Think I’m Gonna Be a Little Sick

I learned recently that Elaine has not read either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. For me, this is a cardinal sin that must be corrected (I love The Silmarillion as well, but it tends to be a tough first read). One day I will take her up to Marquette to view the original Tolkien manuscripts in all their glory.

So as I am getting my books together, I look at my Millennium Edition of The Lord of the Rings, published as seven books. If you are unaware, The Lord of the Rings is Six books plus an index, traditionally published as three volumes (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). Well, as it turns out I was doing my traditional annual autumn/winter reading of the books (been a tradition of mine since I was 13) when I helped rescue a lost puppy. During that time, she got a hold of book two and used it as a chew toy. The corners are all mangled and four pages midway through had about a quarter of their pages torn out. Well, since I want my girlfriend to read a good copy without any words missing I looked up the replacement on the set.

As it turns out, this particular edition (which cost me $50 at the time) is currently going for anywhere between $150 and $600. I nearly puked when I saw that. At least now we know that she is the $600 dollar stray. Would I do it again had I known the outcome, well, yes, in a heartbeat. She is a great dog (now lol). I can get a replacement seven book set, soft cover from the UK for about US$60-ish with shipping, so not too bad after all. Takes me back to the grad-school days when one of the roomies dogs though my brand new Molecular Evolution textbook was a chew toy, two days before classes started.

Keep your eyes peeled here folks. It seems that dogs only eat my books if their current or future value is at least US$100. The next time a book is used as a chew toy, the book, edition, publisher, and other pertinent information will be published here first. You can then check your inventory and see if you want to seal it up an maximize its condition to maximize its resale value!