Visiting my girlfriend back in 1979, (now my Wife) in her home country of West Germany, I was fascinated, among other things, by her admirable bookcase.
An avid reader of hippyish paperbacks myself, I I was amazed to see these foreign versions of novels I knew and the many I didn't too.
There was Mister God This is Anna, the Dharma Bums, Siddhartha, Solaris and Fata Morgana among the tomes.
But most alluring of all were the three books of Der Herr Der Ringe, Tolkien's incredible Lord of the Rings trilogy.
This 1977 German version comprised of three paperbacks published by the unusually - named Klett Cotta publishing house. The three books were green and nestling in a green card slipcase. Not only was the green colour striking, the cover art was to my eye, wunderbar.
Simple and dark with an inexplicable slug-like mass writhing on two of them, all three brandishing Sauron's eye, I loved them.
Now long since gone, I've often thought about these memorable books many times since.
Have you got any Lord of the Rings books?
Since writing this in Germany I've managed to pick up one of these volumes cheaply in Blighty, which is amazing. Two to go but there's no rush.
ReplyDeleteI've got the three green books as well as the Silmarillion as paperback and another Silmarillion hardcover which comes along with three further books in a card slipcase. The three books are: Das Buch der verschollenen Geschichten 1 und 2 (The book of the lost stories part 1 + part 2) and the Handbuch der Weisen von Mittelerde (a guide to the wise beings of Middle Earth). All of them are published by Klett-Cotta. Furthermore I own a paperback of the Hobbit in English since my high school exam days which was the initiation for my interest in Tolkien's Middle Earth. I love them all although I have to admit that it's always a little bit hard to start reading them again. But when I'm in it - I'm in it (I hope this sentence make sense for native speakers, my English is a little bit rusty now).
ReplyDeleteCheers from Germany
Biggopp