the SIL when it came out in paperback, almost every year. Last year, I read TH and LOTR aloud to my wife (see link in sig for RealAudio samples). So I've read LOTR on the order of 20 times, though I've lost an exact count. My late 70's paperbacks, the ones with the Tolkien watercolors, are falling to pieces. I have newer editions of TH, LOTR, and the SIL. Like Red (Hi!) I've also read LOST TALES and am working my way through the HOME as leisure permits.

I have a little leisure at the moment. As long time Barrow-wights are aware, I have been away for a while. This brings me to the second main theme of this thread, where am I in the journey?

(BTW, check out the little map to the side of this post...)

I suppose I am leaving Rivendell, in a way. Last September and December I had surgery, and the Mrs also had surgery in December, and we're really just getting back to speed. (Thanks to the healing virtues of the elves at Springhill Memorial and Mobile Infirmary!)

My laboratory technician job ran dry this past Friday, so I've been putting in applications this morning for new work. Moria may lie ahead. Caradhras is not far (finding a job in Mobile, AL in the 4th year of a local recession may not be easy).

I introduced Choctaw County to D&D shortly after reading Tolkien, perhaps before the second reading. AD&D followed. I've played both sides of the table, and enjoyed it immensely.

I noticed that several of you oldsters are writing your own works! I invite you to check my signature for a link to THE HOBBITS, an LOTR sequel buried here on the Downs. (I'll be looking in on Bolco as time permits!) It's had some good reviews. The old Barrow-Wight himself informs me that 40-something people were reading it last week alone.

I'm presently working on a post-apocalyptic fantasy (according to Tolkien's notion of a Fairy Tale) based on certain Jewish/Christian notions of the Millennial Kingdom. ETA: Christmas 2003. Publish Date: ??? Financial Remuneration: (Probably diddly-squat! Hey, Mithadan! Do you represent would-be authors? You could probably pick up some business on this thread!)

EDITS (Now that I've read the actual thread!)

Little Man Poet
Regarding Calvinism: One of our large Baptist churches down here just kicked out a pastor who is part of a concerted effort to take over the denomination by a conservative Calvinist contingent. The doctrines make Free Will and Grace of no value and (to my mind) also make the Crucifixion needless.

On the worldview question, I found a great overall resonance with Tolkien, rather than any particular change in my way of thinking. Even so, it was (in its fashion) a validation of Truth through the years as my understanding and appreciation grew.

Through the years, the subtleties of the richly layered work reveal themselves in new and fascinating ways. The man was a great genius it seems to me, as deepening maturity and lengthening study ever reveal unknown facets of his understanding, clarity, imagination, faith, and character.

[ February 10, 2003: Message edited by: Gilthalion ]
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Old 02-11-2003, 04:01 PM   #222
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Happy anniversary to Rae
happy anniversary to Rae...
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Old 02-11-2003, 08:19 PM   #223
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Awww! Thank You! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
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Old 02-15-2003, 08:57 PM   #224
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Quote:
Sharon, C7A, I just bought a copy of the 1988 annotated hobbit-- even though my new one from Amazon has already shipped.
Annotated Hobbit?! What's an annotated Hobbit like? [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] (Still using my ragged 1977 copy)
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Old 02-19-2003, 05:05 AM   #225
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Hullo to you all.

I've been enjoying this thread immensely, but I didn't want to post until I was happy in my own mind that I belong here.

To my lasting shame I can't remember when I first encountered Tolkien: it feels as though he's been a part of my life forever. But my copy of The Hobbit (a gift from my parents) is the 1983 impression, and my mother, whose memory of even the most trivial events in my life is staggering, agrees that this was a gift for Christmas, probably in 1984.

I also remember with some fondness turning up an old paperback of The Lord of the Rings unexpectedly at a relative's house at about the same time. The relative in question is not one of whom I am particularly fond, being someone with no appreciation of the sort of things about which Tolkien wrote. Most of us agree that it must have been bought for a literature course and not read since.

I appropriated this book. It was a poor copy: an all-in-one edition too poorly bound to support the weight of its own pages, with a horrible yellow and orange cover and without the appendices on languages; but it lasted me until I could buy a decent HarperCollins hardback edition. My memory, though, is of having begun my association with Tolkien by reading The Hobbit, aged 8. I scrape into this club by the skin of my teeth.
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Old 02-19-2003, 11:32 AM   #226
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Hello Mr. Rudh, and welcome to the thread.

After reading your post I was just wondering if LoTR fostered a love for reading in those of us who read it as kids.

The Phantom Tollbooth did that for me, but LoTR definitely, definitely cast it in stone.
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Old 02-19-2003, 11:44 AM   #227
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welcome to the Thread of the AncientsSquatter and Gilthalion!

It certainly does have a different feel than all of those 'mixed age' threads!

[ February 19, 2003: Message edited by: lindil ]
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Old 02-19-2003, 12:56 PM   #228
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Quote:
I was just wondering if LoTR fostered a love for reading in those of us who read it as kids.
Actually I couldn't really get to grips with The Lord of the Rings until I was about 14; and the first time I think I really appreciated the full depth of the book was probably when I read it on an Air Training Corps summer camp in the summer of my eighteenth year. I can still remember that while others loudly exchanged dirty jokes and banter, or listened to Walkmen, I was reading The Two Towers.

I remember this because I was reading the cheap paperback I mentioned earlier: it had long since given up the ghost, despite my attempts to hold it together with tape, fabric glue and, in a fit of desperation, epoxy resin. The middle of the book had fallen out in two big clumps, and half-way through Treebeard was a page that hadn't been able to decide which way to jump, so reading that chapter tended to be rather difficult.

In answer to your question, then; I had already been bitten by the reading bug before I got to school, let alone discovered Tolkien. However, as I've grown older and (hopefully) wiser I've only come to appreciate his writings and philosophy more and more. I find that he makes me appreciate my gift of reading, and the richness of the English language and its literature, for which I am indebted to him.

[EDIT] In my haste to submit the above I neglected to thank you for your greeting, lindil. Well met!

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It certainly does have a different feel than all of those 'mixed age' threads!
Conversations, like water, tend to find their own level, old boy. Clearly ours has found its way into a deeper pool. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ February 19, 2003: Message edited by: Squatter of Amon Rudh ]
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Old 02-20-2003, 05:25 AM   #229
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Silmaril

Welcome to the clubhouse, one and all! I have been a rather negligent hostess of late, since my other responsibilites have kept me busy, but I never miss a post on this thread. I've pointed some of you in this direction when clues in other posts led me to believe that you were eligible, and I'm happy that so many are enjoying the cozy atmosphere. So pull your rocking chairs up to the fireplace, bring your vintage books, your stories and links and keep on having a good time!
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Old 02-20-2003, 03:50 PM   #230
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My only vintage book is my copy of The Silmarillion, the story of which ties in rather nicely with my last post.

During that camp, at RAF Shawbury, our intrepid band of callow young Air Cadets was unleashed on the small village for which the airfield is named with five pounds' spending money each, courtesy of Her Majesty's Government. Being who I am, I immediately gravitated to a second-hand bookshop where, to my joy, was an old copy with a royal blue cover that bears a large drawing of Lśthien Tinśviel's symbol, designed by Tolkien himself. On the back cover are similar designs, also in his unique style; namely the symbols of (left to right, top to bottom) Fingolfin, Eärendil, Idril Celebrindal, Elwė and, of course, Fėanor, all in glorious pastel technicolour.

Since I had never read The Silmarillion, and since the volume was being sold at the ridiculous price of £3.75 (the price is still written in the flyleaf in pencil) I bought this work, which I resolved to begin reading as soon as I had finished the current reading of The Lord of the Rings.

Imagine my joy when, instead of the monochrome, single-page maps in my Lord of the Rings, this work had at the back a fold-out A-3 colour map of Beleriand. Not only that, but the map depicting the territories of the Noldorin lords was also in red as well as black. I suppose that this should have set off alarm bells, but I was happy just to have so fantastic a book.

It was only several years later, when examining the frontispiece (for some reason, Tolkien's legends interested me more than the date of publication [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ), that I realised that my copy is from 1977. It isn't a George Allen and Unwin first edition, but it's the next best thing: a Book Club Associates licenced reprint. It's one of my most treasured possessions.
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Old 02-22-2003, 01:23 PM   #231
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Quote:
this work had at the back a fold-out A-3 color map of Beleriand. Not only that, but the map depicting the territories of the Noldorin lords was also in red as well as black.
Oh I’m so jealous. My Silmarillion is in a box somewhere and I haven’t located it yet. I’m reading Unfinished Tales and missed having a map of Beleriand handy. (Yours sounds worthy of being framed!) At any rate I eventually found one I could download, reduce and plot out. It has been serving as a bookmark these days! Very greatful to the person who took the time to put it out on the Internet!
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Old 02-23-2003, 07:53 AM   #232
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If you like I could see if the Barrow-Wight will agree to put a scanned picture of the map on the main site. We have a scanner and it would seem an appropriate thing to have there.

When I say "colour" I do, of course, mean red and black, as with all the maps in the first editions. It's quite irksome at times, due to the care that I have to take in folding and unfolding it.
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Old 02-23-2003, 05:28 PM   #233
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I just checked and under the Tolkien links section for maps and the site I visited was there.

It sounds as though the one you have might be the same I down loaded! The only problem with scaling it down is that the print gets oh so small, but I imagine that a larger one would get worn from refering to it so much!

Yes, it would be nice if this site had its own map section.
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Old 02-23-2003, 06:51 PM   #234
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1420!

Welcome to the Club, Squatter.
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Old 02-23-2003, 09:55 PM   #235
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I just found this thread. It's so nice to find other vintage Tolkein fans. A friend first loaned me a copy of The Hobbit in 1966. I was 15. I stayed up all that night reading it. I was able to borrow The Fellowship (from the same friend) right away but then had to wait several weeks each for the other two books. There was one set of books that were making the rounds within a small group of friends. Unfortunately, the others ahead of me were much slower about finishing. I later purchased my own copies. I still have my original (totally battered) Ballentine copy of The Hobbit, the
psychedelic paperbacks of LotR that someone scanned earlier, as well as a couple of other paperback & hardback sets. My most prized copy is a first edition collectors edition of LotR that I bought years ago.
I've tried several times in years past to read the Silmarillion, but found myself unable to keep track of who was related to who and lived where. I've been re-reading it again recently, and discovered that if I make up charts & lists I don't get quite as lost.
I look forward to spending time with all you fellow "geezers"!
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Old 02-23-2003, 10:14 PM   #236
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Welcome, Alatįriėl !

Quote:
Vintage Tolkien fans
What a nice way to describe this list. Golly, I feel all bubbly inside. (Don't let the dust on the bottle fool you?)

ps. I **love** your sig. It has always struck me as one of the saddest lines in the whole trilogy, after Sam's forlorn "And I can't come."

[ February 23, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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Old 02-23-2003, 10:29 PM   #237
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Welcome, Alatįriėl.

My son found it very helpful to chart the journeys of the individuals in the trilogy - it helped him enormously in keeping track of who was doing what and where on any given day. He took a copy of the map, plotted the locations of the Fellowship and used the descriptions in the timeline to record their actions and whereabouts. He then drew lines connecting the dates on the various paths to illustrate what each individual was doing and how it was related to the other Fellowship members.

For instance, on March 2nd, he plotted Frodo @ the Marshes, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Theoden @ Edoras and Merry & Pippin in Fangorn - then connected them all with lines to show what each of them were doing on that particular day. It was alot of work but the end product is (although a little messy) very interesting and sort of gives one a new perspective on the overall view.

Now, if I could only get him to put that much effort into his homework...sigh.

[ February 23, 2003: Message edited by: Aratlithiel ]
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Old 02-23-2003, 10:51 PM   #238
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Aratlithiel,

Looking back over my own life, I can cheerfully say that hobbits and elves, and Numenoreans, had a deeper impact on me than many (most) of my homework assignments ever did. Don't tell your son I said so-- but if the Trilogy inspires him, I'd say let him run with it; point out the virtues described-- courage, valor, loyalty, dedication, service of the greater good, self-sacrifice, persistance, perseverance... and on and on... and engage your son about those topics. Show him their value.

Far better than your average homework assignment.
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Old 02-24-2003, 02:57 AM   #239
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Silmaril

Hullo, Aralithiel and Aratąriel!

Do you know there exists an Atlas of MiddleEarth, by Karen Wynn Fonstad (1981) ?
I found this extremely useful and interesting while reading LotR and Silmarillion.
There are special maps which show the pathways (with dates) and a lot of regional maps. Specific maps which show the battles (from Beleriand to the LotR) so you can see the attacks, retreats, advances etc of the different armies. (Without those maps I couldn't always figure it out...)

My younger boy, with whom I am now reading LotR, also likes it and wants to check up every detail on the maps. He is only 12 but takes a much larger interest than my 17-year old son. He already knows a lot about the first age too, because he keeps asking me all sorts of questions about it.
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Old 02-24-2003, 03:36 AM   #240
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Guinevere

I am completely enamored of maps. My copy of Fonstad's Atlas is completely dog-eared.

Let me share some of my links with you:

HERE

HERE

& STARS

Enjoy!
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