Collector Profile: Marco Maniezzi

I'm 27 years old Tolkien collector from Milan in Italy. I graduated in Interpreting and Communcation in 2009 and now i'm working in Sales and Marketing field here in Milan. My hobbies are painting (expecially charcoal portraits) and obviously collecting books of our Professor.

How did you get started in collecting?

I started in collecting a few years ago but i read The Lord of The Rings for the first time in 1998.

My first edition was the "red version" printed by Rusconi in the same year and since that day i read it at least once a year and the same is with The Silmarillion, but what really got me started in collecting was an edition i didn't buy in 1998 because it was too expensive for my pockets and it became my "Chimera" for many years until i finally found it and added to my collection.

What do you collect?

I decided to focalize my collection only on books directly related to the Middle-earth history from The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth to The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

For the most part my books are all first italian editions, but i bought some US and UK books that i loved for their quality and generally the hardbacks are the ones i prefer.

What has been your greatest find so far?

I have no doubt about it, at the moment my best book is the one printed by Rusconi in 1970 in only 300 copies "ad personam" in brown leather and marbled slipcase, then a 1000 copies limited and numbered edition named "green leather" for the material of his hardback with a marbled slipcase which made it one of the most precious and rare edition and his 1997 reprint always in 1000 copies.

Tell us about your Web site.

My website is tolkienbook.blogspot.it and i use it to catalog my books and share it with all the Tolkien readers interested in collecting.

I also have a Twitter account @TolkienBooks1 with all the news from my blog.

What does collecting mean to you?

It's like a treasure hunt, looking for some rare editions makes me feel like an archeologist who's looking for an ancient ruin or item!

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