Christopher Tolkien Books 1956-1969

I have HarperCollins' 2010 print on demand edition of The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise; which was in celebration of the book's 50th anniversary. It is essentially a facsimile of the original edition, though with the publisher info being different.

ISBN is 9780007416967

Printed and bound in Great Britian by Martins-the-PrintersLtd, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

You could pick up very nice copies of Heidrek in near fine jackets for $65 - 70 a couple of years back (with a few copies for sale at that price point). I considered buying a copy, but couldn't really justify as I have the HC facsimile. Worth saying that a few years before that, they were typically double the cost.

We may see some variation on prices for these for a little while, but I'd guess the above price probably constitutes the long term norm.

I have a copy of Saga Book Vol. XIV which has Christopher's Battle of the Goths and Huns.

I have all of those bar The Man of Law's Tale. My two Chaucer's ain't firsts tho'; just random later impressions. Never bought the King Heidrek the Wise facsimile from HC, as I had the original. Nothing to do with CT, but Nelson did a series of these books that I'd imagine look quite smart together on the shelf...

I have a first of the Nun's Priest's Tale. I sold off my later printings of a few of the others with the intent to get first impressions, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I don't know for certain, but I have never seen dustjackets for the Tale books, and a few dealers listings say "without dustjacket as issued" so maybe they know something I don't know for sure.

Khamûl wrote:
I have all of those bar The Man of Law's Tale. My two Chaucer's ain't firsts tho'; just random later impressions. Never bought the King Heidrek the Wise facsimile from HC, as I had the original. Nothing to do with CT, but Nelson did a series of these books that I'd imagine look quite smart together on the shelf...

You are right, those Nelson books would look nice as a set, and are likely to be pretty interesting read, as well. Maybe something to collect down the line, especially as they are inexpensive. On the other hand, I wish I could get more motivated by Chaucer, but just isn't quite my cup of tea, really.

The other Nelson I have is the Volsunga Saga. Looks nice next to CT's! ;)

I've attached some random images of other editions/covers after a brief online search. Anyone have or seen any other editions I wonder?

Also, and I don't have my notes in front of me right now, but Christopher's The Battle of the Goths and the Huns isn't on that list either. It was also published by the Viking Society for Northern Research. It was includes in a volume of Saga-Book.

Thanks to everyone, I have a much better idea on what to look for