An Important question! (I think.....)
 

I am a great fan of J. R. R. Tolkien's work. For this reason (and the fact that I have no money to buy new books with) I have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings eight times a piece, I've read the Simarillion three times, and I have read his other history of Middle Earth books at least once. Now, throughout my numerous readings of said books, I've picked up on a little of the elvish language. I love languages, to an extent, and so I have been wondering where I can learn the language. An associate of mine once told me that there was a book that explained the language of the elves (both Silvan and Quenya) in great detail. The book supposedly even had a frickin' dictionary section that translated Elvish to English, and the reverse. So I ask you all, do you know where I can find said book and or any others that describe the elvish language in more detail. (I want titles, don't just tell me "go look on Barnes and Noble" or whatever)

PS- Can anyone tell me where I can get a CHEAP copy of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil? All the libraries I've been to don't have it, and all the places that have it for sale say it's anywhere from $150 to $200. (It's not a very large book for all of you who don't know. I'm not looking to be ripped off by those bastards :mad: )

You can't ask your friend for that specific book's name? ;P And a search for "Tolkien" at Amazon gave up this within the first page of results. Taking the five seconds necessary to do the least little bit of your own research is just occasionally worth it, y'know.

Abebooks.com lists used copies of the Tom Bombadil book in various forms for around twenty to thirty dollars, and that's the cheapest you're probably going to be able to find -- Amazon and Alibris have used copies for sixty dollars and way, way up. I've used Abebooks before -- it's not quite as nice as Amazon's used book service, which will e-mail you immediately if a copy fitting your price and condition standards turns up, but it's still the first place I look when I want to check up on getting a copy of something out of print.

*Looks at Mashirosen* Hug.

Perhaps I didn't mention it, but my friend gave me a name for the book and apparently the title she gave me was wrong or the book doesn't exist. Also, I did some reasearch, however, I didn't use Amazon. Why? Not sure.

I am mostly teasing, y'know. Was the book I found the one you were looking for?

I realize you're teasing. :D Anyway, thanks for showing me the book. It wasn't the book I was after, however, I did find a lot of websites teaching how to speak Quenya, Sindarin, Black Speech, Dwarvish, ect., so I shall try the websites for now since they are free. Thank you much for your help.

OH MY GOD TOM BOMBADIL HAS HIS OWN BOOK! *craps himself*
Spiffy! It made me so angry when he wasn't in the movie! I'm gonna have to find me a copy!

its not exactly his own book cuz there's a bunch of other stories in it and stuff. but yes, he definitely is the coolest character in the tolkien world and deserves his own book.

Just wondering, why does this book normally retail for $200?

Well, it depends on a lot of things. The book that just contains the Tom Bombadil story with no others is not only out of print but also pretty old -- the first editions listed on Abebooks are from 1962. There seem to be some reprints from the early to mid '70s, so those will probably cost a little less, but that's still going to make them cost more than a brand-new paperback from 2004. First editions are also usually more valuable than later ones. Then there's the book's condition -- the more like-new it is, the more they can ask for it. Then of course there's the fact that Tolkien's a popular author, especially now -- the more sought-after a book is, the more valuable it becomes. Also the illustrator listed for the Bombadil book is Pauline Baynes, who was one of the first non-Tolkien illustrators for his books -- I seem to remember him talking about her in the book of his collected letters -- so that's probably going to hike it up too.

Abebooks lists a copy for sale at $15,938 -- it's a first edition with its original dustjacket, signed by Tolkien and containing a letter from him to the recipient that mentions he's being delayed in working on the Silmarillion. From the seller's description it seems only to have the little bit of wear and tear a normally used book would have, too. I'm surprised the guy still has it and that he doesn't want more for it -- I'd sell an organ to get something like that for my dad.

http://hot-elf.com/learnelvish.html

Has a bunch of links to learning elvish sites online. Just do a little search on google, eh?

Also, a funny story I found while searching: