The Tolkien Collector

I'm not sure why Wayne and Christina have not mentioned it here, but they recently started a Blog, which I am sure will be of interest to everyone here.

http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/

I'm not sure why Wayne and Christina have not mentioned it here

Modesty, Trotter, sheer modesty! And the desire to have a few posts to our credit before publicizing.

In regard to the photo in our earliest post, for which one must now scroll to the bottom, the books are all foreign-language editions of Tolkien. There are as many shelves of these again on the opposite wall, and still more on the shorter wall to the left and also to the right, out of the picture. The grey archival boxes on top are some of our Tolkien fanzines.

Wayne and Christina

Incidentaly, how good is this blog? Not only (already) do we have Wayne & Christina chatting about their collection (& providing nice photographs!), but we have a lovely picture of their beautiful New England home! (H. P. Lovecraft has sold me on NE architecture!)

So many questions remained unanswered reagarding 'The Collection' though. I do hope they are systematically dealt with in various blogs over the coming months & years .

[As keen bibliographers are you particularly fickle about condition? (F/F please!), or will you compromise on condition to gather information? i.e. buy a book in less than 'collectable' condition; do any particular aspects of some items cause particular problems in terms of storage?; how do you deal with preservation? (dj covers, protecting from light [I see a window!], airing shelves, climate control [temperature & humidity], & housekeeping generally); how much 'maintenance' does the collection require? etc etc.]

Great blog!

BH

Indeed; it was always interesting. There are various stories as to why it folded; and by all accounts it was profit making --so it's a pity it's no longer around.

Cheers for the information W&C!

And it still is! suman, the blog & TC are still very much alive. I don't think money ever had anything to do with it.

BH

There are various stories as to why it folded

We must have missed those stories. As Khamûl says, The Tolkien Collector is still around, just very "occasional". No. 32 was published at the end of 2011; no. 33 is finally "in press" (in our laser printer) and will be published soon. Since The Tolkien Collector appears so infrequently, due to the press of other things to do (and because we have to write most of it ourselves - articles and notes would be welcome!), we've decided that it will be more fair to offer it on a per-issue basis than to continue to accept subscriptions - though all existing subscriptions will be honoured for as long as each of them lasts. Details can be found on our website, at http://www.hammondandscull.com/collect.html.

As keen bibliographers are you particularly fickle about condition? (F/F please!), or will you compromise on condition to gather information? i.e. buy a book in less than 'collectable' condition

We prefer fine condition when we can get it, but are realists when it comes to very rare or expensive items, or when an opportunity presents itself and we can pick up something for reference, hoping to upgrade later.

do any particular aspects of some items cause particular problems in terms of storage?; how do you deal with preservation? (dj covers, protecting from light [I see a window!], airing shelves, climate control [temperature & humidity], & housekeeping generally); how much 'maintenance' does the collection require? etc etc.

Every dust-jacket gets an archival (acid-free paper and Mylar) cover. Every pamphlet gets an archival (acid-free, non-adhesive) binder or envelope. Magazines go into archival boxes of various sizes. Audio materials go into boxes as well. Wayne has constructed boxes for some of our more fragile paperbacks, using archival board and Velcro coins. Manuscript material goes into archival folders and boxes.

Yes, there are windows; there are also heavy drapes. "Climate control" is handled mainly by Mother Nature - no air conditioning in our house, but we have a good dehumidifier in our basement. Dusting is done every now and then.

Hmm, maybe we'll write a blog post on this subject. We wrote "Caring for Your Tolkien Collection" for Tolkien Collector no. 18 in 1998, and could update that.

Wayne & Christina

I would love to see an update to your article from Tolkien Collector no. 18! A long time ago you did give permission for me to reprint the original article online, here is the link:

Caring For Your Tolkien Collection

A long time ago you did give permission for me to reprint the original article online

So we did! Not much will have changed since its original publication (1998), but no doubt something more could be said.

Wayne & Christina

How is your other work going, Wayne and Christina? The "What We're Writing" section of your website hasn't been updated recently.

- wellinghall