Very nice video. Easton Press recommends you to take the plastic off of your books as soon as you receive them. It helps the books because being wrapped in plastic is not good for them. It is in their "how to care for you books" section.
@@masterahlt1475 the plastic wrap that EP uses is not archival grade polyester. Keeping them wrapped for years is almost guaranteed to damage them (especially if you live in a humid climate). EP put out an article about it years ago, urging their customers to unwrap all of their books. Can't find the article now, but wanted to let you know. Would be a shame to pass those books down after decades and have your kids open them to find the plastic has ruined the leather and the gold stamping.
That's a great collection, and I understand why they're wrapped... but it's SUCH a shame that they're not being enjoyed. Books are for reading, which is why I avoid all the collectors editions and fancy gold gilt pages. Give me a slightly worn paperback or a sturdy leather-bound hard cover. Hell maybe even library bound!
Bahh, I used to take my leather bound gold gilt page books onto the trains and subways to read on my way to work every day. My view is why on earth did I spend money on them if I'm not going to enjoy them, and they are enjoyable to hold and read IMO 🤓 Books are not, in my view, a sound 'investment' - meaning, I would never recommend someone buying books as a way to return on your money. Books like these typically stay the same relative value with a pretty small market when you want to sell.
keeping these wrapped up in plastic is gonna murder them in humidity, plus its a book. They deserve respect and hold a level of sanctity. Not reading them is god awful. My local half price books has a bunch Easton press books and they look pristine despite sitting on the bottom shelf and neglected. It is silly to be so materialistic. And as an investment piece to flip, any proper purveyor of books is going to be shit scared of it all stuck together and moldy. Consult a binder in how to hoard it properly at least, Smaug. Good on you to have all this, keep them safe. I do say the same about a first edition paperback, so I might be very careful/lucky personally. Just my angle
So many beautiful books that will never be read. Amazing collection and props to you for compiling it, but to each his own. Thanks for the video closeups.
That's the thing with book collecting. One may want to own multiple copies of one book for collectors reasons and may never want to read it as it's more of a display piece. I have been collecting Doctor Who books for 6 years now and have acquired what I'd call special duplicates here and there. For example; I own a paperback edition of a novelisation of a TV story. It's very easy to obtain and great for reading purposes. Last year I bought an extremely rare hardback edition of it signed by three of the original actors, one of which has been dead for about 25 years. Yes I could read it by would I want to risk damaging it? Guess it all comes down to persepctive
@PitchSkullBlack keeping these wrapped literally damages them. It's not archival wrap, EP has even put out public statements to remove the wrap or it will cause damage. And people still do it because the want to resell them later and think still-wrapped will catch a higher price. They aren't preserving, it's damaging it for an extra buck.
I don't recommend keeping your books in the wrap. Even the nicest books need to breathe. Doesn't matter if you live in Florida or Arizona, keeping them in the wrap is an excellent way of ruining your books. Beautiful collection! I'm collecting these myself!
Thanks for sharing! Such an impressive collection. And thanks for showing the Red Book, I really wish they sold those on their own, I would buy it! It’s pretty much what I wanted it to be.
There actually is a facsimile lord of the rings made with the red book design here geekifyinc.com/product/the-lord-of-the-rings-red-book-of-westmarch-leatherbound-collectors-edition-book-replica/
Awesome collection, my dude! I'm finally at a point where I could start to purchase Easton Press Tolkien works. The only part that's kinda discouraging to me is that so many of these books are out of print now. About a fourth of them are available on the Easton Press website. I hope they start to repress some of the more obscure books, so I can have some assurance that I can actually complete the collection once I start it.
"stand by the grey stone when the thrush knock (I'm not sure for this word) Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole" That's what's written on the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, the atlas of middle earth, and surely all lord of the rings Edit: I can read elder futhark (runes) but those on the books are a latest version, I might be wrong somewhere, but I really don't think so (except for "knock")
Awesome collection. You can see mine at Easton press and fs leather library. Like your wedding band too. It’s just like mine Cartier Damour, unless I’m mistaken.
Impressive! What kind of a pace did you buy those at? It would surely take me a bit to collect them all. Very nice! Oh, and thanks for opening the Atlas. I wanted to see how it opened up. I have the paperback, but it's a "perfect binding" (glued), so it doesn't stay open on it's own. The upside is that it was cheap, so I don't have to worry about it. Lol!
These would open up even less. It is simply the physical limitations of binding. The thicker the paper and more secure and pro style binding, the worse it is in at least an eighth of it shut off. Easton press on bigger scale, not page count wise, but otherwise, are worse, at about a quarter inch. It is due to the illustrated prints being separate paper and to keep the book immortalized and not opening up funny like most pricey anniversary editions with the faux additions. I love my lord of the rings 50th but the glue binding is infuriating as the front and back first bunch of 25 pages are just flopped off separate. It doesn't open and cascade all sexy as it looks. At-least the foil work is solid and not falling apart
"Here's the thing that everyone was going crazy over"...picks up glass-like sphere. So, what is it? A palantir? Also, a shame about those still shrink-wrapped duplicate copies. Hope someone some day gets something out of them besides the vacuous comfort of mere possession.
Why does easton press offer so many individual books of the simarillion. These books aren't cheap so why would anyone buy chapters of one book and not just buy one book which contains all the chapters
All that money and the books themselves aren't even that spectacular, in terms of cover design. Barnes & Noble deluxe editions look way better, for like 10% of the cost. You're just paying for the fact that it's real dead animal skin and real gold on the covers? Can you even tell the difference between that and regular fake gilt-edging? Bottom line is books are meant to be read, not collected, not kept covered in plastic for...what purpose exactly? You yourself admit you don't know. I have this attitude to all items, no matter how beautiful, antique or expensive. If it's a functional object, even nominally, it should be used for the function for which such objects are used, whether it's a book or plate or cup--or it shouldn't exist. If it's just an ornament it should be a purely ornamental object, like a painting or a statue. I hate decorative functional objects. I loathe their very existence. Things are meant to be used. If you're not using them, you shouldn't own them. If it doesn't fulfill a purpose, get rid of it.
Reading your comment was like reading vogon poetry. I know exactly why I kept them in plastic. I was moving in the next year and wanted them to not get dinged or scratched. I’m very happy with my collection and I think they’ll hold up quite nicely over time. I don’t mind spending extra for that. To your opinion on beautiful objects that serve a purpose, I love when someone can pour art into a function. I personally find it one of the highest forms of art. You could make a house out of a concrete cube and it would serve function just fine, but have you seen some of the vibrant beauty some people put into building their homes? Even the quaint ones are spectacular if done right. There are basic looking cars and motorcycles, and then there are works of art on wheels. Your statement just tells me your boring, and stuck in some weird depression where someone owning something they like pisses you off. Grow the fuck up, find something you like, and go after it. You might just have some fun chasing it down.
