There is, however, another aspect to the issue of pirated books that did not exist anno 1965, when the publisher whom Tolkien called "USA Pirates" [*] printed a paperback copy of "The Lord of the Rings". People who bought the pirated ACE edition got an inexpensive copy of "The Lord of the Rings" that would not contaminate the other books on their shelves when they put it away after reading it. There was, in fact, no downside for the purchasers, only for the author who was done out of his royalty. Those who held on to their copies of the ACE edition can now sell them at a nice profit on eBay for anything from $115 to $390.

In 2014, however, readers of "pirated" eBooks have to "beware of pirated PDF copies," because it is a fact of twenty-first-century life that unauthorized PDF downloads have been known to be used as a vector for viruses, and other malware. I would not want anyone who reads a pirated eCopy of "The Tolkienaeum" and falls afoul of a virus or other malware to think for even a moment that I had anything to do with it. That is why I am making an effort to warn potential readers of this risk, despite the fact that they are stealing my royalty when they download an unauthorized eCopy. If they ignore me, and their computer gets infected, I'll laugh in Schadenfreude, and say I told you so. If, on the other hand, they buy a paperback copy, I might be able to take my wife to lunch sometime in the future. (The royalty on a single copy isn't even enough to take her to McDonald's.)

Mark T. Hooker The Author of "The Tolkienaeum"

***** Learn more about:

"The Tolkienaeum" [http://llyfrawr.com/Tolkienaeum/Tolkienaeum.html] The Author [http://llyfrawr.com/About.html]

There is a legitimate platform called "eBookTreasures." It is run by Armadillo Systems in cooperation with such prominent institutions as The British Library, Natural History Museum, and The John Rylands Library. This platform is intended to put the greatest books in the world into the hands of readers. eBooks in this series are available for download from the iBookstore; as an app on iTunes; in the Windows Store under "Books and Reference"; and selected titles are also available for Kindle Fire. Please do not confuse the one with the other. [www.ebooktreasures.org]

* - "USA Pirates" [http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/979-30-years-Letters-of-JRR-Tolkien.php]

Links to eBay auctions of the ACE edition of "The Lord of the Rings":[http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-UNAUTHORIZED-ACE-J-R-R-TOLKIEN-LORD-OF-THE-RINGS-TRILOGY-VG-Tolkein-/281390011520?pt=US_Fiction_Books&hash=item418426d480][http://www.ebay.com/itm/J-R-R-Tolkien-Lord-of-the-Rings-illegal-paperback-set-from-Ace-/231214047190?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item35d56e5fd6]

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