Just to support what garm says, I too have half a dozen A&U 1sts with variations.

I do worry about the shelf space issue but, as with garm, it is part of my interest in Tolkien and it did kind of sneak up on me (and most have only cost a pound or two - literally).

Reading from left to right:
* Allan Turner, The Silmarillion: Thirty Years On
* Rhona Beare: JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion
* Clyde Kilby, Tolkien and The Silmarillion
* Paul Kocher, A Reader's Guide to The Silmarillion
* Randel Helms, Tolkien and the Silmarils
* Namsith paperback
* BCA dummy
* 2007 30th anniversary deluxe
* 1982 super deluxe, bound and cased in red leather; not one of the
hundred signed copies, unfortunately
* an individually re-bound copy, in blue leather
* Methuen deluxe edition
* Hawaii knock-off
* US Ballantine - bog-standard, as far as I know
* dummy
* signed by Christopher
* Billings printing
* signed by Priscilla and John
* Clowes printing
* 2nd impression
* one with a label saying "Final Setting"
* Book Club Associates
* signed by Guy Gavriel Kay.
* Tawain knock-off.

Not on that shelf are:
* four paperbacks
* standard Folio Society
* deluxe Folio Society
* orange leather deluxe.

- wellinghall

I was just trying to find out about all The Silmarillion copies and this has turned in to quite an interesting thread. Thanks everyone for the comments.

Looking over my bookcases, I guess I'm pretty much the same as the rest of you with my duplicate and multiple copies of various books (though I only own a few copies of The Silmarillion).

I do have 4 sets of the Tolkien Companion and Guide, which is rather peculiar. Don't get me wrong; the 2 volume set is indispensable, but do I really need 4 sets? I think I had planned to sell some of these on eBay at some point but never got around to it. I guess that is the case with a number of extra copies I have lying about.

I'm no Wayne or Christina, & don't claim to be; but my own collecting of The Silmarillion is almost exclusively bibliographical. I'm very interested in its printing, publication, and dissemination 'story' (although I almost exclusively derive this information, with all its pitfalls, from the books themselves; unlike W&C who have examined archives etc); as a result I've bought many, many copies of the 1977 edition.

Although I have one or two 'upgrades' (two I think), none of the rest are 'the same'. Some are bibliographical variants; some are the same (bibliographically), but have some contemporary marginalia, or are signed copies. So, as others have pointed out, a standard Billing UK 1rst isn't really the same as a standard Billing UK 1st signed by CT; I think everyone would view these as two distinct collectable copies.

Numbers? As I've probably mentioned many times on this forum, I don't even have all the nice 'special' editions any 'Silmarillion Collector' would want: Dummy copies, Methuen, 1982 Super Deluxe, 1998 Super Deluxe, Folio Deluxe etc --I have none of these. But, & this includes two or three foreign editions, a few US editions, and probably a few dozen pb's --I have about 90+. And, yes, they do take up quite a bit of room.

I should probably post some pictures, but it's an embarrassing amount...

BH

Khamul, I would love to see photos of your collection sometime.

I also need to add in two more to my list: first and second illustrated hardbacks by Ted Nasmith.

- wellinghall

More pictures.

- wellinghall

Returning to this thread, while still recovering from a hard drive crash Saturday, our English-language Silmarillions run to about 8 linear feet, not counting working copies and those contained in boxed sets shelved elsewhere. (The Silmarillion in translation runs to about the same extent again.)

JLong:

I do have 4 sets of the Tolkien Companion and Guide, which is rather peculiar. Don't get me wrong; the 2 volume set is indispensable, but do I really need 4 sets? I think I had planned to sell some of these on eBay at some point but never got around to it. I guess that is the case with a number of extra copies I have lying about.


Peculiar? No, no, everyone should have (at least) four sets of the Companion and Guide. Scatter them around the house, so that one is always close at hand for easy reference. We could recommend some other books too, coincidentally by the same authors, that should be bought in multiple copies.

Khamul:

I'm very interested in its printing, publication, and dissemination 'story' (although I almost exclusively derive this information, with all its pitfalls, from the books themselves; unlike W&C who have examined archives etc); as a result I've bought many, many copies of the 1977 edition.

Archives are important, but what you're doing is good, solid 'real world' research, and to be applauded.

Wellinghall:

In your list of books,

• Hawaii knock-off
  
• US Ballantine - bog-standard, as far as I know
  

. . .

• one with a label saying "Final Setting"
  

. . .

• Tawain knock-off.
  

In regard to the 'Hawaii knock-off', is that not a Taiwanese pirate? Our copy appears to be. For 'Ballantine' you mean 'Houghton Mifflin', as you have a hardcover, though Ballantine did have similar covers for their earliest paperback printings. We're curious to know what the 'Final Setting' label means in that A&U copy, if you know. And to be fair to the publisher of the Taiwanese edition at the end of the shelf - assuming that it's the same edition that we have, and not another variant - it's not a knock-off, since Allen & Unwin gave permission.

Thanks for the photos!

Wayne & Christina

Wayne & Christina, thank you for your comments - I will reply propoerly when I have enough tuits

- wellinghall