Weekly Geeks - Collecting

The Weekly Geeks question this week is about collecting.

...do you have a collection, (or are you starting a collection,) of one particular book title? If so, what's your story? Why that book, and how many do you have, and what editions are they? Share pictures and give us all the details.

Or perhaps you dream about starting such a collection. What title would it be and what would it take for you to get motivated to start collecting?

Or maybe it's the works of a particular author you collect (or want to collect) instead a certain book title?

For me, the third question comes the closest. I collect the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, but not just the books by Tolkien. I also buy the books about Tolkien and his writings. My family says I'm obsessed with Tolkien and Middle-Earth. Given my website on the subject, Finduilas's J.R.R. Tolkien Page, they may have a point LOL (it's been growing for over ten years now).

I don't know what it is about Tolkien's Middle-Earth that's so inspiring to me, but I do know that my reading of Tolkien's books has had a positive impact on my choices and interests, so his books are something I'm glad to collect.

I definitely do collect, as I have over eighty books by or about Tolkien at last count, including multiple copies of the core books (the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion). I don't have any photos of my collection though, as it's overflowing from the shelf, double-shelved and in dire need of re-organization (as are the rest of my books). For that matter, much of it is in dire need of reading as my buying has outpaced my reading.

I dream of getting copies of the first editions for the Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, but I know how expensive they are. The same thing is true for a lot of the early minor things Tolkien wrote, such as some of his poetry.