16 Sep, 2012
(edited)Edited by Khamûl on 2014-1-3 7:11:22 PM UTC
2012-9-16 3:58:31 PM UTC
I was clearing out my email account & found two amusing replies I received (to enquiries I had made) which I thought I'd share. Both were, unsurprisingly, in regard to copies of
The Silmarillion I was trying to purchase.
You have obviously forgotten, although I haven't, that you already asked me all this stuff once before, at which point you subsequently mailed me again some time later requesting clarification as to which copy was the one I had listed for sale.
You clearly have very specific requirements regarding a copy of "The Silmarillion" and an abundance of patience when it comes to making enquiries to find it. I, on the other hand, just can't be bothered answering the same questions more than once when I know the buyer didn't bite the first time around and most likely won't this time either.
Sun, 6 Jul 2008
You are a little out of touch with postal rates – if I cut the packing to an absolute minimum – I might just squeeze it in at 745 grams and so the postage would be £2.75.
You drive a hard bargain – you can have it for £10 all-in – one consolation (for you) – is that you do not have to hear the cries of my children – for bread
Our paypal account is [...]
Thu, 30 Dec 2010
BH
3 Jan, 2014
2014-1-3 7:07:05 PM UTC
By chance, do all your base belong to us?
every bit as perfect as the hype used to sell it is base.
9 Feb, 2014
2014-2-9 10:06:57 AM UTC
Condition description from an
Amazon seller:
Collectible - Like New
An apparently unread copy in perfect condition from my personal collection. Cover is intact with no nicks or tears. Spine has no signs of creasing. Pages are clean and not marred by notes or folds of any kind.
Someone with a good working knowledge of their own "collection" I see...
BH
31 Mar, 2015
2015-3-31 2:24:43 PM UTC
Email exchange with
eBay seller listing copy of
The Silmarillion.
Book description: "Signed pages missing". That's it, no other detail given.
I was curious...
BH Q: What do you mean by "signed pages missing"? Signed by who, and missing in what way?
I think it was signed by Tolkien's son, pages three to six has been removed, it is a first edition and still has the original map at the back.
BH Q: I'm curious as to why you would say it was signed by his son (the editor). Are you guessing this, or do you know this to be the case with this copy? And if it was signed, why would someone have torn out the pages?
To my knowledge, all first edition hard backs were signed.
BH Q: I'm assuming you're referring to this title in particular & not "all first edition hard backs" generally? Either way, Christopher Tolkien (son & editor) signed very, very few copies of The Silmarillion, considering how many were printed (i.e. hundreds of thousands). I don't think someone would have torn his signature out.
Silence...
BH
31 Mar, 2015
2015-3-31 7:17:09 PM UTC
31 Mar, 2015
2015-3-31 8:51:11 PM UTC
Trotter wrote:
What a numpty :(
Indeed. I think he meant to write "Library Stamps torn out". That said, it sounds like he is just clueless/confused.
12 Apr, 2015
2015-4-12 2:37:39 PM UTC
Stu posted these comments in the
Wonders thread (
here), but they certainly belong in this thread:
Stu wrote:
Genuine question asked (by me):
"How do you know the books are 1st impressions, given that the set is in shrinkwrap, and is one that was issued with various impressions over the years?"
Answer received:
"Oh, please, do impart on us your eastern Antipodean methodology possibly relied upon given the available evidence."
And...
Stu wrote:
I had a couple of further messages back and forth with the seller. They were the oddest I have ever had on eBay. As far as I could tell he was just baiting me with each email (as he clearly was with the first one). e.g.:
New message from: e-waymann Top Rated Seller (9802Green Star)
"Hello again,
Notwithstanding the robotic courtesy afforded by utility of eBay’s messaging system, recipients, generally, prefer a sense of personable mien from one’s initiating inquiry. In that regard, trilobite renditions in the company of a purported air of stuffiness as furnished by your good self, are accordingly accepted and reciprocated upon. In this instance, it was vaguely more than opting for a reply as opposed to ignorance out of sympathy.
Indeed, the evident presumptiveness furnished within your scrawl does border on the risible.
Insofar that you pretend to be given to semantics, I’d proffer that eBay affords its members the opportunity only to access its messaging service; email is something totally different again. I do trust you are capable of discerning one from the other. In any event, ought you be proposed to actually achieve the knowledge in question - smattering as it may be - then kindly devote whatever good senses to your avail in that endeavor. But, then again, you seem to have all the answers, giving rise to the underlying presumption that your initial inquiry was kittle more than a forlorn attempt at superior dialogue leading to a feeble attempt at spoiler humor!
Additionally, as evidenced within your traducible theatrics, you clearly stand by the notion that you provide safe harbor to every further answer imaginable and, accordingly, our efforts to extend to you our efforts previously undertaken regarding this particular volume's provenance, would amount to an utter waste of our resources.
I further hold that any worthwhile ‘education’ rests within the intended’s desire to be conducive to same. In that regard, I believe any polemic enterprise to that end would be a further insult upon time, further to which, your sleeping habits et al, are of no interest to me.
Again, good day. We shan’t hear from you further."
BH
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