I've got a few books now, where do I get these covers and what sizes should I buy.

Thanks,

Eric the Red

...also can't lovingly look at my HOME's any more as I took Khamul's advice and turned them round so the spines are inwards. -Trotter

O dear! I hope I've not made you too unhappy Trotter!? Personally I don't think I could bare the thought of having any of my books literally de-valuing (or rather deteriorating in condition) as they sat on my shelf. Eventually they will be brought forth in all their glory; but until then, and since I have to double up my books in any case!, they can sit behind other less important books.

Having said that, the habit (of turning books around or hiding them behind others) is perhaps driven by my Silmarillion collecting; where there is (perhaps with other books there is not so much!) a real danger of spine fading were they all on open display.

BH

>I find this book impossible to get hold of. In fact I think they only printed 5 copies to tease collectors like me

>It's was the hardest book to find in my collection. It becamse a kind of holy grail, as it took me several years to find a copy. If I hadn't seen a picture of it, I wouldn't have believed it existed! When I did find it, I was lucky enough to get an unread copy in near perfect condition. It cost 40 pounds, which was seemed fair given its rarity. I would love to know how many copies were printed.

They do exist, I have just got a copy from eBay, wish it only cost £40 though

Does anyone know how many of this edition was printed?

129 Pounds. Yikes!

Still, at least you have acquired it! I suspect it is by far the least common volume in the UK HoME style of cover.

Stu

Pricey indeed. I was in on the bidding too! But, too rich for me at present. There have definitely (altho' not many) been a couple come up on eBay over the years, and I'm pretty sure they were in the Stu range (<£100 anyway); hopefully a copy can be obtained for less than three figures. Thinking of selling Stu?

BH

>Thinking of selling Stu?

Not a chance :) Best 40 pounds (and 55p to be exact) that I spent last year (and I even saved on the excessive international postage (over 20 pounds) the seller wanted by sending it to an address in the UK and picking it up 6 months later when I was back in the homeland). Mind you, I was a bit worried when my fiancee's mother temporarily forgot where she actually put it ("are you sure that you sent TWO books here - I only remember seeing one parcel !"). Memory of a goldfish, that woman...

It's unfortunate, but I wonder if this very discussion actually made the copy on eBay more expensive than it would otherwise have been. The more people that are aware of the book, the more people that are likely to be interested in owning a copy, and this particular volume does not appear to be very well known. If I hadn't seen in it on Deagol's site way back, I certainly would not have known about it, and I have never seen a picture of it in any other place (other than on one of the bookshelves in his collector profile on TL).

Stu

If I hadn't seen in it on Deagol's site way back, I certainly would not have known about it...
-Stu

He really does have a lot to answer for...

BH

I agree, he is guilty of providing a fantastic resource for any UK Tolkien book collector like me.

I shudder to think of how much cash I would not have spent on Tolkien books if his superb site did not exist to show me which editions I don't own

it's all a plot - i'm in league with ebay and amazon.....

...& with Amazon owning ABEbooks as well; and Beren in league with HarperCollins! -there's nowhere for the poor (average) collector to turn to for unbiased advice...

BH