It’s beautiful. Curses there’s only three of them. Lol

Aelfwine wrote:

Lest Urulókë feel too self-satisfied at one-upping Mr. Underhill here is the cover of one of my copies, being one of only three bound in brown leatherette (with another for co-editor Verlyn Flieger and the third presented to Christopher Tolkien himself). It is perhaps the only copy (in any binding) signed by every contributor (at their contributions), and it has some interesting inclusions....

That is fantastic, glad you were able to get everybody to sign your copy, an achievement in itself.

Trotter wrote:

That is fantastic, glad you were able to get everybody to sign your copy, an achievement in itself.

The book was hand-carried to England twice — once by Verlyn and once by me — to do so, the last signature being obtained in 2018 at the “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” exhibit. So it was indeed a bit of a feat!

That is wonderful, Aelfwine. My copy has yours and Verlyn Flieger's signatures on the title page (presigned) and also the signatures of Charles Noad, Christina Scull, Wayne Hammond and David Bratman above their articles. I doubt I'll be able to get the signatures of the surviving contributors, but never say never.

Aelfwine wrote:

Lest Urulókë feel too self-satisfied at one-upping Mr. Underhill here is the cover of one of my copies, being one of only three bound in brown leatherette (with another for co-editor Verlyn Flieger and the third presented to Christopher Tolkien himself). It is perhaps the only copy (in any binding) signed by every contributor (at their contributions), and it has some interesting inclusions....

It is so cool seing these personal elements from TL. Brings back some memories long buried.

My father ordered this book for he and I when our local bookdealer, who was a close friend of my fathers, had alerted him to it. (My father was born the same year as the Hobbit was published and as a teen got into Tolkien, which he maintained all his life. Great for me as it meant our library was always stocked.) But fate had it that the book would arrive months after my father had died, so when I got the call to collect a book, it came as a great surprise given I knew nothing about it. - Unfortunately it was lost during a move and it among other treasures were lost. Seeing these signed examples is quite lovely. (Apologies if that is way too personal for the thread.)

Thank you especially to Aelfwine for posting that letter. A rather wonderful treat on a dreary Friday

This turned into the 'hold my beer thread' :) and I thought Uruloke had won that but....Carl that is an amazing treasure. Great to see.

northman wrote:

This turned into the 'hold my beer thread' :) and I thought Uruloke had won that but....Carl that is an amazing treasure. Great to see.

I was a little underwhelmed that none of them showed up with a "1 of a kind - handwritten by each contributor" edition

onthetrail wrote:

northman wrote:

This turned into the 'hold my beer thread' :) and I thought Uruloke had won that but....Carl that is an amazing treasure. Great to see.

I was a little underwhelmed that none of them showed up with a "1 of a kind - handwritten by each contributor" edition

Amazing Aelfwine! I did not know that edition existed. You learn something new everyday and thank you for posting that note from Christopher, just a tad misty eyed now. This has turned into quite the treat to see and read about everyone's; from Urulókë, to garm, to onthetrail and yours and mine.

One of the great things about this community is the commaradary. While there may be a tad bit of playful competitiveness, it's never out of malice and everyone is always willing to help each other out.

Truly wonderful stuff, I haven’t even got a physical copy (yet), so zero hope of ever owning one that is signed by all contributors.

Happy to add these, though - came in over the course of the last few weeks:

Éarendel wrote:

Happy to add these, though - came in over the course of the last few weeks:

Great to see more copies of the Welsh Review. I love the shade of green on the cover!

I've had an odd week, but I did get a few nice surprises.

- A beautiful 1961 Copy of the Hobbit that was owned by Brian Aldiss. A nice association with a known friend. It looks great next to my Aldiss signed copy of Frankenstein Unbound.

- Some magazine ephemera. I'm especially excited about the unopened poster! I'm still deciding whether to frame it and pop it on my wall :D