1977's The Silmarillion an incredible bounty of bonus content

My memories of diving into Tolkien as a kid started with the Rankin/Bass animated adaptation of The Hobbit (released in 1977, though I feel confident in saying that I wasn't watching it that year but much later on), but there were elements of the Lord of the Rings around my house thanks to my brother's appreciation of the books. I was always especially fascinated by the cover of his copy of The Two Towers, which is now in my possession, so here's the artwork:

I was equally fascinated by his collection of Royal Doulton LOTR figures based on the style of the Ralph Bakshi film - these are not in my possession, but here's an image anyway:

Oh, and I was terrified of the Gollum figurine and tried to avoid looking at it on my brother's display shelf.

I'd ended up reading the Lord of the Rings in and around 87/88, but it wasn't until I was re-invigorated into the world by rereading the books in advance of each Peter Jackson movie that I finally followed up with The Silmarillion. Yes, that's my brother's copy in the top picture - yes, it too is in my possession, but I feel like I'm just holding onto the set for him. 

It's a wonderful thing to have had Christopher Tolkien put this book out into the world as a sort of "Edwin Drood" insight into the workings of his father; it's a stunning work that shows so clearly that The Hobbit and LOTR were but the tip of Tolkien's creative iceberg.