Show me your collection of Tolkien books!

To keep us a bit entertained while we are waiting for the release of DoM, I have decided to create this thread.

I want to see your collection of Tolkien books. If you are not able to provide a photo, describe what you have! If you wish, you can also tell us how did you acquire your books and which one do you want most (if you don't have it). All books by Tolkien or by any other author writing (or drawing) about the world he created counts (Atlases and so on).

This is my collection:
http://shrani.si/f/1e/k3/2uNYfiAW/mytolkienbooks.jpg

As you can see, I have all the LotR books in paperback (arranged from left to right), The Hobbit (also in paperback), Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin (all books are in my native language, Slovene).

The LotR books were bought first about ten years ago I think. The Silmarillion was the next one I have bought. I've ordered the book on the website based in Slovenia with it's own delivery service. The guy who has delivered the book was an immigrant and he didn't speak Slovene very well so it was quite funny talking to him. Then I bought Children of Húrin in a bookstore in 2008. Surprisingly, The Hobbit was the last one to join the group last year, when I finally decided to buy it. Unfortunately, they've had it only in paperback :disgust:.

A year ago, while in London, I noticed Unfinished Tales in a bookstore, but didn't buy it as I was hoping it will be released in Slovene in the future :doh:. Which probably won't happen so I'll probably buy it in August when I'll visit London again. I don't plan to buy any other books yet, as my budget is a bit tight currently.

Now let me see your collection!

Good looking stuff you have there Dejeyo.
This may surprise many people, but i have no book of JRR Tolkien. LOTR i have taken from the library for reading(quite conveniently).
The other 3 i have them on my pc, ready to be read at any moment.
All i can hope is that i find a book sale with all of them, so that i'll have them all at once.

Nicem inspired topic Dejeyo.
Cheers Predator!

Spoiler for 5 rack bays full of JRRT: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img19/1381/1kopiel.png

Spoiler for close ups: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img802/4098/jrrt1.pngFrom left to right:
Silmarillion original 1st german edition, Silmarillion 10th german edition, Silmarillion english, illustrated by Ted Nasmith, Silmarillion english edition, Silmarillion original 1st english edition, another german Silmarillion, Book of lost Tales I in german, Book of lost Tales II in german, German Tolkien Dictionary (crap!)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/9370/jrrt2.pngHistory of Middle-earth in english :D

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img59/7234/jrrt3.pngFrom left to right:
LotR all in one illustrated german editon in the original Carroux translation called "The Red Book", Appendices to the LotR in german, Unfinished Tales in german, again in german, Unfinished Tales in english, HoM-e 7 & 8, original CT and JRRT recordings

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img692/4092/jrrt4.png
From left to right:
Book my father made with drawings of him illustrating the chapters concerning the 2nd and 3rd age in the Silmarillion, Pictures by JRRT, Original LotR comic from the Bakshi movie form '78, CWF's Atlas of Middle-earth in german, The Road goes ever on in english, Children of Hurin in german, The Hobbit in german, Narn-i-chin-Hurin in german, other works of or about JRRT including several postcards by various artists

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img593/4127/jrrt5.png
Another History of Middle-earth in english

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img405/8344/jrrt6.pngOriginal BBC Radio LotR adaption from 1981

You hadn't shown the whole pack of your collection last time we were descussing about it, Aikee :P I just rememebr 2 shelves with Tolkien and another one with Martin's series

Still not the whole collection, some books are borrowed by friends. And somehow I miss my french LotR and Silmarillion editions. But I can do without them ;)

Nerd :P

@Predator: Libraries are indeed quite convinient. I remember a friend recommending me The Hobbit when I was seven I think. So I went to the library and borrowed it. And my world has changed completely since then. The same friend told me five years ago that I am too obsessed with Tolkien's works :laughter::laughter::laughter:.

@Aikanár: Wow, what a collection! This is the dream of every Tolkien fan. So many original editions in several languages... I'll rep you and after I spread my rep, I'll rep you again :worship:.

:blushing: too kind of you. Well I had half a man's Life time to assemble that and the virus was planted as early as when I was 3 years old when my father read the Hobbit to me for bedtime story.

How a collection looks when you don't have a place of your own. :(


I really should put those into a bookshelf again...

Nice collection Thang! I see you have The History of Middle-earth series and several other books. I store my books in a closet (modified for books) which is too small for all of them. As a result, some are on my desk or a drawer and my room is really untidy.

Hehe, now I finally got to move those books out of the closet.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/attac...5&d=1359635648

Now, from left to right:
"The Sagas of Middle-earth" (german), a slipcase with the Book of Lost Tales 1&2, The Silmarillion and the "Compendium of the Wise of Middle-earth" that Aikánar labeled as "crap".

The Narn, illustrated by Alan Lee (english).

An old paperback edition of FotR my father bought in the early 1980s (english).

The Lord of the Rings, illustrated by Alan Lee (english).

The Lord of the Rings, visually beautiful, but unfortunately the infamous new german translation by Wolfgang Krege.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He was unsatisfied with Margaret Carroux' translation from the 1970 (which indeed was weird sometimes, Carroux wasn't german native speaker). So, Krege decided to "polish" LotR up, raping the language. Tolkien himself had used the language of social classes and of different times to represent characters, e.g. Samwise speaking a working class, modern English, the Witch-king speaking very archaic. Krege overdid this in his translation, the Hobbits' 1960's English was turned into a very sloppy 1990's German, and archaic stuff becomes hilarious. When I read some passages I think: "That's not even german!!!" I think one day I went through the Chapter "The Uruk-hai" and marked everything that seemed a really weird choice of words. I used a lot of red ink that day...
Examples? Sam doesn't call Frodo "Herr Frodo" (Master Frodo) but "Chef" (Boss). There somewhere is a lost-property office were Strider might pick up Hobbits stolen by Uruk-hai, there are bums (not the bodypart, the wino!) and "bad post" instead of "evil tidings". There are "idiots" instead of "fools" and Saruman opens a "company with his filthy white logo"

Map of Beleriand

The Historical Atlas of Middle-earth

Tolkien's World, a collection of paintings

History of Middle-earth, Vol X-XII

Unfinished Tales

The Tolkien Encyclopedia (as if I still needed stuff like that!)



What I still need:
The Silmarillion, english
The Hobbit, english
Some parts of the HoMe

Krege is just a fool, he was inclined to some extend to idiocy in his Silmarillion translation also, but not as much as with the "contemporary" LotR re-translation (wihtout closely working with JRRT in contrary to M.Carroux). Alas, I've lead those "Krege is an incompetent idiot" discussions 20 years ago, won and don't intend to go through that futility anymore. :D

Alas, i only have LotR, the green English paperback version.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thangaror

The Lord of the Rings, visually beautiful, but unfortunately the infamous new german translation by Wolfgang Krege.

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You could just tear off the cover and glue it onto a Carroux translation...
BTW, I don't recall her translation being weird. In fact, AFAIK, it was pretty good, with no Anglicisms, unlike most other books that were translated from English (just in case you were pondering to buy a German translation of Tinker,Tailor, Soldier, Spy and its sequels - DON'T DO IT). But then I only read it once.

i only have one book by him
THE LEGEND OF SIGURD & GUDRUN

I finally came home from the city where I study (pause between exams) so I can show my modest collection of books by Tolkien:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img542/4250/50726225.png
_____________The Fellowship of the Ring_____________________The Two Towers_____________

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img72/4820/52738784.png
____________The Return of the King_______________________The Hobbit__________________

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imageshack.us/a/img823/7258/32967839.png
_____________The Silmarillion_______________________________Unfinished Tales____________

All The Lord of the Rings books I received as a gift, and other three books I bought from one internet ads site. Books were in almost new condition and Unfinished Tales was brand new. One guy received it as a birthday present and wanted to get rid of it and I bought it from him for 50% of its price in a bookstore. Ah, yes all books are in Croatian language.

I was thinking about buying The Children of Húrin but I’m not quite sure... If it repeats most of the text from Silmarilion and Unfinished Tales word for word then I really don’t see the point. If the content is the same but retell the story differently, with more details than maybe I will buy it. I would like any opinion about that please. I also plan to buy The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Fonstad in nearer future and The History of Middle-earth series in a future with... well more money and free time.

@ Dejeyo
I like The Silmarillion and The Hobbit covers. Is it Gondolin of the first; can’t be sure?

Nice collection Jagmodo! When was Unfinished Tales translated into Croatian? I wonder because I still hope I will be able to buy it in Slovene in the near future.

I can only guess what is on the cover of The Silmarillion. There's no info about it inside the book and I haven't found anything on the internet. The only thing I know is that the illustrator is Mark Harrison and I don't think it's Gondolin. I think it could be Tirion upon Túna with Eärendil riding a horse in front of the city walls. I may be completely wrong though. It is described in The Silmarillion that Melkor bypassed Túna after his intentions were revealed by Fëanor (If the translation is proper, I don't posess English version). So Túna should lie in a valley with enough space for the city and a bit of free space. Judging by the cover you must go through the city. So I may be completely wrong or the illustrator has used a lot of artistic freedom. Has anybody any idea what could this cover represent?

Unfinished tales were translated to Croatian in 2005. Relatively recently, so there is chance that it will be also translated in Slovenian too. Hobbit movies can contribute to that too because they will spread interest in Tolkien related stuff.

I found the picture by searching the illustrator’s name. It depicts Minas Morgul and was cover of the same named album by Summoning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jagmodo

Unfinished tales were translated to Croatian in 2005. Relatively recently, so there is chance that it will be also translated in Slovenian too. Hobbit movies can contribute to that too because they will spread interest in Tolkien related stuff.

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Yes, I think there might be a chance. Last year, a new edition of The Hobbit was published, as well as Tolkien's World (in Slovene). I sent a mail today to the book publisher which published the LotR, The Hobbit and Children of Húrin, if they plan to translate Unfinished Tales in the near future.

Quote:

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I found the picture by searching the illustrator’s name. It depicts Minas Morgul and was cover of the same named album by Summoning.

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Thanks for info. He changed the cover of the album a bit for the Silmarillion. I've wondered what's on the cover since I have bought the book.

I must correct myself. I didn’t have peace about it because I knew I made very sloppy searching and the rider looked too out of the picture for Minas Morgul. After more detailed searching I found more about this artwork. Earliest usage of it I could find is as a cover of the book The Call of the Sword by Roger Taylor (first of the Chronicles of Hawklan book series) released in 1988. Later it was also used as a cover of a videogame Ishar: Legend of a Fortress (1992) and the Summoning take it from here for the cover of their album (1995).

Apparently the artwork originally didn’t represent anything Middle-earth related, but some fortress from the Chronicles of Hawklan series (Probably Narsindalvak or Anderras Darion; I don't know because I didn't read those books.).

Nice work, thank you. That explains why I couldn't figure out which city is depicted on the cover. I think Harrison has done an exceptional job with the covers of Chronicles of Hawklan books. Has anybody read those books yet? If so, are they any good?