Collector Profile: Oronzo Cilli
I spend my life working in Barletta (Puglia, Italy) and in Brussels (Belgium). I am an expert about communitarian affairs. I have found out Tolkien in 1994, when I was 17, thanks to a good friend of mine. My first book about Tolkien has been “The Hobbit”.
In 1998, I started to collect everything about the wonderful Middle-Earth. I copy-edited the Second edition of “The Annotated Hobbit”, by Douglas A. Anderson. It has been published, in Italy, by Bompiani, in 2004. Until now, I own a collection consisting of about 1500 pieces.
Let’s talk about your collection
In these last 10 years, I travelled a lot (UK, Belgium, France, NZ etc.). in each country, I have bought something from Tolkien. I like collecting the different versions of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”. Generally, I buy everything reminds me the world created by Tolkien.
Specifically, I own editions of ”The Lord of the Rings” from US (Ballatine, ACE, U&M, 9different versions), British (A&U e HC, 5 different versions), Italian translations of these versions (5), Dutch (7 different versions), French (6), Hungarian, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Slovakian, Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Greek (2), Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, Norwegian (3), German and Swedish. About “The Hobbit”, I own The American and the British ones, and a lot of Italian, French, Dutch, German, and Chinese versions.
What else do you own?
Two different types of objects. First, objects reminding the movie from Peter Jackson (what a great movie) and objects linked to the figure of Tolkien, in general.
Among the objects related to the movie: blades, masks, statues of different dimensions (almost 80), coins and stamps created in New Zealand (60 pieces), miniatures, puzzles normal and 3D, all the versions dvd e vhs, music cd (the three cd produced in limited copies by Mr Shore), games, posters (almost 70), clasps, rings, musical papers and the cine film of the movie.
Among the objects of the pre-film: different vynils like “Lord of the Rings” by Bo Hansson, “Water Bearer” by Sally Oldfield singing in Quenya, the simple and the singular copy of the soundtrack of the movie by Bakshi, a vynil from 1968 by a US Hippies group, The Hobbits, the vynil of Tolkien and Donald Swann, “The Hobbit” of Nicol Willamson and the soundtrack of “The Hobbit” by The Rankin/Bass.
More. Calendars, reviews, all the books by Tolkien translated in Italy and in UK, all the books about Tolkien in Italy until now, dvd, cd music, images, postcards, poster, pictures of Tolkien, plates by Roger Garland, T-shirts, hats, bags and articles published in Italy on Tolkien (almost 600 since 1970). The first editions of “The Silmarillion, Farmer Giles of Ham” and “Smith of Wootton Major”.American second editions of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”.
What are the Masterpieces of your Collection?
All the objects are important for me. Each object reminds me something. If I should choose, I could say the different letters received in the occasion of the 50 years since the edition of “The Lord of the Rings”.
In 2004, you have organised "The Tolkien Fifty Years" in Brussels.
Yes I did. In 2004, I promoted and organised, together with the “Italian Tolkien Society” and the “British Tolkien Society”, the Tolkien Fifty Years. It was to celebrate the First 50 years since the edition of “The Lord of the Rings”.
In that occasion, I met a lot of Tolkenians spread all around the world, from Israeel To Japan, from Chili to US. It has been an amazing event, sponsored by the Italian Government, the European Parliament, and the NZ Ministry for the Commerce, the NZ Post and so on. For the first time, Tolkien came inside the European Parliament.
Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission, and Gianfranco Fini, former Vice President of the Italian Government sent me a letter to celebrate that event. The most beautiful letter has been sent me by Priscilla Tolkien. She has written a message that has been read during the event.