Pieter Collier
Founder of TolkienLibrary.com, Pieter followed books into bibliography, manuscripts, proof copies, inscriptions and provenance. Collecting gradually became research—and research became stewardship.
TOLKIEN CENTREFOR THE NORTH · RISØRNOOur story
Two collectors. Different paths. One responsibility.
Pieter Collier and Jan H.E. Boom spent decades preserving different chapters of the same story. Their collections now form the beginning of something intended to outlive them both.
Jan H.E. Boom
Jan began collecting while Professor Tolkien was alive. His collection records Tolkien’s work and the worldwide community that grew around it through publications, correspondence, art and ephemera.
From ownership to stewardship
Neither collector wanted a monument to himself. The purpose is continuity: keeping collections and their knowledge together so they can inspire research, publication and discovery for generations.
Look deeper
The books were only the beginning
Behind every book are people: families who kept letters, booksellers who recognised overlooked material, collectors who documented it and scholars who gave years to understanding it.
The Centre will preserve these human histories alongside the objects themselves. That is what turns a private collection into a shared cultural inheritance.
Become part of the story