Hello, there!

I came to this sub in hopes that anyone had pointed out just how awful the 70th Anniversary Edition released in Brazil is. To my astonishment, the only post here showcasing the book was actually quite appreciative of it, and all the commenters seemed to share the sentiment (though that is explained by the fact they don't own a copy themselves).

I was part of this sub once (deleted my acc because reddit pisses me off), and complaints about Harper Collins' appaling quality control were exceedingly common, which made me wary from the very beggining. The english speaking market is, naturally, their biggest one, and they couldn't afford to make decent editions for it. I seriously doubted they'd pull it off in Brazil. I was right.

I'm picky, that's for sure, but the problems with this edition are structural rather than merely aesthetical. Everything is so poorly glued. The endpapers are quite literally falling apart, the endbands are disconnected from the text block at many points, the text-spine is dettaching from the block, so on and so forth. You can see each separate layer like it's a burger. Ironically enough, there is glue where there SHOULDN'T be. Even on the fore-edges. Sweet. The "Made in China" should've been enough of a warning.

Oh, but the cover is ✨genuine leather✨. It does seem that way. What a shame that it is so poorly stitched. The corners in particular are awfully put together. There are strips of leather sticking out of them, and all corners are detaching from the rest of the cover. You can easily see their underside. Neat.

The sprayed edges are probably made out of a radioactive material, given how it decays on its own. It flakes as if it were a dog shedding. If you read the entire book in one go, you'd probably come out looking like Edward from Twilight. An ancient greek would think you'd been cursed with King Midas' golden touch.

Another issue is the pricing. Sure, this is a limited edition, it should be expensive, I suppose. For the quality we got, however, over 1600 reais is absolutely outrageous. For comparison, the minimum wage here is just over 1500 reais. Absurd.

I'd post pictures, but I was asked to send them by their support and I'm yet to get an answer, so I'll refrain from doing that. This post's only purpose is to crush the hopes of anyone who thought that international Harper Collins was any better. It isn't. It is, in fact, quite worse. This edition is limited to 700 copies, after all. I'd understand poor quality control if it were a mass market issue, but that's not the case.

TLDR: Harper Collins sucks. Big time.

My collection. Very small. Have always loved Tolkien’s world. Just late to the game of getting more books past the Hobbit & the Trilogy. Love seeing all the different collections! Cheers!!

So pretty much exactly what the title is. I have been looking for a couple of days now seemingly unfruitfully. However, in the event I am missing something thought I would ask here for a direct answer. Is there a boxed set that has the hobbit - Lord of the Rings (single or multi) - Silmarillion and comes with ribbon markers (I REALLY want these) and also the Alan Lee illustrations? Is it out there or am I on a snipe hunt?

They finally arrived and they look amazing. I'm hoping to see a WM publication of The Great Tales in the future so that they all match properly. The glossy covers and height differences of the HMH versions really throw me off when they are next to the my HC and WM matte covers.

Anyone out there looking for a Pleasure in Reading Hobbit? Here's a reasonably priced copy 😭

Just want to share my joy with you! My Harper Collins 2020 illustrated set arrived today! It's the first time I'm reading LotR in original, I did read it in Polish before but I don't remember hardly anything as I was 8yo at the time. I finished Hobbit few days ago and I'm ready for the bigger adventure :)

Found this in a thrift store today. Anybody know anything about it? Good content?

I was the lucky bidder on eBay, and I am near giddy!
I have been looking for this printing for a long time.

https://preview.redd.it/yh51jazo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bff13c6ca97cc02a2851184a2dfbe6ed4cbb2d16

https://preview.redd.it/x52ziczo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=357c92f238d97c740ae829a90a9b949180946bd4

https://preview.redd.it/02nlgdzo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98b87aebd00d082941aaf51146b8caf4b6b82836

https://preview.redd.it/p3t7lczo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4e08cc9bc5e40cd9fa71f7987caa2bf5e39daa5

https://preview.redd.it/741e7hzo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e81b10eb73c323df0dee78c08d1d7eb6ce4a2672

https://preview.redd.it/xzeqadzo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3acb4c9b14ba5aba2fdf8ea80e1fe823c88b5447

https://preview.redd.it/28vfcfzo1ege1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea0953332deb36e59c1728e13a4876bb2d1ef9d5

My collection so far. Anyone else in the UK? Wondering when the next Matte cover hardbacks are coming out? I know Mr.Bliss was released on the same size as the others but I already have it in a smaller version

I'm pretty proud of my collection but I have yet to find these:

• Blue Wizards paperback Unfinished Tales
• A decent priced copy of The Old English Exodus
• The Elvish Writing Systems of J.R.R. Tolkien by Matthew Coombes
• A decent priced copy of The Hobbit illustrated with the 1977 movie images

As an aside I'm happy that in the last year I got the 2000 black box Hobbit edition (https://tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=1222 )

Everything I ever like to have and read: LotR with comments, Hobbit (old and new editions), History of Middle Earth and Unfinished Tales. And two art albums — it's always interesting to follow author's fantasy. Red LotR tome is a so-called deluxe edition. I've bought it cheap on a sale.

I just got a new bookshelf big enough to have some empty space here and there. I like organizing them by genre but I also like keeping classics together. For context in my classics section I have some penguin classics, some Sherlock Holmes, some French books like little prince and some Jules vernes…

What I’m not sure about is if I a should put my lord of the rings and hobbit books in fantasy or classics. I also have the Harry Potter and the hunger games books that could potentially go with classics but for them I think fantasy and sci fi respectively. What do you think?

How is the quality of the newer Tolkien signature edditions? I'm looking for a nice paperback set for for reading.

edit: for some clarification, I have a variety of other (non-Tolkien) paperbacks that vary wildly in quality. Obviously there's a difference between mass market and trade paperbacks, but even trades range from smooth, quality paper, to gritty-papered, stiff books.

I want a paperback set that's a joy to hold and read, not one that feels like it's breaking just by opening it.

It's a little funny to me that in a subreddit about collecting books, so many responses are "there's no difference, a book is a book".

I've been on a hunt for this Silmarillion edition (ISBN 9780261102422) for almost 2 years, trying to find a copy with aligned clean matte dust jacket. It seems to be that all of the matte copies have the white line on the spine and the front. Gold lettering ones are fine, but they don't match my 60th LOTR and UT editions... Contacted HarperCillins UK team several times but their response was always quite ambivalent (bad stock, try again later). Now when the edition is effectively discontinued it would be very helpful to hear from you guys, how your copy looks. Please chime in to share your experience, thanks

https://preview.redd.it/n99vdiu5z4ge1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=129dc7fbc8ca78dfdeb92b6124c395bcb7ae0d31

https://preview.redd.it/6hbrleu5z4ge1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4484da61fcde74d7c034a3a72c089c5b9fad4a71

We see a lot of the top of the line stuff in this sub- leather bound, India paper, 1st editions etc.

Whats the edition you’d grab for a camping trip in the Alaskan wilderness or a trek through the Amazon? What’s your go to edition that can take a beating or has some traits that would be useful in a survival scenario? It can be 3 in 1 or any other arrangement of the LOTR that has been printed.

This sub got recommended to me from r/TheSilmarillion.

My friend is graduating from a master's degree program and I want to get him a great gift.

He loves Tolkien and especially the Silmarillion, I was looking at first editions.

Any advice on getting him a nice Silmarillion gift? Budget is between 100-300 USD.

I recently received a copy of Oxford Poetry 1915 which is known for being Tolkien's first notable published work in book form (excluding pamphlets and the sort). This is one of my holy grails that I never thought I would own. This was published in both hardcover and paperback, mine is a first impression of the paperback (850 copies according to https://tolkienbooks.net, with the 1st impression hardcover being only 150 copies). I am in wonder to hold what is essentially Tolkien's first work that is 110 years old! The book itself is quite well worn and the cover quite fragile, but I doubt that I will find a better copy within my affordability range.

I will post a few photos here, but for the all of the photos, please visit my 3 part reply to this thread on https://www.tolkienguide.com.

After seeing the inspiring posts of custom solanders and cases on this sub, I will be making a custom solander to properly protect it.

Front cover of Oxford Poetry 1915, paperback

Title page of Oxford Poetry 1915, paperback

Tolkien's first published work in a book from of Oxford Poetry 1915, paperback

Hi everyone!

First of all sorry for the cross-posting, I posted the same in r/tolkienfans and I'm trying to put it down cause I think this space might be more appropriate. Sorry admins!

I'm working on improving my collection of tolkien books and was browsing for HoME, but there's something that is not clear to me when it comes to work out the edition and the authenticity of certain items.

For Example, the first book, is found with different coloured covers. My understanding is that the DJ of that book should be blue, but I find versions online with a black DJ (I can't tell if it is black or very dark blue) and even purple DJ.

What would you think about the below? This is a picture on an ebay ad:

https://flic.kr/p/2qHUcuT

The ad claims it is for a first edition from A&U, third impression, and it checks out from the copyright page (even though I'm not sure why it is missing the "second impression" from the list of impressions):

https://flic.kr/p/2qHMum4

What baffles me is that the book seems genuine, but there's just something that does not add up on the DJ, being black, it has a stricker barcode oddly placed on the back and it has no price on it (which is usually indicating a BCA version):

https://flic.kr/p/2qHThSM

Can I ask the opinion of someone more expert than me on the matter? Cause my gut says that the book itself might be genuine, but the DJ has been replaced, which would kick down the value of the item itself.

As my collection of Tolkien grows, I’m interested in picking up some of the books either written about Tolkien or about middle earth that are worth having for rounding out a good Tolkien collection.

What are some of the standard recommendations to grab as I come across them?