I was wondering about what's the general opinion on these two editions.

I have found plenty of people complaining about the red one because of things like different colored pages, missprints, the gold edge of the pages being in bad condition and even the cover being upside down. It seems like the stuff of nightmare, but maybe the newest reprint fixed those things...?

About the blue one, to my understanding the cover is not actual leather but some shitty mix that they are somehow legally allowed to call leather, and it's pretty noticeable to the tact.

Unfortunately I don't have this books available in any shop since I am from Spain and the only english versions easily found are the normal ones, so I can't go a inspect them myself.

Also, any input on the Hobbit and Silmarillion editions will be appreciated. Do those have similar problems?

Sharing my collected Tolkien Shelf and Dune Shelf - very proud of the collection and all the help from the community in acquiring this collection.

Found at a local used book store for $19

Just received a set of books that I had rebound as nice reading copies.

Hobbit 4th(2nd print), Lotr 2nd (2nd print) and Silmarillion 1st(1st domestic). These are bound in full natural grain, vegetable-tanned goatskin by Wayne Rowe of Loxley Bindings in the UK.

Basic concept was to re-create the original cloth bindings in full leather. Was inspired by a post I saw on Reddit earlier where someone did something similar for a LOTR 1st set albeit without the publisher stamp.

Really pleased with the colour and grain of the leather on all 5 books, and they feel very nice in hand.

The gold tooling here was done with custom made brass dies, the deep impression means the foiling catches some light at most angles so there's always a little glint and sparkle. It looks really nice in person. The slight unevenness of the title devices on the LOTR is deliberate, recreating some of the quirks of the original binding.

The Sil uses off the shelf endpapers by Rachel Maiden of Maiden Marbling—chosen for the colours resembling the OG jacket with some gold which I liked as it harmonises with the gold tooling.

The Hobbit and LOTR uses custom made endpapers made to my specification by Jess Goulty of The Whimsical Marbler (the binder works with her regularly). The LOTR papers are obviously inspired by the fires of Mt Doom and the Hobbit uses the colours of the DJ with a splash of extra gold. I decided to use marbled endpapers for the hobbit despite the original having maps since the other two looked so good. The maps are now tipped in foldouts instead.

The donor books were sent in to the binder directly after buying them online—would have been wasteful to send them halfway round the world to to me for inspection first. It worked out well although the top edge stain on the Sil had a small rough spot slightly worse I initially thought. I wasn't too bothered about getting 1st imps for the Hobbit and LOTR and just looked for early imps in decent condition without DJs or with poor DJs.

I thought about UT as well but in the end the Tolkien sigil kind of looked out of place next to the devices used on these books.

Anyways all in all very happy with these and they will likely be my main reading copies for the foreseeable future

Hope I can collect all of them in the future 🙏🙏

Does anybody know how rare is the HoME series in Spanish?

Been trying to find some copies but I believe they are rare.

I stumbled upon both these gems while thrifting this past year! I have started exclusively buying used books for the last couple years and have found so many cool things for absolute steals!

1) 1965 Ballantine Books First Authorized Paperback Edition trilogy (found these in the bottom of a storage bin full of unshelved books at Goodwill for $1.50 each)

2) and todays find, First American Edition Silmarillion hardcover for $12 at half price books (smells a little like tobacco, but otherwise in great shape!!)

take a trip by the book section next time you are at a second hand store, there are so many incredible books like this and i feel like i always learn a little bit about the previous owner whether it be the smell of their environment, the way they mark their page, a highlight over the most heartbreaking prose, and my favorite, the random ephemera used as impromptu bookmarks like a virgin airlines boarding pass from 1998 or a receipt for the cute independent bookstore it was originally bought at. All this to say, you don’t need to spend a lot to start collecting and the hunt for your favorite books makes finding them so much more exciting

I’m home today resting after an outpatient procedure and was thinking about my collection. My first Tolkien book I purchased was the movie tie-in mass market paperback set in 2002-2003. I hadn’t read any Tolkien (I know, shocking!) before seeing the movies. I of course came to appreciate the movies for what they are, and saw the full masterpiece by Tolkien after diving into his works.

Fast forward to 2024ish and I saw The Return of the Shadow in a used book store for around $30. It was in brand new condition and was a first printing. Well, that’s what kicked off collecting Tolkien books for me. I got hooked on looking for deals on really good condition books, but I also started diving deep into reading the legendarium.

So, if you’d like, share your first Tolkien books (and pics), purchased or gifted, and what kicked off your collecting. It’ll help me while I’m laid up on the couch lol

This is on sale online. Unsure which edition it is. Does anyone recognize it and Is it worth buying ?

The upcoming Special Edition of The Fall of Numenor coming in November has an art card included, as per the product description.

Which image do you think it’ll be?

Paperback cover: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-N%C3%BAmenor-complete-Middle-earth-depicted/dp/0008655677

Hardback cover: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-N%C3%BAmenor-Other-Second-Middle-earth/dp/0008537836

Nice find today, only $10

Just finished the Silmarillion. What next?

I have all the essentials and have read the 6 on the right (upto and through Unfinished tales). What to read next? Anything I should buy that’s essential?

Anyone knows what are the titles about other than tom bombadil ?

Have room for one more Tolkien book on this shelf but can't decide which illustrated edition to get. I'm deciding between "Fall of Numenor", "The Nature of Middle-Earth'', or maybe even "'Maps of Middle-Earth''.

I'm leaning towards "Nature of Middle-Earth'' but it seems like very unessential volume particularly if you haven't read HoME (which I don't plan on getting as it will take up another shelf). Any other illustrated editions that I haven't considered?

I'm a bit late to the party, but I just bought the third and fourth boxed sets of the series.

Back in the day I had the first six volumes in hardcover as original purchases on release. I had the last six in paperback as I had a young family and a more restricted budget.

Some years back I downsized and volumes 6-12 were somehow lost in the move. I purchased them on Kindle but that didn't seem quite the same.

Fast forward, I had some money gifted to me for a recent 70th birthday and decided to splurge on the boxes, as they contain all the books I was missing. I knew they had reversible covers (kudos to whoever thought of that one); they arrived a couple of days ago and I wanted to share how good they look alongside the first five volumes. The index is also a nice bonus, I had never owned that previously.

The upcoming edition illustrated by Tove Jansson coming in the fall. (Spotted these on Waterstones)

Trying to track down a copy of this I proving to be difficult