# Rare and collectable Tolkien



## Ealdwyn (Jul 10, 2020)

I spotted this today. What a find! Would you sell it or would you keep it?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/10/experience-i-found-a-fortune-in-a-charity-shop

Do you have any collectable/rare copies of Tolkien's works?
I have a first edition of Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, published in 1977 and 1980, but they're not particularly rare.


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## Elthir (Jul 10, 2020)

In another thread I mentioned that I own a copy of _The Children of Hurin _signed by Alan Lee and Christopher Tolkien. And while not Tolkien's works, I own two books from Tolkien's personal library. 

One is signed in Tolkien's calligraphic hand.

I guard these with 🦡 🦡 🦡 and a 🐉

Edit (with respect to the other book):

I decided to get out my _Ormulum_ and look up the name again. The sole reference to this person in my H&S guides -- whose name I couldn't read clearly for years -- appears once in Hammond and Scull's massive book _Chronology_ . . .

*Entry 22 July 1925* "The electors to the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon meet: they are H. M. Chadwick, Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Cambridge; R.W. Chambers, Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, University College, London; *Hermann G. Fiedler,* Taylorian Professor of the German Language and Literature, Oxford; C.T. Onions, Lecturer in English, Oxford; ( . . .)"

The book reads (in pencil):

to H G Fiedler
who gave it me
JRRT

Ormulum (pencil, partially underlined)

And there's a short bit of writing above all this in German -- but again, due the handwriting, all I can make out right now is the last word: _Verfasser_ "writer, author"

🐾


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 10, 2020)

Nope, nothing even remotely close to that, or anything like Elthir has, either. 

As he mentioned, some things are discussed on the Book Covers thread, where you can also see photos. Some hard-to-find -find Russian editions on display too, along with their lovely owner.


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## Elthir (Jul 10, 2020)

By the way, where is* Alice Alice* these days?


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 10, 2020)

She just finished final exams. I'm hoping she'll have more time for posting now.


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## Deleted member 12094 (Jul 12, 2020)

It was of course not me who had bought this !


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## Elthir (Jul 12, 2020)

That's awesome!

As an aside, the person in the link who descrobe the lines as Elvish verse, meant to say Anglo Saxon, for:

*"There is many a thing in the West-regions unknown to men, marvels and strange beings, a land fair and lovely, the homeland of the Elves"* (See _The Lost Road_ page 44, but the version there runs differently beyond this, while Tolkien writes here) "*precious stones shining secretly in mountain caves" *[not my translations]

Also, the word for precious stones is the same word Tolkien used to translate _Silmarils_, and is related to the word Arkenstone.

🐾


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## Deleted member 12094 (Jul 18, 2020)

Quickly all: rush ! Here...!


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## Erestor Arcamen (Jul 18, 2020)

🤯


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## Ealdwyn (Jul 18, 2020)

Merroe said:


> Quickly all: rush ! Here...!


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## Elthir (Aug 3, 2020)

*Off topic*: anyone here own a Ballantine second (revised) edition printed in the 1960s? And if so, does RK read "House of Finrod" or Finarfin at the end of Appendix F?

I'm _guessing_ _*Finrod*_*,* but would like to confirm. My two 70s printings have Finrod. I also have two thirds of another BB "set" -- and of that my _Fellowship of the Ring_ was printed in Tolkien's lifetime, but my _Return of the King_ is no more.

Any help probably won't be appreciated much, but it'll give you something to do 

🐾


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 3, 2020)

Elthir said:


> *Off topic*: anyone here own a Ballantine second (revised) edition printed in the 1960s? And if so, does RK read "House of Finrod" or Finarfin at the end of Appendix F?
> 
> I'm _guessing_ _*Finrod*_*,* but would like to confirm. My two 70s printings have Finrod. I also have two thirds of another BB "set" -- and of that my _Fellowship of the Ring_ was printed in Tolkien's lifetime, but my _Return of the King_ is no more.
> 
> ...


I have a much-dog-eared Ballantine paperback edition printed in the 1960s, but I can't tell what edition it is. In Appendix F, in the section titled "On Translation," I found a sentence that says: "They [the Quendi] were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden House of Finrod..."

Hope this helps!



frodolives7601 said:


> I have a much-dog-eared Ballantine paperback edition printed in the 1960s, but I can't tell what edition it is. In Appendix F, in the section titled "On Translation," I found a sentence that says: "They [the Quendi] were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden House of Finrod..."
> 
> Hope this helps!


Sorry, one correction to what I wrote above: "house" is a lower-case "h" in the quote.


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## Elthir (Aug 3, 2020)

frodolives7601 said:


> I have a much-dog-eared Ballantine paperback edition printed in the 1960s, but I can't tell what edition it is. In Appendix F, in the section titled "On Translation," I found a sentence that says: "They [the Quendi] were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden House of Finrod..."




Thanks* Frodo Lives*! As long as it's Ballantine Books and the last printing date is in the 1960s, that's what I was looking for. A first US printing of BB (for a second edition revised by Tolkien himself) should be dated October 1965. Tolkien revised these editions in response to copyright concerns in the US.

One of my Fellowships is a ninth printing October 1966, but my RK had to be replaced for overuse.

*Thanks again!*


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## rollinstoned (Aug 3, 2020)

My dream would be to own a first edition Hobbit. 

Unless I hit oil or gold, it isn't happening.


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 3, 2020)

Elthir said:


> Thanks* Frodo Lives*! As long as it's Ballantine Books and the last printing date is in the 1960s, that's what I was looking for. A first US printing of BB (for a second edition revised by Tolkien himself) should be dated October 1965. Tolkien revised these editions in response to copyright concerns in the US.
> 
> One of my Fellowships is a ninth printing October 1966, but my RK had to be replaced for overuse.
> 
> *Thanks again!*


Glad I could help! My copy is pretty tattered, too; a bunch of pages are bent, and part of the back cover is missing.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 3, 2020)

I know I've said it before, but if you have the time, it's worth going to library book sales, yard sales, flea markets, and stopping by your local Goodwill or charity and junks stores, every chance you get. Admittedly, up to nine out of ten times will turn up nothing, but that tenth one will make up for the others.


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 3, 2020)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> I know I've said it before, but if you have the time, it's worth going to library book sales, yard sales, flea markets, and stopping by your local Goodwill or charity and junks stores, every chance you get. Admittedly, up to nine out of ten times will turn up nothing, but that tenth one will make up for the others.
> 
> View attachment 7776


That is a wild cover illustration! The cover of my copy of _ROTK_ has a drawing of what is supposed to be Barad-dur, but it looks like a high school from the '60s.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 4, 2020)

That's the artwork used for the first Ballantine paperbacks, by Barbara Remington. Tolkien hated it. There's a hilarious letter from him expressing his reaction. It was used from 1965 into 1973, at which time Ballantine switched to covers using Tolkien's own art. It sounds like that's what you have, so your copy isn't really a 60's printing.

Remington made one large painting, which was divided into three for the separate volumes. You can see them, with a link to an interview with her, here:









Lord of the Rings - Ballantine First Editions


Barbara Remington Cover artwork. Click on a thumbnail image to see more detail on that particular item. These were the first official paperbacks release...




www.tolkienguide.com





Whether the change in the artwork happened because people became aware of Tolkien's dissatisfaction, or because they were considered too "60's psychedelic" for the 70's, I don't really know. It may have been because of the author's death. Or just to justify a price increase. The original price was 95 cents, although IIRC it went up to $1.25 at one point, while maintaining the same covers. I believe the price went to $1.50 with the change, but if so, it was soon raised to $1.75.

More info in the Book Covers thread:









Tolkien Book Covers


I was leafing through my copy of 'The Book of Lost Tales II' earlier and was really struck by its cover - It's a picture by Roger Garland of the Fall of Gondolin and shows the Walls of Gondolin being attacked by Tolkien's earlier 'mechanical' dragons and a swarm of orcs coming out of the...




www.thetolkienforum.com




I don't recall if the full painting was posted there, so here it is:


Ballantine produced a huge poster of it, which you could buy for five dollars. Try finding one for that now.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 4, 2020)

Elthir said:


> Any help probably won't be appreciated much


How about this: an only slightly BEdiLapidATED Happy Birthday, from Herr Enrich?


I hope it was an enjoyable one!


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 4, 2020)

Elthir said:


> Thanks* Frodo Lives*! As long as it's Ballantine Books and the last printing date is in the 1960s, that's what I was looking for. A first US printing of BB (for a second edition revised by Tolkien himself) should be dated October 1965. Tolkien revised these editions in response to copyright concerns in the US.
> 
> One of my Fellowships is a ninth printing October 1966, but my RK had to be replaced for overuse.
> 
> *Thanks again!*


Hi Elthir,

My apologies. After reading SeS's note below, I looked at my book again. I had been focusing on the copyright and date of first printing, both of which were 1965, but hadn't noticed that the last printing date listed was 1973. I'm sorry to disappoint you! Hopefully someone with a 60s printing will respond.



Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> That's the artwork used for the first Ballantine paperbacks, by Barbara Remington. Tolkien hated it. There's a hilarious letter from him expressing his reaction. It was used from 1965 into 1973, at which time Ballantine switched to covers using Tolkien's own art. It sounds like that's what you have, so your copy isn't really a 60's printing.
> 
> Remington made one large painting, which was divided into three for the separate volumes. You can see them, with a link to an interview with her, here:
> 
> ...


This is really interesting. (I just looked at the interview of Barbara Remington and the material leading up to it.) So she was given no time to read the books beforehand and asked her friends to tell her about the story! One wonders what, exactly, her friends told her. It's curious that they apparently didn't mention hobbits or elves, or even a ring! And the FOTR cover appears to contain emus and a gecko; where did she pull those from? One could probably do a whole book on the history of cover art.


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## Elthir (Aug 4, 2020)

No problem *Frodo Lives*! Effort appreciated. I found someone with a 1965 BB edition, and for my birthday (thanks *S-eS*), I made a comparison below with two of my own copies.


The Lord of The Rings, first edition, Allen and Unwin, fifth impression, 1959

Appendix B _"But the wife of Celeborn was Noldorin: Galadriel, sister of Felagund of the House of Finrod."_

Appendix F I _"Noblest of all was the Lady Galadriel of the royal house of Finrod, Father of Felagund, Lord of Nargothrond."_

Appendix F II _" . . . their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finrod."_

Ballantine Books, revised second edition, 1965

Appendix B _"In Lindon south of Lune there dwelt for a time Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol; his wife was Galadriel, greatest of elven women. She was sister of Finrod Felegund, Friend-of-Men, once king of Nargothrond..."_

Appendix F I _"Noblest of all was the Lady Galadriel, of the royal house of Finarphir and sister of Finrod Felagund, King of Nargothrond."_

Appendix F II _"They were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finrod; . . ."_

HarperCollins 2004

Appendix B _". . . his wife was Galadriel, greatest of Elven women. She was sister of Finrod Felagund, Friend-of-Men, once king of Nargothrond . . ."_

Appendix F I _"Noblest of all was the Lady Galadriel, of the royal house of Finarfin and sister of Finrod Felagund, King of Nargothrond."_

Appendix F II _" . . . golden House of Finarfin"_


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 4, 2020)

Oh, good -- I discovered I do have a Ballantine First Printing of RK (not the one I showed); now I don't need to handle it.

So what's the source of the 2004 edition changes?


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 4, 2020)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Oh, good -- I discovered I do have a Ballantine First Printing of RK (not the one I showed); now I don't need to handle it.
> 
> So what's the source of the 2004 edition changes?


I'm wondering, too!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 4, 2020)

Since I raised the OT subject, I'll quote, for those without a copy of Tolkien's Letters -- which I recommend acquiring ASAP -- a couple of excerpts from No. 277, 12 September 1965, to Rayner Unwin, on his reaction to Ballantine's cover for The Hobbit. First, he paraphrased a note he sent to Houghton Mifflin, his American publishers:

_. . .I must ask this about the vignette: what has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why a lion and emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs? I do not understand how anybody who had read the tale (I hope you are one) could think such a picture would please the author._

He then related a conversation with the US publisher's UK representative:

_Mrs. _____ did not find time to visit me. She rang me up. I had a longish conversation; but she seemed to me impermeable. I should judge that all she wanted was that I should recant, be a good boy and and react favorably. When I made the above points again, her voice rose several tones and she cried: 'But the man hadn't TIME to read the book!' (As if that settled it. A few minutes conversation with the 'man', and a glance at the American edition's pictures should have been sufficient.) With regard to the pink bulbs she said as if to one of complete obtusity: 'they are meant to suggest a Christmas Tree'. Why is such a woman let loose? I begin feel I am shut up in a madhouse. Perhaps with more experience you know of some way out of the lunatic labyrinth._

I don't know who the 'man' was she was referring to.

Here's the cover in question, about which he also commented "horrible colours and foul lettering":


To bring this post slightly back on topic, that's the first printing, from August 1965; by the time of the February printing, the lion has been painted out, so if you come across a "Lion Hobbit", you have something of at least modest collector value.


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## frodolives7601 (Aug 4, 2020)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Since I raised the OT subject, I'll quote, for those without a copy of Tolkien's Letters -- which I recommend acquiring ASAP -- a couple of excerpts from No. 277, 12 September 1965, to Rayner Unwin, on his reaction to Ballantine's cover for The Hobbit. First, he paraphrased a note he sent to Houghton Mifflin, his American publishers:
> 
> _. . .I must ask this about the vignette: what has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why a lion and emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs? I do not understand how anybody who had read the tale (I hope you are one) could think such a picture would please the author._
> 
> ...


That's pretty hilarious. Poor Tolkien. Thanks for sharing that.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Aug 4, 2020)

Maybe I understated things a bit with "modest"; checking listings, I see copies offered from $85 to as high as $225!


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## Elthir (Aug 4, 2020)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Oh, good -- I discovered I do have a Ballantine First Printing of RK (not the one I showed); now I don't need to handle it.



A second confirmation would be nice though  Would you check it for a 🍪?



> So what's the source of the 2004 edition changes?



Oh. I just chose a random later edition of mine to illustrate the later changes. With respect to the Appendix *F II* passage [not F I], Hammond and Scull write in their _Reader's Guide to The Lord of the Rings_ . . .



> *"As first published, "Finarfin" read "Finrod". In the Allen & Unwin three-volume paperback edition (1974) "Finrod" was changed to "Finarphir" (first and second printing), then to "Finarphin" (third printing, 1975), and finally "Finarfin" (fourth printing, 1976), as Christopher Tolkien determined the name to be used in The Silmarillion (1977)."*



🐾


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## tolkieniano (Apr 8, 2022)

Elthir said:


> In another thread I mentioned that I own a copy of _The Children of Hurin _signed by Alan Lee and Christopher Tolkien. And while not Tolkien's works, I own two books from Tolkien's personal library.
> 
> One is signed in Tolkien's calligraphic hand.
> 
> ...



Hi Heltir, [I tried to send a pm.] I would like to ask you more details about the books in Tolkien's library (title, author, publisher, date). I would appreciate that.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Apr 8, 2022)

Elthir said:


> A second confirmation would be nice though  Would you check it for a 🍪?


Sorry, old bean -- somehow this got lost in the shuffle.* So, I sorted through my copies and located my BB First -- yep, identical to your citations. 

Now, do I have to wait two years for my 🍪?


* You know how my brain is -- always Heltir Skeltir. 🤪


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## Ealdwyn (Apr 10, 2022)

I thought this was interesting. Anybody know anything about it? A scroll created by Tom Loback in the 1990's to illustrate the Silmarillion.
For more pics follow this link to ebay


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Apr 10, 2022)

I knew Tom a bit, back in the 70s. He had a miniatures company, Dragontooth. Unusually, he sculpted his figures in beeswax, using a lost wax molding method to make bronze masters. I bought a number of his figures back then; here are a couple of examples (not mine!):



Haradrim:


He was quite a character. Back then, he normally slept all day, and cast figures at night, something I discovered to my chagrin, after waking him up with a noon phone call.


He abandoned this phase of his activities sometime in late 80s; unfortunately for collectors of his figures, he refused to sell his lines or his masters, for some reason, and worse, almost all the masters were later destroyed in a warehouse fire.

I didn't learn that he'd plunged so deeply into Tolkien work until a few years ago. There's a listing of some of his articles here:









Tom Loback


Tom Loback (1949 — 5 March 2015) was a linguist and artist from New York. His artwork has been published in Beyond Bree, Vinyar Tengwar, Mythlore, Parma Eldalamberon...




tolkiengateway.net





I see several listings for the scrolls he did -- now going for high prices. As are his illustrations.


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