# What condition are your books in?



## Beorn (Jan 25, 2004)

*What condition are your book in?*

I usually don't borrow books from libraries, since I usually reread them multiple times...What condition are your Tolkien books in? I'd say mine are somewhere around a 3...


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## Aulë (Jan 25, 2004)

Mine were still looking rather schmick until I took them into the 'outback'. Although I had read them several times, they had held together quite well. But they got hammered over the last 2 months- being thrown around dusty trucks and hastily thrown into bags. But at least my brand new full volume of HoME is still looking the goods.


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## Elbereth (Jan 26, 2004)

Well, it depends on the book really. 

Since most of my tolkien books are paperback...and I had a habit of reading them on the subway during my long commutes to work...the book is well used regardless of whether or not I had a book mark or not. 

My hardcover, illustrated version of the Lord of the Rings is immaculate! Actually I think I only read three chapters of the book since I bought it. (note: When I originally read LOTR ...I was reading a borrowed book...so the my book did not receive the wear and tear that I would ordinarily get after reading a full book.) Yay me! 

But for the most part I try to take good care of my books...I intend on reading them again...so I want them to last.


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## Niniel (Jan 26, 2004)

Most of my books look quite good (a four), beacuse usually I really take care not to damage them while reading. Only my LOTR copy is a bit worse, the cover is coming off and some pages are folded... but it's not that bad.


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## Sarde (Jan 26, 2004)

I have a paperback one volume edition of TLotR which I am reading now for the first time, so it looks pretty good. I have a brand new English copy of The Hobbit, which I read before, but in translation (belonged to my parents). It is my intention to re-read The Hobbit after finishing TLotR. I am planning to buy the Alan Lee Illustrated Editions of both The Hobbit and TLotR, but this will only be used for looking, not for reading (and to show off to friends of course ). The paperback versions are for reading, which I often do in bed, and I would not risk the Illustrated Edtion getting damaged.


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## Legolam (Jan 26, 2004)

Ack, I have really quite old paperback copies of LOTR and The Hobbit. They were printed about 14 years ago and accompanied me on most of my childhood holidays round Europe in a tent. So they're pretty battered, but not quite falling apart yet. The worst one is TTT (my favourite!), which I dropped in a pool near St Emilion in France (I remember the day well) and hasn't been quite the same since. Still legible though!!!

I don't buy books and keep them pristine - all the books I own get tattered pretty quickly and that's the way I like them! My flatmate and boyfriend own beautiful hardback copies of LOTR and are refusing to read them right now, which is just wrong!!


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## Sarde (Jan 26, 2004)

Well, if you have one copy for reading and one copy for tattering... But I am a bibliophile (?) who loves to have beautiful hardcover books in her bookcase, even if they're just for flipping through...


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## Lindir (Jan 26, 2004)

I have two paperback editions. The first one is in a very sad condition, it doesn't hold together at all. The other one I bought last year, so that's in exellent condition, so far. I also have the book in three separate paperback volumes and I'm not sure I have read those at all. 
My first The Hobbit is also in sad disrepair, wheras my second is fine.
And even though I have nice new editions, I can't seem to throw away my old ones. They are like old friends.


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## Gandalf White (Jan 26, 2004)

It depends on which of my books I look at, but most are Excellent, so that's what I selected. 

My paperback version of the Hobbit, FotR, TTT, and RotK was in pretty good shape until I lent them to my father and then brother to read; they now rate a 2 or 3. Then I got all three in hardback, still in perfect condition along with my Sil and UT.


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## celebdraug (Jan 26, 2004)

most of them a pretty good, 'cept a few bent pages but nothing major weel except the hobbir, the pages are kinda falling apart! But i got a new copy (kinda posh) so it all good now!


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## Turin (Jan 26, 2004)

My paperback version of the Hobbit and LotR are 'well used', my sister had them before me and she likes to bend the front of the book behind it, but they're still very much readable. My giant hardback version with all the LotR books in it is in perfect condition. I've kept it that way since I got it for Christmas in 2001. Unfinished tales is in excelent condition because I've only read it once. Bolt 1 and 2 are also in excelent condition, I have barely started to read those. I don't own the Sil, I did check it out from the library, its in pretty good condition, so is 'The end of the third age', another library book.


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## Arvedui (Jan 26, 2004)

My translated LotR-copy is in a lousy state, while my English version is still a 5. But I am afraid I might have to get a new _Silmarillion_, as my present is closing in on a 1. The rest is somewhere between 5 and 6 I think, with the _Atlas of Middle-earth_ being at a 4.


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## 33Peregrin (Jan 30, 2004)

My very first copy of FOTR is in pretty bad shape... I had to tape part of the cover back on. But it's OK... readable and still pretty. When that was ruined, I actually bought a new one so I would have a perfect copy of it. But don't worry about me too much, in the end I gave it to a friend for their birthday. My TTT is pretty bad, but has always been bad.... it was already bad when I found it in my history class room two years ago. It was all highlighted in erasable highliter, and the front page said 'Read 11.5 pages a day to finish on TIME'. I erased all of it, but it's still pretty bad. My ROTK I bought and kept in perfect condition the first time I read it, then I brought it too school in my backback.... and the cover is bent up. It kind of has a bad smell to it because it was in my backpack when my 'famous' rotten banana was beggining to rot. Well, those are the copies of the books that I read out of the most, and they are there to get tattered. 
My Hobbit.... the one I bought is in perfect condition. I read it mostly out of my dad's old Hobbit that was supposed to be due in a German school in 1975. I also have blue hardback copie of the hobbit, which is in pretty good condition except for a frayed corner.
I have another one volume edition of LOTR, which is the one with the black rider on the cover. It's in good condition except for some water I spilled on one of its pages, and the cover is bent in half because of how I stepped on it. I also have the illustrated edition by Alan Lee. Those are in perfect condition, I have had them for a year, but only use them to be pretty on my Tolkien shelf, and to look at the pictures. I hope to read them one day.
My Sils.... I had one really pretty one that my dad bought me in Texas. It was so pretty, and I loved it. Alas, it was in my back pack at the time of my rotten banana.... then my friend gave me instructions on how to wash a book.... and so, it didn't turn out so well. I was so sad... I couldn' find that copy, so I had to look all over the internet for one. I have it, and it's in decent condition, but it's been read before. As a result of everything, I am too afraid to read it. It is just a paperback... but I don't want to ruin it. My other Sil is paperback, and is a big purple one. I am afraid to read out of that perfect one too.
My UT and My HOME books are in perfect condition because I have read them only once, and only in my room, and some I have still to read.


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## Sarde (Jan 30, 2004)

33Peregrin said:


> it was already bad when I found it in my history class room two years ago. It was all highlighted in erasable highliter, and the front page said 'Read 11.5 pages a day to finish on TIME'.



Interesting... In time for what, one wonders... Gues it didn't work out in the end. 11,5 pages??? I read 100 the other day, I guess I'll finish in time.


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## Lantarion (Jan 30, 2004)

*Here, why don't I walk you through it..*

*LotR copies*
Original one: This was my mother's originally, she only flipped through it once..  It's in terrible shape, but it's understandable because it's a three-in-one paperback (OMG) and it's over thirty years old. Well, the back and front covers have long since fallen off (I think I have the back cover somewhere), and it only had the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen at the back, and almost half of that is now missing.. But I love it to bits. 
Box Set: This is a seven-book set, one for each actual Book and one for the Appendices (their spines spell the word TOLKIEN, yay). Book I is in bad shape compared to the rest, I left it out in the rain for a few minutes last summer and the covers fell off as a result. But the rest are in ok condition; but I don't mean to keep them in perfect order, they are my reading-books which are allowed to be a little tattered.
Perfect edition: This is a Three-in-one, but hardback. I got it for Christmas in 2002, and it's my mint-copy which I aim to keep in great condition and keep as an heirloom of my House.  And it has John Howe's illustration on Gandalf on the cover WOOT.

*Silmarillion copies*
Original one: This I bought like four or five years ago from some bookstore in Jyväskylä (central Finland).. At the time I had only heard of it and its importance in Tolkien's mythos, and I only wanted it to check if it was really worth reading. It took me ages to even begin at first, but I read it through fairly quickly, missing over half of it. I've read it two or three times since, properly, and understood a bit more.  
Anyway! It's not in as terrible condition as you might think; the back cover has fallen off, yes, but the front cover is still.. oh no, sorry, both the covers have fallen.. I am really bad with paperbacks apparently, remember not to lend me any in the future.  It's a damn shame about this copy too, 'cause it had Howe's painting of the Siege of Gondolin. I have the cover somewhere though. Anyway this copy is excellent for reading, because it's paperback and already a bit busted.
Perfect edition: Hahaw, now this is a true mint copy. It's in its own box, and it has with it a colour-illustrated map of Beleriand, and an audio-CD with Christopher Tolkien reading the Tale of Beren and Lúthien. There is also a neat little fact sheet with lots of Elven House-emblems and info about them. Good stuff, but it's a small book and hardcover so it isn't that enjoyable to read. Another heirloom. 

*Hobbit copies*
Original one: This is a wonderful book, I adore the cover; it's an artistic picture of Mirkwood, very green and lovely and dense, with Erebor and Smaug in the distance and the Hithaeglir on the sides. I think it's by Tolkien himself actually, it's in such a similar style to his drawings. Well, this copy is in great shape, even thuogh I've had it for a few years (I don't even remember when I bought it); but there are some words I've written in the Moon-runes, which I learned from Thorin's Map. LOL
Finnish one: This is in perfect shape, because I've never opened it. I'm not that crazy about reading in Finnish, at least not translations, and at least not of books that I love. But the picture on it is cool, it's Tolkien's picture of Bilbo and Smaug.
Alan Lee copy: This is also in perfect shape; it has Alan Lee's painting of Smaug on the cover, it's very beautiful. The book is my younger brother's, explaining why it is in such good and unopened condition. 


I also have some copies of HoME, BoLT1+2, and Volumes 5, 10 and 11. They are all in excellent conditiona nd they are beautiful, not all from the same published series but all with Howe's paitnings on the covers!! YAY! 
But I want to read all the HoME's in order, and I'm sort of in the middle of BoLT 2 right now..
Oh and I also have Karen Wynn-Fonstad's revised "Atlas of Tolkien's Middle-earth", Robert Foster's excellent "Complete Guide to Middle-earth", Jim Allan's, or should I say jallan's, fantastic linguistic and etymological collection of essays "An Introduction to Elvish".. All in great shape.


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## Niirewen (Jan 30, 2004)

My paperback set of LOTR is in pretty sad condition.. it's been read through several times by myself, and a by few others I lended them to. They're starting to fall apart, but they'll last awhile longer. I adore my pretty hardback set, which is in near perfect condition, and is actually fairly new. (And each book has a big map of ME that unfolds which I love) My Hobbit is a paperback and it's been well-read but it's still in pretty good condition. My Sil and UT (both paperback) are in much better condition than my paperback LOTR set because I haven't read them nearly as many times. And my paperback set of HoME is in very good condition, mostly because I haven't read all of them yet.


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## Adrastea (Jan 30, 2004)

The first lotr books I read was my brother's copy. That copy is in good condition. I then bought my own paperback copy, it is in an ok condition. Not many of the corners are bent because I normaly use a bookmark. The front and back cover are pretty creased though. The Hobbit was orginaly my brother's but now I have claimed it as my own. It is a poor condition, but I blame that on my brother who had it for a few years before I claimed it. My Sil copy is in good condition but that is because I have only read parts of it.


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## Starflower (Jan 31, 2004)

my original three-book version of LOTR is nearly disintegrated, it was in constant use for over ten years, but the binding was never really good so some of the pages are fallign out. Then I bought a one-volume edition paperback which is my current one, its not too bad, the cover is a bit bent and the pages a re a little smudged but all in all, not as bad as one would think. I have the Hobbit I got when I was 9, its a hardback Finnish edition and its near-original condition, as its a hardback and back then I was more careful about my books  I had a paperback Silmarillion, but it was poorly bound and dissolved fairly quickly, now I am reading my fiancee's version and it's going down the same road.. lol... I know I have the Letters of JRRT somewhere among my books, but as they are scattered around two countries and three households, I can't actually get my hands on it  which means its perfect apart from its papercover which is a bit tattered
We have a couple of the HoMe books, which are barely read, they are more reference books thant for actual reading so they are spared the worst.

All of my books are in various states of disfiguration, I tend to fold the corners and fold the binding and read them on the Tube and throw them around in the back.. I have very few hardcover books, they are more 'special reading', classic novels and major epics, but I have maybe 10 of those, rest 400-odd are paperbacks


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## Elfhelm25 (Jan 31, 2004)

Baaaaad shape . Bad , bad shape. Those poor books have been to , um, Heck , and back.


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## Rhiannon (Feb 1, 2004)

It depends on which copies we're talking about...

The Lord of the Rings

*Paperback set #1*: Mass-market paperbacks from the 80s, all very badly battered, some of them losing pages, _The Two Towers_ lost its front cover, and the cover of _The Return of the King_ is torn. The cover art is, I believe, taken from Tolkien's artwork.

*Paperback set #2*: Mass-market paperbacks from the 90s, which technically belong to my brother. _Hideous_, nasty cover art by Darrell Sweet, who should be shot and not allowed to do fantasy covers anymore. _The Two Towers_ lost both its front and back covers, _The Return of the King_ lost its front cover, but I re-attached it with contact paper, and covered _The Fellowship of the Ring_ as well, because it was starting to wear through. 

*Hardback #1*: Special-edition red leather copy of _The Lord of the Rings_, which my mom gave to my dad before they were married. It's been read aloud seven or eight times and taken from climate to climate, but has held together pretty well, considering--This past year the spine developed a bad crack, though, and part of it tore. 

*Hardback #2*: _My_ special edition red leather copy of _The Lord of the Rings_, which I got for my sixteenth birthday (almost two years ago). It's in absolutely perfect condition still, since I read out of the paperbacks unless we're reading aloud. There's an inscription in the margins of 'The Battle of Pelennor Fields' to me from Papa. 

Other

*The Hobbit*: Papa's special edition green leather copy of _The Hobbit_, which is in perfect condition still, and my younger sister's new copy of the same edition, also still perfect. We have a battered mass market paperback copy somewhere, but I can never find it. 

*The Silmarillion*: Papa's hardback is in good condition except for the dust jacket, which is badly torn but still intact enough to be left on the book. 

*The Letters*: My trade paperback copy of _The Letters_ is in very good condition, though it's starting to look a little worn around the edges from being flipped through. 

*The Tolkien Reader*: A small, old paperback, still in good shape, if a little worn. 

And all of our other Tolkien books are small paperbacks in varying states of health.


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## Sarde (Feb 1, 2004)

Wow, Rhiannon, you have a very Tolkien-minded family!


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## Rhiannon (Feb 1, 2004)

Sarde said:


> Wow, Rhiannon, you have a very Tolkien-minded family!


I know, isn't it wonderful? We start 'em young in this house. Papa has been reading _The Lord of the Rings_ outloud almost every year since I was five years old.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Feb 1, 2004)

Beorn said:


> I usually don't borrow books from libraries, since I usually reread them multiple times...What condition are your Tolkien books in? I'd say mine are somewhere around a 3...



Most of them are in good shape (I have three copies of LOTR), but one LOTR set is in shreds. I don't dare throw it away because it's full of my notes. It's held to together with masking tape and even duct tape!

Lotho


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## Ireth Telrúnya (Feb 2, 2004)

I just got my preciousss from mail straight from England! In mint condition the whole trilogy! I'll start reading it tonight. My preciousss, my preciouss...!!!


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## Barliman Butterbur (Feb 2, 2004)

Ireth Telrúnya said:


> I just got my preciousss from mail straight from England! In mint condition the whole trilogy! I'll start reading it tonight. My preciousss, my preciouss...!!!



Blesss uss and splash uss! Iss there no ordering from Amazon.com?;0

Lotho


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## Courtney (Feb 20, 2004)

Ummm...... I like to refer to mine as "well-loved."

After reading a paperback book for the 2nd or 3rd time, the binding gets all nice and bent so that they stay open easier. After the 7th 8th 9th times, my books start to turn yellow on the edges... Once you get into the double-digits of readings the the pages may start to come out at the bindings.

I NEVER bend pages, though.
And I NEVER write in books. I don't care when people write in their own books, but when people write in library books... in pen... saying your favorite character dies... grrrrrrrrr.... then I get angry...


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## Minuel Lasgalas (Feb 21, 2004)

Either I or my sister still have [between the two of us], the first set - 60s/early 70s: my father's set - of LOTR paperbacks and they are in _terrible shape_, taped covers, etc. 

I have a second set, somewhere... 

The third set - '83 I think - is holding up, but I recently bought a second edition boxed '78 hardbound set and that is what I have been using. 

The Sil I currently own is a replacement first edition, I lent out the first one that I received when it came out in '77. Bad call on my part. I have a paperback somewhere also that I read prior to getting the replacement.

While I am terribly tempted, I refuse to write in the [hardbound] books, instead I copy the pages in question and have my notes in a binder... and everywhere else in the house for that matter.


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## Rhiannon (Feb 21, 2004)

The only book I write in is my Bible (which has large margins just for that purpose), and I _wanted_ to write in _Mere Christianity_ as I was reading it (or at least underline), but couldn't because it was my brother's copy. I've never been tempted to write in a novel, though--certainly not spoilers!


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## Eledhwen (Mar 9, 2004)

My 3-part LotR fell apart completely, but my kind husband has bought me a new single volume copy. Hobbit has held up a bit better, but a large illustrated edition takes some of the strain off the little one. Unfinished Tales is out on loan, and the Silmarillion has been recently replaced. BoLT1 is a treasure I won on this forum, and the rest of HoME I have always borrowed from the library. Farmer Giles and Roverandom are bearing up well (I think! Roverandom is in my daughter's bedroom somewhere). The Letters of Father Christmas get only seasonal attention, so I expect they'll fare better than most volumes.


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## Confusticated (Mar 9, 2004)

My LotR is in fair contition with the exception of TTT which has been treated badly by chance and a mean little brother... it's hardly in a condition to read. They are exactly two years old... TT and RoTK had been read 4 times... FotR 5 times. The first two time I read TTT and FotR it was from a library.

My Silmarillion is not even two years old and has been read through three times, but all the same it is somehow in the worst condition of them all. The back cover is off... the back map and a couple appendix pages are also off of it. The front cover is in bad contition. Needs to be replaced but I am strangely attached to it.

Most of HoME is in excellent contition... especially the hard cover ones. HoME 1 & 2 and HoME 5 are a little bit worn, nothing serious. 

The next book I buy will probably be a hard cover Silmarillion. But I am saving my original forever.


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## Tinuvien21 (Mar 9, 2004)

My books are in OK condition, Some folded pages, but my Sil book is like new (even though I've read it ALOT.) FOTR, and TTT books are good, but I lent my friend ROTK,(Why in the world did I do that?!  ) and she dropped in the snow, and her brothers stepped on it.  So, it's all wrinkled, and nasty. My poor book.  It makes me even more mad, because that one's my fave in the trilogy.


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## GuardianRanger (Mar 10, 2004)

Like a lot of you, I have mulitple copies of a lot of the books. I generally try to keep all of my books in pristine condition; even my mass-market paperbacks (of which I seem to have a lot of.) My copy of the Silmarillion I bought used off of EBay, and it certainly has seen better days. I sort of like that, because I don't have to worry about keeping it in great condition. The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring are a little worn, as those books have been lent out a couple of times. Everything else is in excellent condition. I'm thinking of getting a hardcover, one vollume Lord Of The Rings for my regular reading, and use my paperbacks for travelling.


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## baragund (Mar 10, 2004)

Like most of you, the condition of my books vary quite a bit. All of them are hardcover.

My wife gave me a 50th anniversary edition of The Hobbit in 1988 for Christmas. It _would_ be in good condition today if it weren't for our new (at the time) basset hound puppy finding it on the coffee table shortly after it was given to me and deciding it was a chew toy. Arrrrgh!!

I bought my set of LOTR around 1990 and I am very careful with them even though they have been read 5-6 times over the years. They are a reprint of the 2nd edition that came out in the '60s.

I bought my current copy of the Sil within the last two years and it's pretty immaculate.

I bought my copy of UT as a first edition hardcover when it came out in 1979. I was in high school at the time. Other than general yellowing of the paper and a small tear on the paper jacket, it's in good shape.

Vol. 1-8 of the HOME series was bought second hand from Amazon and they are generally except you can tell they have been read once or twice. Vol. 9-12 are brand new. I bought all of them within the past year.


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## Ravenna (Mar 27, 2004)

Well, I've worn out one set of LoTR paperbacks over the last 20 odd years and my more recent set has been pretty well used, largely becuse my son has been reading them (although I really should stop reading them in the bath!  ). The Hobbit, Sil, UT and HoME are in somewhat better condition as I go back to them less often, apart from references.
My hardback LoTR, Hobbit and Sil have never been read so they are still perfectly pristine.


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## Garwen (Mar 31, 2004)

*My Coppies are Pretty Bad*

I am proud to say that my first coppies are very well read/ falling apart. But I do have a hard cover in great shape. And I have a new box set/ movie covers that I haven't opened yet.


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## Inderjit S (Apr 20, 2004)

Sadly, due to over-use my paperback copy of LoTR is in tatters. I need to buy a new copy. My other Tolkien books and books in general are in good condition.


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## Capitan Pirata (Apr 20, 2004)

Mines are in excellent shape. 
Well, usually all my books and things are like that .I´m a careful person


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