Aye, well, for a very long time my reading copies were the 1979 Unwin Paperbacks series (Hob, LotR, Sil, two vol. of small tales and a matching design but larger format Foster) and the Unicorn UT. So long that in fact FotR, RotK, Sil and Foster have come apart and UT almost.
In the later nineties I switched over to a HC one volume paperback for LotR (Howe's Gandalf cover).
Nowadays, my reading copy of LotR is a HM one volume paperback 50th anniversary, for Sil it is a first Billing printing A&U hardbound, since I've got two of those (one thrown in with a first edition LotR I bought at an auction). For Foster it's a 1978 A&U hardbound as well. For Hob I don't really have a reading copy, when I want to look up something I get out a 2nd annotated edition (hardbound). And I still use my old dilapidated UT.
I have bought better preserved copies of all the ruined paperbacks (exept Foster, I've got a Ballantine paperback of that, Hildebrant cover, and a Ted Nasmith HC hardbound), to stand on my shelf for old time's sake.
My HoMe 12 has also fallen apart, and 10 and 11 are about to, so in Moreton I bought a 3rd/3 volume HC hardback on the cheap, as a copy lacking the overall title page/copyright page was on offer.
Note that my reading is nearly all done in English - I have quite a few copies of all Dutch translations, but I don't really read them. When I do, I use an india paper Spectrum hardbound (2001 printing of 1996 second revision text) of LotR and the matching boxed set of Hob(2000 second revision text)/Sil(2000 first revision text)/UT(2000 printing of 1998 first revision text). When I need to check on the 2003 third revison texts of LotR and Hob I usually very carefully open the Alan Lee illustrated editions, issued in 2003 as a boxed set only, for which those revisions were specifically made. I do so certainly for the appendices, as all subsequent editions either lack appendices or include the 1996 text of those.
O, and I do have a dilapidated Dutch Hob from childhood, 1975 Prisma paperback with a Shire banquet on the covers. Must have read that to that state in the four years before I switched over to English - and the rest. I found it back about four years ago in my mother's garage.
In the later nineties I switched over to a HC one volume paperback for LotR (Howe's Gandalf cover).
Nowadays, my reading copy of LotR is a HM one volume paperback 50th anniversary, for Sil it is a first Billing printing A&U hardbound, since I've got two of those (one thrown in with a first edition LotR I bought at an auction). For Foster it's a 1978 A&U hardbound as well. For Hob I don't really have a reading copy, when I want to look up something I get out a 2nd annotated edition (hardbound). And I still use my old dilapidated UT.
I have bought better preserved copies of all the ruined paperbacks (exept Foster, I've got a Ballantine paperback of that, Hildebrant cover, and a Ted Nasmith HC hardbound), to stand on my shelf for old time's sake.
My HoMe 12 has also fallen apart, and 10 and 11 are about to, so in Moreton I bought a 3rd/3 volume HC hardback on the cheap, as a copy lacking the overall title page/copyright page was on offer.
Note that my reading is nearly all done in English - I have quite a few copies of all Dutch translations, but I don't really read them. When I do, I use an india paper Spectrum hardbound (2001 printing of 1996 second revision text) of LotR and the matching boxed set of Hob(2000 second revision text)/Sil(2000 first revision text)/UT(2000 printing of 1998 first revision text). When I need to check on the 2003 third revison texts of LotR and Hob I usually very carefully open the Alan Lee illustrated editions, issued in 2003 as a boxed set only, for which those revisions were specifically made. I do so certainly for the appendices, as all subsequent editions either lack appendices or include the 1996 text of those.
O, and I do have a dilapidated Dutch Hob from childhood, 1975 Prisma paperback with a Shire banquet on the covers. Must have read that to that state in the four years before I switched over to English - and the rest. I found it back about four years ago in my mother's garage.
2
86