Congrats ! Both your Hobbit but also Old Norse are in very good shape !

another good haul Mr. Underhill.

Congratulations, Mr. Underhill !
I always wonder how you manage to find old Hobbits in such beautiful condition when I see none except at exorbitant prices...

Bergelmir wrote:

Congratulations, Mr. Underhill !
I always wonder how you manage to find old Hobbits in such beautiful condition when I see none except at exorbitant prices...

Lots and lots of research and digging. Also a little of being in the right place at the right time I suppose.
Thanks for the comments all!

No direct Tolkien connection in this 2022 calendar, but Charles Vess was one of the illustrators for the 1977 Hobbit, and is still one of my favorite fantasy artists.

And it’s signed. ?

Bergelmir wrote:

Congratulations, Mr. Underhill !
I always wonder how you manage to find old Hobbits in such beautiful condition when I see none except at exorbitant prices...

As someone who has also found a lot of really nice Hobbits at generally decent prices (or sometimes remarkably cheap), it is mostly right place/right time and persistence. It took me maybe 7 years to get all of the Unwin printings from 1942 to 1990 (with only 51 lacking the jacket). Even in the more moderate market, collecting Hobbits was a slow process with a bit of luck. My gut feel is that prices will soften and availability will improve over time, but in the meantime you have to keep eyes peeled to the extent that you can be bothered (for me, trawling eBay for slim pickings has become a bit old - but you won't get Hobbits by using watch lists, as the book will be gone before the watch is processed).

I can't help a lot with this, as I got a lot of mine pre everything being listed on the Internet.

I had a list of editions that I still wanted that I kept in my wallet so that if I saw a copy at a book fair or book shop I could check if I had it.

I agree with both Trotter and Stu. Hobbit prices are crazy now and it's becoming harder and harder to find them at acceptable prices.

I too have a list of the ones I want and am just persistent. I check pretty much everyday. Also have developed relationships with a couple of dealers who let me know when they get new Tolkien in to their shops, which was the case with this one.

Also Urulókë that calendar is awesome.

My worry for new collectors is that they see these prices & think spending £500 on some random mid-50's H is just what you do. Ditto, buying all these post-2000 HC editions for nonsense sums.

For me, value-for-money is also a part of collecting. Not necessarily everything's a bargain buy, but not overspending on editions that objectively aren't rare; scarcity is often short-term.

Of course context is useful; I'm not a new collector & have many nice editions I acquired many years ago. But right now, for me, the market is just plain unaffordable. I've never enjoyed the idea of owning books I know I over-payed for...

Khamûl wrote:

My worry for new collectors is that they see these prices & think spending £500 on some random mid-50's H is just what you do. Ditto, buying all these post-2000 HC editions for nonsense sums.

For me, value-for-money is also a part of collecting. Not necessarily everything's a bargain buy, but not overspending on editions that objectively aren't rare; scarcity is often short-term.

Of course context is useful; I'm not a new collector & have many nice editions I acquired many years ago. But right now, for me, the market is just plain unaffordable. I've never enjoyed the idea of owning books I know I over-payed for...

I couldn't agree more. Value for money is a huge part of the satisfaction of collecting, and with the odd exception, I just have no interest in paying ridiculous sums for books.

Your point that scarcity is often short-term can't be overstressed enough. A lot of new collectors don't understand that books have a lifecycle from newly published to subsequently being available on the used market. It is inevitable that for most books, even those printed in large numbers, there will be a period where no one has gotten around to needing to sell their copies yet. Garbage like the 2012 Hobbit/LoTR collectors edition falls into this category. Sure, at the moment it is a bit scarce, but in years to come more will come to market, and people will be feeling a bit dumb having paid the same as a Super Deluxe CoH...