List of lord of the rings editions
The Fellowship of the Ring – 29 July, 1954 in an edition of 3,000 copies. The three books in The Lord of the Rings trilogy were published in the following order: The examples above are an exceptionally fine set it is rare to come across volumes from the trilogy without some tanning of the jackets. These novels would not be illustrated, but Tolkien did design the dust jackets and his son Christopher drew the maps. They also came to an arrangement, unusual for that time, in which the author would not receive profits until after the books had paid for themselves. To minimise their financial risk they convinced Tolkien to publish the novel in three instalments, with the understanding that if the first failed they would not publish the remaining books. But the cost of printing was immense, and commercial success, despite the popularity of its predecessor, was uncertain. Rayner Unwin, the little boy who had enthusiastically endorsed The Hobbit, was now a young man working with the family firm, and he wrote to his father that the book was “a work of genius” (Hammond & Anderson p. This novel took much longer to write, with Tolkien composing on and off between 19, and its final length was an astonishing 1,192 pages. Though the second impression is more easily attainable than the first, it is desirable particularly for the attractive colour illustrations, and makes an excellent choice for new collectors or as a gift. It looks similar to the first impression and is also dated 1937, but states “second impression” on the back of the title page. When the first edition had sold out, a second impression was published that included colour illustrations for the first time. The back of the title page should look like the image below, with no dates later than 1937. The best way to identify a first edition of The Hobbit is to check the publication information on the title page, where the publisher should be named as “George Allen & Unwin Ltd”. It’s the nicest that any of our staff have seen. The example above is an extraordinary copy with only very slight toning to the spine. The first edition of The Hobbit was published on 21 September, 1937 in a print run of 1,500 copies that was sold out by 15 December of that year.