All the middle earth books you have?

I think my current thought is to test it on my copy of the Parma Eldalamberon No. 17 first to see what they can do.
It's not the best copy, but I'd like to have it bound and available.
Maybe there's a way I can improve it first... I'll see.

edit: I'd also like to turn it into a searchable .pdf but need to find an appropriate tool to do the conversion.

Ent said:

edit: I'd also like to turn it into a searchable .pdf but need to find an appropriate tool to do the conversion.

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I used to have some OCR software, but that was several computers ago. Otherwise, I'd do it for you.

Gloranthan said:

I used to have some OCR software, but that was several computers ago. Otherwise, I'd do it for you.

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Most kind.
I'll scrape up a program somewhere. Just want to avoid spending Adobe's prices for a complete program if I can avoid it. Haven't checked in awhile, but they felt more like a gouge than a grace.

Never say never, I know, but with the acquisition today of Garth's 'Tolkien and the Great War', I have procured all the books I was after for now at least.
I bought up the new style hardbacks along with a print on demand set (other than an original The Return of the Shadow) of the History of Middle-earth books, plus the Atlas, Letters, Biography, Shippey's homage and finally Garth. The last two are ex-libris and in pretty good condition considering. Garth was never actually borrowed from the library from which it was withdrawn.
Here's a couple of pics. Need to get my head down now! I do like a hardback in a good dustwrapper, which are protected in mylar/paper protectors.

Here be mine.
The Lord Of The Rings 1-2-3 (owned by my brother and me)
The Fellowship Of The Ring
The Hobbit
The Silmarillion
The Fall Of Gondolin
The Children Of Hurin
The Peoples Of Middle Earth (online)
The Unfinished Tales
The Atlas Of Middle Earth
The Tolkien Reader

Elthir said:

My list of Tolkien books, Middle-earth related or not (I might be forgetting something, but here goes)
. . .

Two Books from Tolkien's Personal Library (and yes, I had to mention these again, even though they have nothing to do with Middle-earth) one is signed in Tolkien's calligraphic hand, the other initialed with a brief inscription.

The Lord of The Rings, first edition (A&U, not a first impression however), plus various editions.
My favorites are the first edition, and the one volume hardback "Red Book" (as I call it).

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from the Red Book
The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, two editions, including first UK
The Hobbit, various editions
The Silmarillion, various editions including first UK and USA editions
Unfinished Tales, various editions,
Bilbo's Last Song

The Children of Húrin, various editions including one signed by Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee
The Fall of Gondolin
Beren and Lúthien

The Story of Kullervo
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight
Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle this book does not include a Modern English translation!

Various editions that include: On Fairy-Stories, Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wooton Major
Farmer Giles of Ham
Smith of Wooton Major extended edition
The Father Christmas Letters
Mr. Bliss
Roverandom

The Monsters and The Critics
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, Together with Sellic Spell
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
The Fall of Arthur
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

The History of Middle-earth series (12 volumes in both hardback and paperback)
The History of The Hobbit
The Nature of Middle-Earth

Tolkien's Legendarium -- edited by Flieger and Hostetter -- and here I'll just state that I own various other books about Tolkien's life and work, including Companions by Hammond and Scull, a couple of volumes of Tolkien Studies, works by Flieger, Shippey, Carpenter's Biography.

The Letters of JRR Tolkien
The Tolkien Family Album
Pictures by JRR Tolkien
JRRT Artist And Illustrator
The Art of The Hobbit

Vinyar Tengwar 1 . . . and all issues up to Vinyar Tengwar 49
I ordered VT 50. It never arrived.

Parma Eldalamberon, 5 issues
A Guide to Middle-Earth, Robert Foster -- a version published before The Silmarillion was published!

Various Tolkien art books, calendars, puzzles,
and a pinecone from this tree!

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Wow! Just Wow! I thought my 14 books were a large collection. It must be heaven sifting through all the stories, pictures and information you have.

After reading the list that Elthir has, I won’t bother listing mine. I have 14, which are the well known ones, plus a couple of Alan Lee’s sketchbooks.

As for fellow members worrying they don't have enough books to show their collections, please don't (be worried that is)! There's always someone with more books but your books are yours.
It's great to see people's collections unfold and, the reasons they did how they did and what people think when they have read them.

I have a book about ME but not by Tolkien...somebody else, or several "somebodys" ... 😉

.

Deimos said:

I have a book about ME but not by Tolkien

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That looks like a fascinating little treasure... any other details on it? Date, publisher, or such? Or does it look like a privately bound thing.

Ent said:

That looks like a fascinating little treasure... any other details on it? Date, publisher, or such? Or does it look like a privately bound thing.

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Yep. It is a very cool...neat-o torpedo...super-dee-duper replica.

Detailed description here
Ordering info here

Nice. But 600 bucks?! 🤯

Squint-eyed Southerner said:

Nice. But 600 bucks?! 🤯

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Gollum, gollum, it burns!

Squint-eyed Southerner said:

Nice. But 600 bucks?! 🤯

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I bought mine about 10 years ago for $450.
Still with inflation $450 would have likely elicited the same reaction.

Pax S-e-S ...
Most people who do not make things (recall my Steampunk keyboard and USB) really are clueless as to what it takes to make something of quality by hand.
The planning, the trial and error, mock up(s), the inevitable screwup that could send the craftsman back to square one, then the materials cost (my keboard materials alone was about $600) and then the actual fabrication of it.
(Sometime later I'll post the "how I did it" for the Keyboard and USB [CheriptheRipper requested it] and you will see what I mean)

Someone asked me what I would be wiling to accept for it (the keyboard, not the Redbook). I replied: $2000.
The person was, shall we say, slightly taken aback.
Then he got hostile: "It's not worth $2000.
"Really?" I said. "Then go make your own."

The Redbook is worth every penny.... it was worth the $450 I spent 10 years ago....it's worth $600 right now.
("The Red Book contains over three hundred pages including six maps, sixty-five drawings, six family trees and dozens of poems.")
It is something for a collector but maybe not a Tolkien scholar/loremaster.
Conversely I am on a couple of LOTR "Collector's" fora where some members are only collectors and have zero interest in what is discussed here about Tolkien.
(If pressed I would have to concede that some of those collectors have IQs not much above zero and would have difficulty reading Dick and Jane, but that is for another day).
I do not know how Indy has this made, but I'm pretty sure he no longer makes each one.
Still, the price of anything is determined by both availability and what the buyer is willing to pay ...always has been, always will be (Law of Supply and Demand).

Deimos said:

I bought mine about 10 years ago for $450.
Still with inflation $450 would have likely elicited the same reaction.

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I could get it for free.

Aethelwulf said:

I could get it for free.

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So you have it? Cool! I didn't know of anyone else on this forum who was also a collector. Very cool.

Deimos said:

So you have it? Cool!

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I do not have it, I said I could get it. Sadly, you would not survive the exchange.

Aethelwulf said:

I do not have it, I said I could get it. Sadly, you would not survive the exchange.

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Ahhhhh... gotcha 😉

Deimos said:

Ahhhhh... gotcha 😉

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Luckily for you the men of Gondor are not petty thieves.

Aethelwulf said:

Luckily for you the men of Gondor are not petty thieves.

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Even if a particular man of Gondor were a petty thief, there is, between him and me, a vast Sundering Sea. 😁

Deimos said:

six family trees

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Wow, Ent doesn't have any family trees left.

Deimos said:

It is something for a collector but maybe not a Tolkien scholar/loremaster.

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This is really the deciding factor for Ent.
Not a collector any more. He's too close to pondering roots rather than branches now.