Aelfwine wrote:
"only two LOTR manuscripts sold in major auctions in the past 60 years"

Does anyone know what the other MS was, or anything more about its sale?

This auction listing says "The present, along with the annotated proofs with which it was sold in 1992, are the only manuscripts for the original edition of The Lord of the Rings which appear in the auction records of ABPC."¹

The sale referred to here was Sotheby's English Literature and History July, 1992. I don't have a copy of that catalogue, but a draft form of the listing was reproduced (with permission of Sotheby's and the Tolkien Estate) in Amon Hen 115, May 1992, pp. 9-11. You can download a pdf of that (and many other issues of Amon Hen) if you are a Tolkien Society member, from their website.

Since I don't have permission to copy it all here, I will just give a short summary:

Proof copies of all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. Many alterations and justifications in Tolkien's handwriting throughout. Much additional material in loose leaf form, page proofs for American editions and later printings.

See Also:

• Hammond Dii87, p. 368.
  
• Tolkien Collector #2, p. 32. Sale price realized was £11,000 for the 1992 auction.
  

¹ ABPC: American Book Prices Current

Stu wrote:

That said, I find collecting absurd. I enjoy it (within very constrained parameters that ensure it is not just investment pretending to be collecting).

[...]

Certainly not intending any offence to anyone who feels differently, by the way. Like I say, when I see people salivating over physical things, I genuinely do see Gollum. I have the Professor to thank for that

With a lot of friendly ribbing intended, but trying to spark a bit of honest reflection... are you sure you enjoy collecting, Stu?

If we had seen this in the Bodleian exhibition, it would have been amazing. To have handled it back in the day at the printers, or like Wayne and Christina did back in March of 1992 (I believe, according to the notes in Tolkien Collector #2 [edit] Amon Hen 115), or in New York during the auction showings, or to own it(!!!) would have been incredible and a completely different experience for me than poring over the (incredibly high resolution!) image that Christie's provided with the online listing. They just aren't comparable experiences, though I agree that I will treasure being able to see the digital version still and would likely not ever need to see the original for scholarly purposes. It is a work of (unintended) art and is unique, and should be treasured as irreplaceable just like any other original piece of art that also may or may not happen to have digital copies available.

I do hope that it ends up in an archive like Marquette or The Bodleian someday when the owner is ready to donate it (or sell it, if such could be arranged and afforded).

I don't see wanting to own something as greed, but a natural part of the human experience. We all drop "spending money" on things that bring us pleasure. For some, this could be eating out at a fast food restaurant, for others it could be a book we don't intend to read, and for some it is original artwork sold at premier auction houses. Our comfort level and budget are unique to our own situations, and applying our personal "window of comfort" to someone else just leads to bad feelings all around.

Urulöké wrote:
The sale referred to here was Sotheby's English Literature and History July, 1992. I don't have a copy of that catalogue, but a draft form of the listing was reproduced (with permission of Sotheby's and the Tolkien Estate) in Amon Hen 115, May 1992, pp. 9-11. You can download a pdf of that (and many other issues of Amon Hen) if you are a Tolkien Society member, from their website.

I now have a copy of the July 1992 Sotheby's catalog. The descriptions are more lengthy than those copied from draft as in Amon Hen 115, so I am quite happy to have both to compare. There are three images from this lot of corrected page proofs - the title page of The Fellowship of the Ring with (p. 94 in the catalog) Tolkien's transliteration of the runes and corrections, (p. 96) "The Lord of the Rings III" (as just auctioned recently again), and (p. 97) a page of text from The Fellowship of the Ring at the gates of Moria, with corrections and additional notes in his handwriting, all in lot #183.

A second lot, #190, was for approximately 100 letters from various authors principally to Sir Stanley Unwin, including Tolkien - concerning proofs of Volume I of The Lord of the Rings.