Tolkien Rare Book Expert | Festival Art and Books

About Mark Faith, Tolkien Rare Book Expert.

Please enjoy our recent podcast on Abebooks on Collecting Tolkien books, click here: https://castbox.fm/app/castbox/player/id1209853/id485657519

Mark started in the Tolkien Rare Book business as Mark Faith Books (MFB) around January 2001. As time went on we became more and more specialized and began primarily dealing in more expensive Tolkien rare books and memorabilia by 2005. Mark began dealing in millions of pounds worth of rare Tolkien items: books, art and memorabilia. He was dealing with the most valuable and rarest pieces from the beginning, items including a signed Hobbit book which sold for £54,000 and a rare Lord of the Rings set which went for £75,000 in the early days. Both wrold records at the time. In recent years and most recently one for £210,000, then £275,000. This has made him one of the biggest specialsitTolkien dealers today by sales volume. Mark has been trading under the name of Festival Art and Books since 2009.

The key to being a Tolkien book expert is the shear number of different book examples he has personally viewed, bought and sold over 25 years: many thousands and thousands of firsts and early printings. He has sold over 300 first edition sets alone, all first edition printings. This first hand experience in Tolkien book condition means customers get exactly the what they pay for, the first time.

He has helped a number of collectors to become more comprehensive in their knowledge of Tolkien and supplied some of the rarest and most important items to a private Tolkien museum opening in Switzerland, GTC Ag. One avid collector who is a big fan of Mark’s business and describes his dealing with him in the following way, “Mark introduced me to the works of Tolkien a few years ago and he is now coaching me on all things Tolkien and is helping me build up a pragmatic collection. His knowledge and contacts are incredible, they are to die for and I have no hesitation in recommending Mark.”

The founder members of the Swiss Tolkien museum.

What’s is a Tolkien expert?

It seems odd to ask this question. Professor JRR Tolkien was scholar and author. He published non-fiction for his academic purposes, but became known as a popular fiction much later and enjoyed financial success very late in his life. The incredible popularity of of his two main fiction stories The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings made him the household name is today. In the mid-1960’s the first fan club started in America where is fame first took off.

The first fan club, the Tolkien Society of NYC became focused on the literary and academic aspects of his writing. He refused to participate in any fan club as he felt it was inappropriate an author be a fan of his own writing. Also, he was not happy being the centre of attention and having fans at all, at least not until it made him rich. Today fandom and popular literature go together as a key part of marketing and sales. It was no different back then. There is a different between loving a good story and discussing the writing technicalities. The Tolkien society was not as popular as his books were and by the year 2000, had all but died off. The Peter Jackson made films put the author back on the world map. Millions of new film fans starting reading the books, most for the first time. An uneasy alliance formed between the books and film fans. There were other academic authors becoming mainstream who wrote about Professor Tolkien, both the man and his literary works. There was a host of Tolkien inspired creative projects which became more popular, thanks to the film, including art, games and other film merchandising products. These also became popular collectables along with the early printings of his books which went through a huge revival. We predicted huge price increases in Tolkien rare books which since exceeded our wildest predictions. The Tolkien Society did not expand from its academic focus until much later, indifferent to general fandom and collecting books for fun and profit. Our first Festival in the Shire was the first to recognise a new, much wider and diverse Tolkien fan and growing market. With a collector focus, we are now the experts at rare both rare books and wider Tolkien fan trends. While we know much about Professor Tolkien, we are not experts at JRR Tolkien the academic or author.

Older book fans may find the commercialisation of professor Tolkien’s masterpieces a bit offensive to his memory as an academic. However, the brand or whatever you wish to call it, has become a true cultural phenomena expanding much beyond the books and to people of all ages and entertainment tastes. Tolkien is the most famous author of modern times, but his audience is still divided between though who love fantasy fiction and those who do not quite find it to their taste. There are two types general of readers who do not always overlap: those who read for information and knowledge and those who read for fun and enjoyment to spark their imagination and passion. It is on the passionate side that many become collectors not just readers, they passionate collectors and we support them. However, we also observe that digital technology has replaced book reading (or collecting) as a pastime. Despite the claims new technology is enabling, we find it does the opposite: it oppresses, supresses, controls and even brainwashes. We feel this has endangered the future of human imagination and creativity. We intend to do something about this.

Professor Tolkien was an intellectual, but a “non-academic” intellectual in our opinion. He crossed a hazardous career barrier in his day: non-fiction to fiction, which is at the root of why his popularity endures today. Non-academic intellectuals have the duty to doubt everything that is obvious, to make relative all authority, to ask all those questions that no one else dares to ask. He questioned the substance of the crazy world of his day and found it completely lacking, pursuing instead sub-creation in his own mind. Reading and collecting books we have a passion for is not an escapism in life, its an awakening.

About Festival in the Shire

Mark used his expertise and extensive contact list to hold one of the biggest Tolkien events in 2010 – Festival in the Shire. Held over three days, there was a comprehensive list of Tolkien experts giving lectures. Art show, stalls, entertainment and fan expo.

Other Events:

August 2011 Machynlleth, Wales. Art exhibition, rare books and artists
September 2012 Leiden, Holland. 75th Anniversary of the Hobbit. Art exhibition, rare books and Tolkien merchandise and a program of talks
September 2013 Artist Gallery, Holburn Street, Aberdeen. Art exhibition, rare books and Tolkien merchandise and introduction of the “Rodney Matthew Experience” series of talks

November 2013 Return visit to Aberdeen with a number of visits by the Rodney matthews Experience to schools in the surrounding area.

Mark Faith promoting Tolkien collecting on TV

Mark Faith, founder of Festival Art and Books and Festival in the Shire, as you might of gathered by now, is a prolific collector of rare Tolkien first edition books and posters, he is also a expert on collecting Tolkien merchandise and has recently showcased his knowledge of the subject on a number of television programs including Channel 4’s hugely popular television show Four Rooms which offers sellers of valuable and collectable items a chance to pitch their items to four of the UK’s biggest dealers. Up to 30 dealers are rotated throughout the series to give the viewers variety. Mark did not accept any offers for his Lord of the Rings first editions when he appeared on the show but recently sold the set after for £15,000, a record at the time.

Mark Faith on set for Channel Fours Pawn Stars

He then made two appearances on the new UK version of the Pawn Stars show being aired on the History Channel, the US version has been running since 2009 and is the second most viewed show in North America. Pawn Stars is a reality TV show is based in a pawn shop and depicts the bargaining over the items customers bring in as well as discussing their historical background. The Show has received great critical acclaim, DVD Town praised the show for its cast and the educational value of the items displayed calling it “addictive” and a “Big time winner”. In 2010 Rick Harrison was named pawnbroker of the year due to the fact that Pawn Stars raised awareness and battered the reputation of the industry. Pawn Stars is also very popular among the viewing public, which is why the show has been aired in over 20 countries including Belgium and Turkey.

Rodney Matthews and Mark Faith appeared on the show on September 9th and Mark appeared again on September 23rd to showcase his rare complete set of the first ten Hobbit impressionsThe seller’s asking big money for his books, but does the price ring true for this precious literary classic?” See a link to the programs under TV appearances.