Collect books (not his own copies) or authors read by Tolkien?

While the first edition had some issues raised against it for structure/clarity and reach, Oronzo Cilli's Tolkien's Library tries to pull together a list of books read (or likely read) by Tolkien, with annotations for what evidence there is for each. It is a hefty volume! The second edition is due out in January, and I am quite excited to see what Oronzo has done to improve and expand it.

I believe Rider Haggard was an important influence on JRRT, though inferior to him as a writer. Haggard romances can now be read online, but I used to look for inexpensive reading copies, like this Montezuma’s Daughter, a tale that likely contributed to Tolkien’s imagination. The other book is one John Garth identified as being from Tolkien’s schoolboy days.

Here is the botanical field guide Tolkien regarded as his most cherished youthful book, in the edition Christopher Tolkien identified, and a popular astronomy book owned by the Tolkien household.

Here’s a novel of which Tolkien gave a copy to one of his sons.

It's worth remembering how many books households had and which were read and re-read in the first half of the 20th Century. I remember being taught about wild flowers from the C.A. Johns book by my mother, who had it in the 1930's I'm sure. She was given it by one of her aunts. I found a copy of "An Experiment with Time" when I was 11 or 12, I think. Fascinating stuff (then)! Also lots of Rider Haggard, John Buchan, G.K Chesterton, Belloc and so on, which I'm sure JRRT and his children would have read as well.

Roccondil, those books/authors were in your household -- Haggard, Buchan, Chesterton, Dunne's Experiment, etc.? Impressive, and if you hadn't read The HObbit and The Lord of the Rings when you investigated those books, you must have been well prepared for Tolkien by them.

Interesting 3rd & 1st editions of Don Quixote sold at auction. Tolkien was certainly influenced by Cervantes
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022 ... XcDdnw0qwQ1LtEaCGxyLdRSyI

Colin Wilson thought Farnol’s Broad Highway was read by JRRT (see Tree by Tolkien), so I bought this, for 50c, almost 50 years ago....still haven’t read it, though my son did.

I think Tolkien acknowledged a bit of debt to Crockett’s Black Douglas, so I bought and read a worn copy for not much money. My other Crockett cost nothing. I climbed into a big paper recycling dumpster to rescue it.