My Secret Vice

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

(the more beat-up, the better)

That's the ticket, isn't it? It seems right that books by Tolkien of all authors should have that ancient, "lived-in" feeling. My old trade paperback Unfinished Tales is the best in that regard -- it's yellow with age, warped by water damage, dog-eared and bisected by a broken spine. When it's not in use, I wrap a couple of big rubber-bands around it to keep it all together. It has this great mummy-spice smell. All I need are some blood stains and fire damage and it'd be a regular Book of Mazarbul.

I'm pretty utilitarian with books too, though I definitely am a hoarder in general. I'm a utilitarian hoarder, if you can dig it. I hoard things on the premise that I might be able to use this again someday.

I have several copies of LotR and TH, but no editions worth mentioning. The nicest one I have is the big red slipcase monster that a few others have brought up. It's not portable, though, and I can relate to Kuru that it's not very practical even at home. I prefer to read in bed, and when I use that bad boy, I always end up with a long, wicked, front-cover/spine/rear-cover trench embossed into my abdomen because of the sheer weight of the thing. It does look nice on my shelf though.