OK! I admit it. Rarely does a year go by when I do not become obsessed with something or other. Often more than one thing at a time. But that is just the sort of guy I am. Gitovrit!
At the moment they are, in no particular order 007, There, Tolkien, renovations, and The Church.
Two of the above I have dealt with in print, with poor old John being sadly neglected (James can look after himself – although I will get around to why it is on the list in another post). So let me redress that sad neglect.
I read The Lord Of The Rings (LOR) thirteen times before I stopped counting and have read it many times since. I have seen the movies, bothe the theatrical release and the extended editions, a number of times, including all of the audio comentries and extras. I have read the Silmarilian several times. I have all of the Audio LPs and CDs and a copy of the BBC dramatisation of the LOR. I remember when it was first braodcast on AM radio. When it was rebradcast on FM radio I taped it off air and replayed the tapes many times. They have long since died. I know what you are thinking – “This guy needs help”. I suppose so but it could be worse – far worse!
When I bacame redundant several months ago I was able to persue several pashions which I had over time neglected for several resons. There have been published in the last few years a number of volumes on the LOT and Tolkein’s work generally which I was unable to buy. “So!” I thought, “about time I redressed this situation”. And I did. I started with The Atlas of Middle Earth from the local bookshop. I have dipped into this on many occasions now. But the real prize I was after was “The Complete History Of Middle Earth” by Christopher Tolkein. The son of JRR and executor of his estate. This is published in twelve paperback or three hard cover volumes. There is also a version with the three hard cover volumes in a slip case. I went to all of the bookshops in our city to no avail. I could not find the hard cover volumes anywhere. I then went on line and got the ISBN numbers for the hard cover volumes and armed with this information went to a local book store whome I know will order books on demand if they are available.
The three volume version with slip cover is out of print. Of the three individual hard cover books, volume one is out of print, volume two is unavailable and volume three is ex stock at a cost of $135. The young lady in the store very helpfully gave me some on line resources to investigate. Most of them were Australian second hand booksellers, but on one piece of paper was the URl www.abebooks.com. When I got home I looked up all of the URLs given to me and found the selection fairly ordinary. However, when I got to abebooks I was astounded to say the least.
Abebooks is a web clearing house for booksellers around the world. It seems to work like this. The bookseller lists their books in the abebooks database, including ISBN, edition, state (new/used), condition (scuff marks, as new etc) and a brief description. The prospective buyer then does a search on what they want and a list of books is displayed from all the sources for that book. The initial sort order is on price. Once you see the list of books you can choose one according to your requirements, new or used, condition, price and freight. The freight prices are very resonable but shipping times vary from days to months. The least time I have waited is three days and the most is three months (still not arrived – due between now and November). The source country does not seem to matter either. I have bought from Germany, the UK and the US. After placing the order confirmation emails are sent and you can display your order status from the abebooks site. The order then goes to the book seller and they then dispatch the books, usually the next day.
As for my three volumes, I have volume three and am waiting on volumes two and one; total cost – AU$300 including freight. The volume that has arrived was still in its new plastic shrink wrap. I have bought a number of other books now through abebooks and have not been dissapointed yet. A friend of mine has also bought through abebooks and is delighted. In a future post I will tell you more about my obsession and some of my purchases.
All I can say is I wish I had heard about abebooks sooner.