I have received my set, and I must admit, imho, that this is one of the nicest Tolkien sets I've seen.
The two-colours ink used is really nice, cloth and binding are excellent and solid, really well made.
On the lower side, I would say that the dust jackets seem really fragile, plus the fact that the frontispice of the Fellowship of the ring is not folding and complete painting by Alan Lee as we can find it in the 60th anniversary edition. That's a shame because, they really had the opportunity to use it here.

Now I'm waiting for illustrated Unfinished Tales to match of course, as well as a matching Silmarillion.
But I would be glad to have a matching Great Tales Boxset in that style, with new prints of CoH, BaL, FoG using a 2-colours ink (maybe blue?) and the same uniform matt paper used for this set.

Emilien wrote:
I have received my set, and I must admit, imho, that this is one of the nicest Tolkien sets I've seen.
The two-colours ink used is really nice, cloth and binding are excellent and solid, really well made.
On the lower side, I would say that the dust jackets seem really fragile, plus the fact that the frontispice of the Fellowship of the ring is not folding and complete painting by Alan Lee as we can find it in the 60th anniversary edition. That's a shame because, they really had the opportunity to use it here.

Now I'm waiting for illustrated Unfinished Tales to match of course, as well as a matching Silmarillion.
But I would be glad to have a matching Great Tales Boxset in that style, with new prints of CoH, BaL, FoG using a 2-colours ink (maybe blue?) and the same uniform matt paper used for this set.

And the slipcase is very sturdy as is needed for these books.

I concur with the reviews about the sets quality. I know I have a couple of little niggles but they are so minor. I am very glad that I caved and bought the set and am really looking forward to UT and like others, I would welcome an improved box including Coh, B&L, FoG done in the exact same style. In fact I would welcome a box with UT and Silm also so they all line up and may consider an after-market box if there is a Silm but no slipped box of it and UT.

...plus the fact that the frontispice of the Fellowship of the ring is not folding and complete painting by Alan Lee as we can find it in the 60th anniversary edition. That's a shame because, they really had the opportunity to use it here.

Yes, even with that minor detail, I believe that these are the nicest illustrated editions yet. I guess in this sense, The Lord of the Rings 60th Anniversary Illustrated can 'un-officially' be labelled as the 'deluxe illustrated edition.'

Hopefully HarperCollins does a matching Silmarillion.

@Max wrote:
Gosh, it sells at almost 56€ on Amazon.it right now. Trying hard not to hit the "purchase now" button.
"I don't really need a 9th copy of LOTR, I don't really need a 9th copy of LOTR..."

Ok, it went down to 54€, too tempting, I bought. 9th copy of LOTR on the way... plus the one in Italian, make that 10.

Hi everyone! I'm new here

I'm just about to make an order for this edition but there are some things I'm still thinking about.
To be honest I've never read LOTR in english, as my mother language is spanish, so I've been wanting to get my hands on a nice english edition for a while already.

For what I've been reading on the last months, the 60th anniversary illustrated edition and the anniversary boxed set (with the reader's companion) seemed to be the best options in text quality, as they have the latest corrected version and such. The 1st one seems too impractical though and I just found out the most recent prints of the 2nd one have been lacking in printing quality.

So now I've turned my eyes to this illustrated 4 books edition which in therms of quality seems the best option but now I'm wondering about the text, like which version is it and such. Do you have any opinions/knowledge on this?

@Ara wrote:
So now I've turned my eyes to this illustrated 4 books edition which in therms of quality seems the best option but now I'm wondering about the text, like which version is it and such. Do you have any opinions/knowledge on this?

Welcome! Glad you came by.

My understanding is that this new four volume edition uses the latest (60th Anniversary) text. I've heard nothing but good things about the edition, but don't have a copy in hand myself yet to dive into in detail. Anyone else have anything to add?

This new 4-book illustrated boxed set is essentially the same as The Lord of the Rings 60th Anniversary Slipcased Edition....but as 3 books rather than 1 (the other book is The Hobbit)

I really like this set, a lot of thought has gone into it and I can't think of any problems with it.

HarperCollins have dropped both Notes on the Text at the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, from this edition. If you are interested in reading those then you need to get an earlier edition.

It is the latest 60th Anniversary version of the text and additionally has at least two new corrections to the text in Appendix B - The Tale of Years from previous printings, you can see details here in the section on indents, https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.co ... 5/12/25/tolkien-notes-13/

Great to know, I have just ordered my copy of the complete set.
Thank you very much for your help!