Interesting. They look like jacket-less HoME volumes, slipcased (as you say), in (perhaps?) the post-2004 (starting from the 50th Aniv. LotRs Ed.) deluxe style. That would kind of make sense I suppose. This is the first I've seen/heard though.

BH

At first sight I thought they were just regular Complete HoMe volumes without jackets, but - compared to the other books on display - their width is too small to make that theory work... Very curious.

The jacket-less HoME volumes in the picture appear to be the bible-paper editions.

http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=68900
http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=68910
http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=68920

These editions are very, very unlikely to appear again in the future and I expect should not have appeared in the picture

Do you think? I don't. We know the slipcase that housed these was a prototype only; therefore, it would be pretty unlikely to pop up in a 2014 HC photograph along with current editions. Additionally, those spines don't look leather. Further, if we assume the bottom of all of those books are sitting flush with the bottom of the cardboard box (not an unreasonable assumption), then these HoME volumes are far too short to be the 2000-2001 leather Eds. Yes/no?

BH

I think these are the 2000-2001 leather-bound editions. If you notice above the Tolkien logo on Vol. 3, you can see a curve of reflected light. This feature is present to a lesser degree on both my copies of Vol. 3.

Why they are present in this photo - who knows, but perhaps they are planning another release, and those were closest to what is intended to be produced (or maybe they were all out of the current boxed set).

Do you not think they look at little short to be the leather editions?

BH

Khamûl wrote:
Do you not think they look at little short to be the leather editions?

BH

I don't think so. If you rotate "The Hobbit" deluxe and stick it next to the HoME as a scale comparison, it appears there is enough room for the Deluxe HoME to fit in the box. I think the box is much deeper than it looks, which accounts for the optical illusion of the books within the box looking much smaller (relative to those stacked on top).

The picture refers to a competition that HC are running at the moment.

http://www.tolkienchristmas.com/

If you look at that page you will see the same books but with the current slipcased HOME 3 volume.

I think they were doing a publicity photo and the current HOME 3 volumes would not fit in the box, so they used the leather 3 volume HOME instead.

Easton Press Beowulf

Design-wise, I think EP have done a better job of this than with some of their other Tolkien offerings. Thankfully they left the back board blank, rather than covering it with an excess of gilt pattern-work. If they had only left the border off the front (and spine),it would be better, but overall, I think it is a decent enough looking book.

Unfortunately, unlike HarperCollins, they do not include the original cover art as a frontispiece.

Trotter wrote:
Believe that this is probably the last of the pocket books, though I suppose Leaf by Niggle, Mr Bliss, Father Christmas Letters are also candidates as well for this book format.

Smith of Wootton Major

Published on 26th February 2015.

I received the book today and it looks to be very similar to the 2005 hardback.

http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=54350

but with one extra section, which is an additional gallery showing Pauline Baynes redrawn illustrations that appeared in Poems & Stories

http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=63790