The power of edit...

Khamul said: "Deagol, do you mind me asking when you bought yours, & how much it cost? --altho' I'm sure I've asked you this. Did you note, too, that this copy is your neighbouring number? "

Not MY neighbouring number. Mine is MUCH earlier!
I bought mine around 2000. It is the second most expensive book I have ever bought and without doubt the most precious. It is not perfect but if I could save only one book this would be it. Cost - not saying, but it was my bonus for 3 weeks working in the jungle....

I genuinely thought you had #91?

BH

EDIT: Actually, looking back, your email didn't say it was your copy. Early you say? Nice. How early? Wayne & Christina early?

LOL
24 actually!


EDIT: I wish I could approach W&C!

"LOL" --that I archived your emails, or that I didn't read them properly?
#24, very nice. A 1st state integral leaf copy, I presume? I'll not ask why you can't "approach" W&C!
Just thinking about it --where else might two 1982 copies be sitting side by side? Nowhere, I guess.

BH

Trotter, I forgot to ask: how did you guess?

BH

Deagol wrote:
Elwe - What did you use to clean it?

I didn't do much to clean that copy of the SD Hobbit. It had a somewhat waxy, but dry residue (a little of which was powdery), primarily in the hinge area, to each side of the spine. However, in my case, it was a brand new book with pristine leather, not faded or worn whatsoever. To remove the residue, I used a very soft dry cloth at first, which removed most. For a couple stubborn spots, I very lightly dampened the corner of said cloth with water. I wiped the residue clean and followed with the dry cloth. Probably not the best practice, but the damp cloth never came close to paper, and wasn't allowed to remain on the leather for more than a second or two. Although I never observed any ill effects of my treatment, if faced with the same situation again I would probably only use the dry microfiber.

You would think there would be 'leather conditioning' products available specifically for books, but I don't know of anything I would use regularly or trust for use on rare or antiquarian books. I know that the best thing for leather books is actually to handle them and allow the oils from your hands to condition the leather. However, my hands are usually so dry that they would be pulling oil from the book instead of giving it, and most of my books never get handled anyway for fear of damaging them. So, what to do?...

That said, if it were copy #90 of the Super Deluxe Silmarillion (or any other copy of the SD Silmarillion) that needed cleaning, I wouldn't touch it. If any restoration/cleaning were required, I would send to a professional. If this were an Easton Press Silmarillion, I might consider attempting to clean it myself, but those books are easy to replace and relatively cheap - not even in the same category as the Super Deluxe Sil.

Congratulations to whomever is the new proud owner of #90!

-Steve

I think we all know who the proud owner is (Khamul), congratulations once again (no editing of my post this time)

Yes, okay, it's me! Apologies for editing your post Trotter .

I just wanted to gauge opinion of the auction itself without the bias of everyone knowing I bought it. (I didn't actually have it when I first opened the thread.) I'm totally bloody smitten! [There are some issues with the condition, but I'll ignore them for now...]

BH

Congrats Khamul. I know you have been searching for a copy for a long time.