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By boscawinks
HarperCollins paperback collection
12 Oct, 2020
2020-10-12 1:13:42 AM UTC
2020-10-12 1:13:42 AM UTC
Hi everyone!
I wanted to share some information on my HarperCollins paperback collection that I recently completed to help people looking for books at the lower end of the price spectrum and (like me) had trouble finding the correct books (style, size, spine design) while looking for used copies online (I'm new here and I hope this is the right place to post this):
After 5 years I finally finished my HarperCollins paperback collection that you can see in the attached photo. Sorry for the poor lighting and quality. Below you can find closer looks at the three different sets (which I called "B-format", "black spine", and "mass market").
I initially tried to find a single set of paperbacks that 1) are about Middle-earth and 2) share the style of the B-format "History of Middle-earth" series by HarperCollins. Since I live in Germany, the best option to get my hands on (used) English paperbacks was online shopping. But even with the help of sites like tolkienbooks.net and pictures of other people's collections I found it hard to find the correct dimensions, cover artworks and spine designs beforehand. Duplicate ISBNs complicated things further and I ended up with a bunch of B-format and mass market paperbacks that didn't fit the style I was looking for.
Over the years I built up three sets of paperbacks:
Since the collection took a long time to come together, I ended up completing all three of those sets with all books I could find that fit the style. Even if those were not about Middle-earth.
As I said, I found it hard to find the correct information on all those books online. That's why I compiled a Google Sheet with some more information for everyone looking to build a similar collection.
You can click on the ISBN of a certain book and find images of the cover, back, spine and edition notice.
I wanted to share some information on my HarperCollins paperback collection that I recently completed to help people looking for books at the lower end of the price spectrum and (like me) had trouble finding the correct books (style, size, spine design) while looking for used copies online (I'm new here and I hope this is the right place to post this):
After 5 years I finally finished my HarperCollins paperback collection that you can see in the attached photo. Sorry for the poor lighting and quality. Below you can find closer looks at the three different sets (which I called "B-format", "black spine", and "mass market").
I initially tried to find a single set of paperbacks that 1) are about Middle-earth and 2) share the style of the B-format "History of Middle-earth" series by HarperCollins. Since I live in Germany, the best option to get my hands on (used) English paperbacks was online shopping. But even with the help of sites like tolkienbooks.net and pictures of other people's collections I found it hard to find the correct dimensions, cover artworks and spine designs beforehand. Duplicate ISBNs complicated things further and I ended up with a bunch of B-format and mass market paperbacks that didn't fit the style I was looking for.
Over the years I built up three sets of paperbacks:
- "B-format": B-format paperbacks (12.9 x 19.8 cm) that show a smaller version of the cover art in the middle of the spine (lower row in the picture, image and image).
- "black spine": B-format paperbacks with mostly black spine design with one accent color on the bottom (upper right row, image)
- "mass market": mass market paperbacks (11.1 x 17.8 cm) that somewhat match in style (upper left row, image)
Since the collection took a long time to come together, I ended up completing all three of those sets with all books I could find that fit the style. Even if those were not about Middle-earth.
As I said, I found it hard to find the correct information on all those books online. That's why I compiled a Google Sheet with some more information for everyone looking to build a similar collection.
You can click on the ISBN of a certain book and find images of the cover, back, spine and edition notice.
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