# Where can inexpensive fiction translations be bought? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 25, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715 "2006-11-25T02:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/1 "2006-11-25T02:49:33Z")
Mods, I put this here because I figured our resident bibliophiles would be most likely to see it here. If it’s better suited to IMHO or GQ, I apologize, and please move it. Anyways, I’m doing some Christmas shopping for my girlfriend online. She is fluent (although rusty) in German, and is finishing up her certificate to teach German in middle and high schools. She is very proud of her German heritage (despite being a fourth-gen American 😉 ) and I think it would be cool to get her some books that she is familiar with _auf Deutsch_. She loves _The Lord of the Rings_, but the only German copies I can find at BN or Amazon are around $40 per book (so, $120 for the trilogy). There are no copies at [Half.com](http://Half.com) that I can find. So, Dopers, I ask those of you who have experience in such things, where can I buy these books for normal prices? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/2 "2006-11-25T02:56:39Z")
[http://tinyurl.com/ymnqck](http://tinyurl.com/ymnqck) ? If that’s not it, you can try other entries at [http://www.amazon.de](http://www.amazon.de). The big issue would be shipping, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/3 "2006-11-25T03:02:25Z")
Complete LoTR in German is selling for $9.95 right now on eBay. That’s probably your best bet. Here’s a [link.](http://cgi.ebay.com/COMPLETE-LORD-OF-THE-RINGS-Tolkien-HB-DJ-German_W0QQitemZ160055330927QQihZ006QQcategoryZ29223QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/4 "2006-11-25T03:08:17Z")
Great call **Doctor Who**. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/5 "2006-11-25T03:50:09Z")
[QUOTE=Doctor Who] Complete LoTR in German is selling for $9.95 right now on eBay. That’s probably your best bet. Here’s a [link.](http://cgi.ebay.com/COMPLETE-LORD-OF-THE-RINGS-Tolkien-HB-DJ-German_W0QQitemZ160055330927QQihZ006QQcategoryZ29223QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) [/QUOTE] You still have one little decision to make. There are two competing translations. For decades the one and only German translation was written by Margaret Carroux. That’s the one in the eBay link. She worked with Tolkien and attempted to replicate his style. Her translation has been criticized as old-fashioned and a bit cumbersome by some people. In 2000 the German publisher offered a new “updated” and “modernized” translation by Wolfgang Krege and many fans were shocked. I’ve read the Carroux Version (and the original) but I have seen only snippets of the Krege version. Those were mostly somewhat biased collections of the more extreme differences between the translations but personally I think the Krege version looks problematic. Unfortunately it has become the default translation and AFAIK there is only one relatively expensive new hardcover edition of the Carroux translation. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-inexpensive-fiction-translations-be-bought/381715/6 "2006-11-25T13:42:07Z")
There’s also a German eBay