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?

[Nerwen]

???

Er, well, to be honest, you do sound pretty weird to me, Mithadan... but then, so do all people (adults, anyway) who collect/hoard stuff for its own sake. I just don't get it.

*sigh*

Why you people can't do something sensible with your time, like filing each and every book you possess by subject and in alphabetical order, I'll never understand...

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Why? The classic answer to every irreasonable striving: Because it is there.

OK, I'm a bit more utilitarian about books, and haven't yet fallen prey to the lure of Ebay, so the only multiple books I have are annotated or expanded editions and my original, 36-year old case (Hobbit, LotR, red heraldric box, Tolkien's cover illustrations), which is no longer in use. Of the latter I made the same experience as you, Mith - those good ol' paperbacks sure lasted longer than nowadays!

However, I can understand your case - had I gotten "good as new" editions, I would keep them as collector's items instead of using them. Probably a surer investment than stocks these days...

[Lush]

I collect beer coasters from around the world - and while I like the pretty ones and decorate the living room with them, I also used to hoard all sorts, so I think I get the desire. I think the pack rat instinct is an evolutionary response - it gives people a feeling of security, especially with regard to the things we love.

[Nerwen]

Hey, there's people out there who collect barbed wire... and thimbles... and used bus tickets... and erasers... In fact, pretty much anything you can think of has a devoted following.

...Takes all sorts, I guess.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

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?

At least we know where all of the old books have gone... I hope that you never travel to my part of the country, though maybe you already have, as there never seems to be any of Tolkien's works for sale at local yard sales.

The biological explanations for such a compulsion are readily available. Anyway, I (and surely others) am just glad that it's Tolkien's works and not 'roadkill' or 'dentures' or 'other people's laundry.'

[Kuruharan]

I actually reassembled them and bound them with duct tape; I technically still have them

You should have used clear plastic tape. It’s so much better in that you can still see the cover and stuff.

Not, of course, that I would know about such things from personal experience.

I must admit I own a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring that could charitably be described as "tattered" (or rather more accurately "destroyed").

You can still read it if you hold it together just right.

[Mithadan]

Alatar, a good place to look for Tolkien collectibles is at the sales libraries sometimes hold to get rid of old books. That's where I picked up a 1st edition of the Hobbit (in rather poor shape).

[Mithalwen]

I am a hoarder (though I am currently trying to declutter and am trying to reform - I used to keep everything, every last bank statement, photograph, card, letter and Christmas card, the sweaters that my gran knitted me etc now I am relatively ruthless - pass on read paperbacks unless I really love them, and the day I got a shredder and blitzed everything that had passed the seven year limit - well I could easily have mocked up a set for a reenactment of the Fell winter but I am not particularly emotional about my Tolkien books as artefacts though as works they are precious. As long as I could replace them I am happy..I am a bit protective of The road goes ever on because I had to wait so long to get it and I am careful of my radio series tapes because the new version has been rejigged but otherwise I covet hard backs simply because the paperbacks are rather fragile for the use I give them. Although they look and feel nice a hard back can be rather awkward to read unless you are sitting at a desk.

However I bought a deluxe COH and wrapped it in tissue paper to read it to avoid any risk of paw marks so that slightly backfired. I suppose if I had unlimited space and money I would but in a small house already full of inherited mathoms I try to restrain my own collecting - multiple copies of books when the cases are already double stacked would be rather decadent and if we are going decadent and the money were available then I am not sure that a special edition of a work I already have would win out agains a super handbag or hat or champagne....

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Alatar, a good place to look for Tolkien collectibles is at the sales libraries sometimes hold to get rid of old books. That's where I picked up a 1st edition of the Hobbit (in rather poor shape).

This is especially true for The Hobbit in America now, at least if there are any beautiful old illustrated versions. In a classic case of the road to Angband being paved with good intentions/the pesky government muddling its hands in other people's business people are no longer allowed to sell (I forget if there's a policy on libraries or not) books with illustrations made with lead paint--which, I should add, has never caused lead poisoning in children (unlike houses with paint in convenient bite-sized peelable chunks), all because of that scare of lead-painted toys coming from China a while back. The law wasn't made to cover books, but it has, which means thrift stores everywhere are pitching their old illustrated books. I should hope that old The Hobbits are recognized as collectibles, though--the one loophole in the bill that means saving old books.

For me, though I'm not terribly keen on getting newer and newer editions of LotR (I have my one-volume beaten up/annotated by self copy and my Red Red Book for prettiness' sake), I do get rather obsessive when I find odd-looking copies in used bookstores (the more beat-up, the better). It's not so much a sense of packrattishness as it is the delusion I hold of "liberating" these neglected books from their slow, unreadable decay. If they're especially odd (i.e., getting a UK edition from a used bookstore when LotR was still published by a company with the name "Unwin" in it) I'll hold onto them; otherwise I try to keep them as "I don't particularly care if you return them or not" loaners as I try to corrupt more people into the goodness that is Tolkien.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

You should have used clear plastic tape. It’s so much better in that you can still see the cover and stuff.

Problem I've had, even with clear tape, is that the pages within fall out - those that my one daughter hasn't torn.

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

...books with illustrations made with lead paint--which, I should add, has never caused lead poisoning in children (unlike houses with paint in convenient bite-sized peelable chunks)

Actually, it's purported to be the "lead dust" that it emitted from the walls painted with leaded paint. I too am very thankful that the government has made such an industry of protecting me and mine from lead paint...and yet allows the upwind factory to spew forth all kinds of toxins into both the air and water.

I'll take my chances with the old books.

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I have an old paperback of LR that I tried to repair with epoxy resin. It didn't work. That book is now bisected at page 492, with Merry and Pippin in Treebeard's house. You can't throw them away, you know.

Don't lie to yourself, Mith; you know they give you pleasure.

My hoard isn't ridiculous yet, since I don't have six copies of the same book. However, I do confess to duplicate copies and volumes I've never read. I've got a first edition and a fiftieth anniversary edition of LR as well as my reading copy and the aforementioned wrecked paperback; an early Silmarillion; two copies of The Hobbit; photocopies of academic articles by Tolkien and everything by or about him that I've been able to afford. I bought the three-volume hard-back of HME and then kept collecting the paperbacks so that I wouldn't have to open it. I've got a first edition of Pictures by JRR Tolkien that I daren't touch any more and a fourth impression of The Road Goes Ever On with sheet music I can't even read. What can you do? They put up this big stall full of books at Oxonmoot: I'm not made of stone.

I think this is all perfectly sensible. It's like a drinker's secret stash of Laphroaig down the back of the sink. You never know when a bizarre train of events will leave you desperately scrabbling through a cupboard looking for a second-edition of Unfinished Tales, or the last copy of Mr. Bliss that you know you haven't lent out. How convenient if there's one in every cupboard.

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

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?

Piker. Small stuff. My LOTR collection (just the boxed trilogies) fits in one of those big plastic boxes (you know, the 2'x2'x3' type) and I still have the red cover hardback, several single-cover ciopies, and a boxed set or two.

Okay, now I'll read the rest of the thread... maybe I'll end up taking another inventory.

But my real question is music. Whatcha got for MUSIC?

EDIT:

Ten boxed (or pseudo boxed by me) sets or almost-sets (Meaning I completed the sets myself instead of buying them as sets.)

Four that I could locate (but I KNOW I have more-- dweeby black-paperback movie editions-- am I missing another whole plastic box...??? ) single-volume trilogies (one Red Book, two dimestore movie editions, and one old paperback that has a faded Pauline Baynes illustration and is missing much of the appendices.)

My husband always said "But it's all the SAME STORY."

And that's just the trilogy. I have many hobbits, including a New annotated Hobbit and an Old annotated hobbit... Two paperback sets of History of LOTR; four or five TOlkien Readers... Yeah. Stuff.

Inventory started, but I gotta get the pizza out of the oven now...

Another Edit After Liberating the Pizza (although the fire alarm went off, the pizza was NOT overdone: )

So you ask, Why? Why do you hoard Tolkien?

I don't know why I do it either-- excapt perhaps that the trauma of losing my original Red Heraldry set to mildew triggered it. I HAD to have another Red Heraldry set; but I bought a gold one; then I missed the psychedelic ones, and once I started surfing covers, I just kinda liked them all. Even the movie ones (I know, I know, but I always loved that shot of Frodolijah holding the ring and being all lit with red from his fireplace.)

Maybe there's some sort of hope that, if we just collect enough, from one of them will spring a Mallorn tree. Or maybe a Wardrobe that drops us off at the House of Lost Play. Or maybe we'll start Dreaming, Ælfwine.

I DO know that's why I hoard the music.

EDIT: Squatter: Although I CAN read the Road Goes Ever On, I can't read three copies at once. See above.

[Nurumaiel]

Gee, I feel a little silly now. I have one set of the books, and there's one additional set in the house that's for family use. One copy of The Hobbit. And that's it.

But though I'm not looking so great on the Tolkien collections, I can understand the hoarding urge. There must be a reason that I trip over guitars in this house wherever I go. And there must be a reason that we have several editions of the same Chesterton book. I mean... there must be a legitimate reason.

Surely we're not all just crazy?

[mark12_30]

How many Pennywhistles do you have NOW?

Daeron and Tinfang Warble had flutes. I forget who had the harp? Was it Maglor? Someone must have had a lutelike objectr in Middle-earth. Then there were Luthien, Melian, and Nimrodel, singers every one. And Galadriel was no slouch.

We're in good company, Nuru.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by alatar

Problem I've had, even with clear tape, is that the pages within fall out - those that my one daughter hasn't torn.

Hence the necessity for the extremely careful holding.

I only own one set of duplicates. I have two copies of The Hobbit. One of them is the hardback edition with Alan Lee's foggy and washed out illustrations and the other is the one I actually read from because the hardback is so darn big its impossible to actually use. (Does anybody else have this problem with large hardbacks? Not only do you not want to use them, if you try you find that you really can't very well.)

I honestly rather regret getting the hardback, but it does look awfully pretty and pretentious sitting there on my shelf next to the rest of the rabble of my tattered tomes.

[mark12_30]

To use the hardback one should be in a recliner, modestly reclined (not all the way back) with toes toward the glowing woodstove, and a pleasant cup of tea or coffee at hand (or perhaps an iced juice drink if the woodstove has been hot for a quite a while.)

A couch pillow helps to properly align the book.

[Formendacil]

I'm pretty sure you don't have a problem until you start getting duplicated of the HoME.

I have three volumes of The Book of Lost Tales, Vol. I, and two IDENTICAL (down to the printings) copies of The Peoples of Middle-earth--never mind the multiple (and uncounted) LotR volumes.

I'm Formendacil and I'm a libraholic.

[Kuruharan]

Alas, I possesseth not a woodstove...or for that matter a recliner...

I do, however, possess a hardback copy of The Hobbit which mostly spends its life gathering dust.

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

(the more beat-up, the better)

That's the ticket, isn't it? It seems right that books by Tolkien of all authors should have that ancient, "lived-in" feeling. My old trade paperback Unfinished Tales is the best in that regard -- it's yellow with age, warped by water damage, dog-eared and bisected by a broken spine. When it's not in use, I wrap a couple of big rubber-bands around it to keep it all together. It has this great mummy-spice smell. All I need are some blood stains and fire damage and it'd be a regular Book of Mazarbul.

I'm pretty utilitarian with books too, though I definitely am a hoarder in general. I'm a utilitarian hoarder, if you can dig it. I hoard things on the premise that I might be able to use this again someday.

I have several copies of LotR and TH, but no editions worth mentioning. The nicest one I have is the big red slipcase monster that a few others have brought up. It's not portable, though, and I can relate to Kuru that it's not very practical even at home. I prefer to read in bed, and when I use that bad boy, I always end up with a long, wicked, front-cover/spine/rear-cover trench embossed into my abdomen because of the sheer weight of the thing. It does look nice on my shelf though.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I admire you people for collecting and reading Tolkien... Is that a bad sign?

The only duplicates that I have are the Tolkien Reader, one came in a boxed set along with the Sil and two other books. My other one, my favourite one is a Tolkien Reader from the 1970's, my grandmother bought it for me from a used books place at the Moose Droppings Festival. The other one is The Two Towers, I also got a hardback, illustrated version of TTT from my grandmother for my birthday this year.

The "Pack Rat" syndrome that most BDers seem to get infected with, I have, I have this strange habit of collecting cardboard boxes, a habit that my parents detest. I think that it is not only part of our human nature (blimey, Doctor Who is starting to take it's toll), but is also an inherited thing. My grandmothers both have this habit, their houses and garages, and storage units are not big enough to keep all of their stuff!

I wish I had more Tolkien books, and read more too!

[Kath]

We do have a number of duplicates in the house because my original reading copies of both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were the ones given to my father when he was about 13/14. The Hobbit poor thing has had the worst of the years. About three chapters have fallen out and there are more trying to, as well as random pages that seem to have detached themselves. They are all still within the book but trying to read it in the bath turned out to be a really, really bad idea and some of them are now slightly crinkled. Lord of the Rings is also a little battered. The front cover has fallen off one of the books and there are various pages or corners of pages falling out as well.

For that reason and due to going off to uni we now have three copies of The Hobbit and three copies of Lord of the Rings. Despite that, the only ones I really read are still those original copies ... just not in the bath.

[Morthoron]

I still have the original LotR, Sil and Hobbit paperbacks I bought in the 70's when I first read them (you can almost read most of it through several layers of tape holding the bindings together!), and I have hardbound and softbound editions of virtually all of Tolkien's corpus, but I don't consider them duplicates so much as...ummm...having different editions of the same material. I usually buy softcover editions to read and research and hardbound editions to look spiffy in my library.

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Kath

They are all still within the book but trying to read it in the bath turned out to be a really, really bad idea and some of them are now slightly crinkled. [snip] Despite that, the only ones I really read are still those original copies ... just not in the bath.

IMO, every serious Tolkien-addict should have a bath-copy of their favorite tomes. Select (or purchase!) an inexpensive paperback copy of your bath book, and cover it carefully and entirely with clear contact-paper. Wrapping the contact paper into the inside of the covers is recommended. This does not prevent one 's hands falling into the water if one falls asleep in the bath; however, it does protect the outer cover from normal splash and drip.

And yes, I've covered several "cheesy paperback" editions this way. One of my favorite tricks is to print out a copy of a nicer cover (i.e. a classic old cover) and wrap the book in that, then cover that with contact paper.

I make my own boxes, too, and cover them with various printed things.

Maybe I should post some pictures...

[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! Just think of the agony I went through trying to heft those things about and be impressed with me, o lesser mortal!") Or has it been something more gradual?

New Idea: This relates to the Why Tolkien? thread, but is there something about Tolkien that sort of promotes this kind of gathering and hoarding of obscure lore? We all want to get in touch with our inner Gandalf and have multiple volumes of tomes at our fingertips that are only well understood by a few others, with whom we feel the need to fellowship?

[mark12_30]

Personally, I wanted The Red Book because it was a pretty good approximation of the Red Book of Westmarch.

And then, it needed a matching Hobbit.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Personally, I wanted The Red Book because it was a pretty good approximation of the Red Book of Westmarch.

And then, it needed a matching Hobbit.

Me too. I asked my parents for one a while back... almost two years ago now (wow, have I really been here THAT long?) my father said that I could get one if my room was clean for a year, that's never going to happen!

[Kuruharan]

My decision to buy the hardback version of The Legend of Sigurd and Gurdun was entirely based on a desire for durability and the fact that the store only had the hardbacks available.

Thus I could in no way be accused of a desire to flaunt my cultural and intellectual superiority before the troglodytes in my life...really.

By the way, does it count of having multiple copies of the Children of Hurin if one has both the Unfinished Tales and The Children of Hurin since the one essentially contains the other?

[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.

[mark12_30]

After lugging a hardbound Statistics textbook back and forth to work (Over Hill and Under Hill) I read these posts with great nostalgia. The Stats book is red... but it is not THE Red Book. And it will be some time (Mid-June) til I can afford to take up The Red Book again. Alas.

My best solace is that the Beechen leaves will shortly unfold.

[garm]

I've been collecting books by and about Tolkien for donkey's years now; academic as well as fiction. I don't know how many copies of The Lord of the Rings, nor Hobbits, there are in the collection. Nor Silmarillions. Just lots and lots; mainly UK editions, with a fair smattering of US eds. and even one or two in foreign, which I can't read, but look nice.

It is something of an obsession, I suppose.

[starofthedunedain]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who hoa...collects different covers of Tolkien's works. I have several of the supercopy editions (all three books in one) which are very lovely both in paperback and hardback. I have some a bit older in nice condition from the UK, just a few scuffs and tears, nothing falling out (yet). I have several boxsets, several different versions of the Silmarillion and two versions of the Lost Tales part 1. I also have lovely books like Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and the Father Christmas Letters which is adorable. I have a postcard book too which features all the artists who illustrated Middle-earth. I have encyclopedias on Middle-earth, books on the movies, books on the artwork and a couple which are really different. It's like they're blank journals, it says a Hobbit's Travel on them and has wonderful illustrations inside. I have a foreign copy of The Two Towers and The Hobbit, and a graphic novel version of the Hobbit and I also collect the audio book versions, nevermind that they're on cassette. It's nice to know other people have collections, although I don't have anything really special like a first edition.