JRR Tolkien's: The Lord of the Rings

Up for auction is a set of first editions of the Lord of the Rings: 1954-55.   The Fellowship is a second impression (1954); the second impression had the lowest of all print runs; therefore it is the most rare with just 2500 copies ever printed. The Two Towers in a rare first impression (1954); and The Return of the King is also a first impression (1955).  

They are in their original bindings - no dust jackets. I would leave it up to the purchaser whether they would want these rebound or displayed / protected in facsimile jackets.  The spines are faded and there are spots on the binding (mostly to Towers as the pictures show). The spine cloth on Towers is also split in places but easily hanging on. There is an ink ownership to the endpapers and some spotting in the text, which is fairly typical and nothing too bad. The pages do look fairly bright and the original maps are at the back. The Return of the King has the footnote '4' on Pg. 49 and the sloping text (as pictured). Really, the pictures do pretty much say all. 

Sets like this do not come up very often - especially at this price.  There are not many first impressions of The Two Towers to be had, but I will not split up the set.

The Lord of the Rings has sold well over 150 million copies, but these were the first. They will be well boxed and wrapped and shipping to the US will be free with tracking.  Shipping to the UK is $70, but there is no tracking.  If you would like tracking to the UK, it can be arranged, but I believe the cost is quite a bit as it is three books.  

Thanks, Wayne Kuechle