Make no mistake, TolkienCollector.com is a commercial site. It offers a lot of merchandise for sale. But Joe Williams isn’t just trying to make a dollar for himself. He understands the passion of Tolkien Collecting.
Through the years, many people have contacted me with questions about where they can find obscure editions of Tolkien’s books, or knick knacks I’ve never heard of. I’ve often found reference to these items at Tolkien Collector, and I unabashadly send people there to browse the extensive and informative pages.
People interested in learning more about the non-academic Tolkien research community (keep in mind that there is some crossover) will want to browse the Publications section.
For the serious Tolkien scholars, most of the content at Tolkien Collector is of marginal interest. It certainly doesn’t tell you much about what J.R.R. Tolkien had in mind. But anyone wanting to research the commercial development of Tolkien-related properties will need to browse this site extensively. I have found no better resource for documenting the extent to which Tolkien’s work has been commercialized through the decades preceding the Peter Jackson movies.