a question

[bedlamsbard]

So my seminar professor is going on sabbatical after this semester for a year and a half, in which he plans to Travel The World; I graduate in a year and a half, so I probably won't be here when he gets back -- would it be weird if I asked him for a rec now? I know it's late in the semester (as in, the last two days of classes), but he said he'd write them if anyone asked, and I was counting on getting recs from him when I applied to graduate school in a year, since I've had a number of classes with him and he's fairly well-established in the field (Roman history) and has published books and so on and so forth. I mean, if I did ask him for a rec, would it be okay to ask for several copies? I just have no idea about the etiquette here. (Uh, which probably starts with, "don't ask the last day of class," but aside from that.)