Displaying my Tolkien Collectibles! Finally...

[Rowanberry]

Quite an impressive collection, I'd say. Myself, I'm not much of a collector - I always feel that there's definitely enough stuff lying around even without swords and scale models. If I'd like to have something movie related, I'd go for the jewelry - the Evenstar pendant, the Elven rings, and such.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

I quite like the Rankin Bass Hobbit, and my kids love it. Rankin Bass Return of the King, however, is like watching a car wreck. Its painful, but you just can't look away.

I just received that Master Replicas Sting Tom! Looks very nice, but the display stand is a bit disappointing...

Addiction is a terrible thing.

The Rankin-Bass Hobbit isn't that bad. Of course it's greatly condensed, but the essential parts are all there. Some of the character depictions are strange--Gollum as a giant green frog with teeth and ears comes to mind--but overall it's not bad. I have it on DVD, but don't have the RB ROTK. Of course I saw them when they were originally on TV.

Yeah, the Sting stand is no great shakes, but you can purchase a fancier stand from a place that sells replica swords. Oh, and don't bother purchasing one of the scabbards for the United Cutlery Sting because the MR Sting won't fit. The electronic junk inside the sword make it a wee bit too thick.

Addiction? Who's addicted?

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

...one of the more unusual pieces I have is a large coffee table edition of The Hobbit with illustrations from the Rankin-Bass made-for-TV movie.

Here's the front cover of the aforementioned edition of The Hobbit:



It's a 11 3/4" x 11" hardcover book of 220 pages in length.

The front cover depicts the Dwarves and their ponies traversing the mountain path through the Misty Mountains. The glycée dust jacket (I believe that's what they call it: it's clear plastic) has Smaug and the lettering printed on it. (Don't ask me why Smaug is attacking the Dwarves in the Mountains. My guess is that the publishers thought it would make an appropriately dramatic cover. Rest assured, however, that Smaug attacks at the appropriate place in the movie.)

The back cover depicts Smaug "sleeping" on his horde with one eye open looking for that pesky burglar. Bilbo, obviously wearing the Ring, is invisible. (He's depicted in ghostly outline.) Smaug, Bilbo, and the same lettering seen on the front cover are printed on the glycée dust jacket.

Inside there are color illustrations on nearly every page. A few are just in the corner, but most of them are larger. Some of the illustrations take an entire page.

It's really a great item, even if Tom, Bert, and William have ENORMOUS noses, very large ears, oliphaunt tusks, and tufted tails like a lion.

[truehobbit]

LOL, Tom, I like the line "with text by J.R.R. Tolkien" - as if that was only an addition to the book.

Here's my Tolkien shelf, with all the Kinder-surprise figures (well, ok, there's three or four missing) on it:


Not a complete collection of Tolkien's works, I'm afraid, but I can't yet bring myself to actually buy the HoME books, when I'm pretty sure I wouldn't read them.

Some larger books and the Robert Inglis reading can be seen in this pic:


I also have six or seven LOTR jigsaw puzzles, a memory game and a number of smaller items stored in various (LOTR-themed ) boxes.

[Jude]

You just inadvertently let out that you're a Leonardo diCaprio fan.

Nice metronome, BTW

[Primula Baggins]

Does everyone know that this site has an avatar gallery? You can access it from your profile.

Does everyone know that the gallery contains (among other things) 45 photos of Leonardo di Caprio?

[Jude]

Wow, you're right!

So - who's responsible for this?

[Primula Baggins]

Honestly—we have no clue. I think Holby found the stuff.

It's just there, on the server.

Whoever it was, he/she was a Titanic fan.

[truehobbit]

We found that ages ago, Prim - you've not been paying attention in the Naith!

And, yes, I think Leo di Caprio is an awesome actor (or, at least, was as a kid, it's hard to tell now, I haven't seen him in a movie since "Catch me if you can", which was a good movie, though) - it's a pity his popularity with the girlies led to people dismissing him out of hand and overlooking his talent.

[Primula Baggins]

Or I could have been paying attention and completely forgotten about the whole thing. "Chemo brain" is real! Feeling it wear off is a great relief.

I'm certain, though, that I didn't go and look until Holby pointed it out.

Di Caprio is a fine actor, but I can't get past his high voice and boyish look—it makes it hard for me to accept him playing a grown man. But that's just my own quirk. I know he's very well respected.

I like your collection, BTW. Mine is not worth a photo.

[vison]

*sigh*

I gots nothing.

'Cept maybe more money in my pocketses, preciousssssssss......

[Primula Baggins]

Bookssses count, yes they does. . . .

If they didn't, I'd have exactly zip.

[Jude]

I have books too.

And a very nice LOTR plate that Alatar was kind enough to bring from Ireland.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

They come in books?!?!

[truehobbit]

Noooo - don't let them irritate you, Voronwë!
They come in loooong shiny movies!

Prim, sorry, I completely forgot about chemo-brain - but anyway I was just teasing about not paying attention!

And I haven't yet taken a pic of my lovely plate because I haven't decided where to put it - I think I'll get myself a stand-thingy to place it on a shelf, I'm not so fond somehow of plates hanging on the wall, even though it does have a little hole for hanging.

[Alatar]

Ah, the bookshelf! Funnily enough, sorting out the Display cabinet also resulted in a knock-on effect of reorganising my bookshelf.

First is the main shelf. My Hardback collection of Tolkien books. Starting with the Alan Lee Illustrated Centenary Box Set that I won from TORN for running a Line Party one year, followed by the Alan Lee Hobbit and Single Volume LotR edition. The Single Volume LotR was a gift from my family on my Graduation. Then there are the 12 Volumes of HoME, of which I've only read the first 5. Oops, Numbers 4 and 5 are reversed... back in a sec. Fixed now. (Well on my shelf they are, the pic is still wrong). Other bits an pieces here include a Mini LotR Companion with Hildebrant artwork, two quizbooks, the illustrated maps in folded booklet form, 2004 Desk Diary, the masterful BBC adaptation in CD form (Cassette version is elsewhere) and the extrememly rare ICE Gamebooks.



Next shelf has a bunch of MERP campaigns, sourcebooks and ready to run adventures, followed by most of the Movie Tie-in books that were available in Hardback and a John Howe book of Artwork. (The "Art of..." series are well worth buying by the way.) Then there's Letters for Father Christmas, some David Day, Alan Lee Sketchbook, The Atlases by Karen Wynn Fonstadt and Barbara Strachey, a really cool "Middle Earth for Dummies" that I just had to buy, Carpenters Biography and then the original box set of The Hobbit and LotR that I first read. The Box set was called "Stories from the Third Age". Then the Centenary Paperback Box Set and a German Box set I picked up when I was 19 and working in Germany. Finally, theres the Graphic Novel of the Hobbit and the beautiful "Bilbo's Last Song". There's also cassettes of Martin Shaw reading the Hobbit and Tolkien reading himself. Strangely, I just realised that Unfinished Tales is the only original Tolkien novel (that I care about) which I only have in paperback. This must be remedied! (It's my Birthday again in about a year...)




Finally, the oversize books, Pictures by Tolkien, the Visual Companions, selected piano/vocal selections and some magazines that featured the movies heavily. Nestled in there somewhere is the LotR Symphony Programme.

[Sassafras]

Hmmm. Clapton and Tolkien?

and where is the Silmarillion?

Don't mind me, I'm pea-green with envy.



I have less than half of your collection ( I have more Tolkien studies 'though )

You're not obsessed at all, are you?

[Alatar]

Silmarillion is in the top pic between LotR Single Volume Hardback and Hobbit 50th Anniversary Edition. It's just a plain H/B copy. The Illustrated one is by Ted Nasmith and I'm not really a fan of his work.


And Tolkien would have liked Clapton's later stuff

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

That's a nice collection of books, Alatar. That mini-Hildebrandt is really cool. (I have one, too.) The book is autographed by the twins, which is neat, and at only $8 USD it was a bargain! The thing I found delightfully surprising about it is that sword attached to the bottom of the bookmark ribbon is metal rather than cheap old plastic. Right on, Greg & Tim!

[truehobbit]

a Mini LotR Companion with Hildebrant artwork

Hehe, I have that, too! The little thing on top of the books next to the metronome. There's a bookmarker band with a little sword on it, too. I thought it was really cute, had to have it.

You can't really read the titles in my pic of the taller books, but there's Father Christmas Letters, too, Tolkien, Artist & Illustrator, and The Road goes ever on (the Swann songs with a CD). There's also a few movie guides and a Hobbit cookbook, two calendar/diary books and a number of brochures and magazines, including the MAD parodies. I also have two Donald Duck LOTR parodies.

Alatar, wow, winning such a book is cool!

I've got something I won, too, though: a German dramatised LOTR recording.

Edit: crossposted with Tom

that sword attached to the bottom of the bookmark ribbon is metal rather than cheap old plastic

*goes to check*
Yes, really seems so! (At least it's cold to the touch.) Wow, I hadn't noticed!