Thanks for clarifying that on the printers, still unsure what version I have. It says First printed in 1980, but little else.

Tapuvae (Chris) wrote:
Thanks for clarifying that on the printers, still unsure what version I have. It says First printed in 1980, but little else.

If it was the GA&U verstion (rather than the Unwin Hyman version) and there is no statement of reprinting, that would be the 1st impression.

Are the red letters on the spine of the Sil as fragile as the blue letters on the spine of UT?

Morinehtar wrote:
Are the red letters on the spine of the Sil as fragile as the blue letters on the spine of UT?

Probably not quite as bad, but still fairly fragile. My Sil stays in the drawer with the UT.

Excellent, thanks for clarifying, not that I have struck gold here....

Does anyone (besides Stu and Trotter) have a first edition (any impression) copy of Unfinished Tales with a price sticker on the jacket flap? Curious when the price was changed.

Christina and I have two first printings with price stickers. The copy she bought on publication, from a little bookshop in Battersea, has the sticker in Berelach's photo. In fact, her copy has two dust-jackets, one on top of the other, accidentally put on by the publisher. The other copy has the same sticker. My copy, which I think I got in an auction lot of Tolkien items, has a variant sticker, as in this photo. We also have a fifth (1981) printing, with no printed price or sticker, which I've assumed was for book club issue.

Wayne

Findegil wrote:
Christina and I have two first printings with price stickers. The copy she bought on publication, from a little bookshop in Battersea, has the sticker in Berelach's photo. In fact, her copy has two dust-jackets, one on top of the other, accidentally put on by the publisher. The other copy has the same sticker. My copy, which I think I got in an auction lot of Tolkien items, has a variant sticker, as in this photo. We also have a fifth (1981) printing, with no printed price or sticker, which I've assumed was for book club issue.

Wayne

The second variant price sticker is interesting, looks like they might have priced it lower than £7.50 prior to launch but then had to change any copies with the lower price.

Thanks for sharing that Findegil!

I thought I might share some photos of my own copies of this book. I have six copies of the first edition (picture 1). The first three, from the left, are first impressions, stating “First published in 1980”. The three dust-jackets are pictures 2,3 and 4 and show the two price sticker variants and one that has been price clipped, but with a residue from the price sticker.

The next two are state “First published in 1980 Reprinted (twice) 1980”. There is no label and no price on the dust-jacket.

The final one states “First published in 1980 Reprinted (twice) 1980 Reprinted (twice) 1981”. The dust-jacket is shown in picture 5 which shows a price sticker with a price of £8.95.