The Lord of the Rings, Alan Lee illustrated May 2020

insurrbution
Home away from home

7 Jul, 2020
2020-7-7 9:36:35 PM UTC

@Trotter wrote:
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.

Great, hopefully people won't calling The Lord of the Rings a trilogy again....

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Trotter

8 Jul, 2020
2020-7-8 2:04:37 PM UTC

I bought a second copy from Amazon in Italy for £56 including delivery to the UK. Received both copies with no problems, though surprisingly Amazon's Italian website is in Italian

, would really love to speak and read the language, but Google Translate did a good job when ordering and reading the emails.

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Trotter

8 Jul, 2020
2020-7-8 3:10:47 PM UTC

@insurrbution wrote:
@Trotter wrote:
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.

Great, hopefully people won't calling The Lord of the Rings a trilogy again....

Sorry, don't understand what you meant by your reply, could you please explain?

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insurrbution
Home away from home

8 Jul, 2020
2020-7-8 9:09:15 PM UTC

A LOT of people refer to The Lord of the Rings (by Tolkien, not the films) as a trilogy, or a book series. That is not the case - even says so as much in the notes at the very beginning.

The Lord of the Rings is one novel. Sometimes it's published as 1 complete book, or 3 divided books in a box. On occasion, it was even done as 7.

To use a non-Tolkien example, let's look at War and Peace. MOST editions are as one book. Everyman's Library offers it as a 3-book boxed set (with none of the divided titles being available separately). That doesn't automatically turn War and Peace from a "novel" into a "trilogy."

A trilogy, or a book series (Narnia, Wheel of Time, Earthsea, A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter, Stormlight...), is a series OF novels - The Lord of the Rings is just one.

Parting food for thought: I sincerely wished that since the '60s starting with the Second Edition, The Lord of the Rings would have only been made available as 1-book editions, or as a 3-book boxed set; with none of the divided books ever being offered separately - though via marketplaces, things happen.

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insurrbution
Home away from home

8 Jul, 2020
2020-7-8 9:15:45 PM UTC

@insurrbution wrote:
The Lord of the Rings would have only been made available as 1-book editions, or as a 3-book boxed set;...

should read "and a 3-book boxed set."

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Stu

8 Jul, 2020
2020-7-8 9:43:50 PM UTC

@insurrbution wrote:
Parting food for thought: I sincerely wished that since the '60s starting with the Second Edition, The Lord of the Rings would have only been made available as 1-book editions, or as a 3-book boxed set; with none of the divided books ever being offered separately - though via marketplaces, things happen.

It most certainly isn't a trilogy, but I personally have no objection to the three volumes. They are much more convenient to read. If people want to call it a trilogy, it isn't really harming anyone, even if it isn't technically correct. I don't like the 7 volume sets -- those just seem like a silly gimmick, given 3 volumes is not at all unwieldy.

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insurrbution
Home away from home

9 Jul, 2020
2020-7-9 12:54:38 AM UTC

I don't have any objection to the 3 volumes either - but make them only available with the boxed set. I mean, who would buy part of a novel, since it was published in full? (That's why I said 'Second Edition', as The Return of the King existed by then.)

And agreed: if there's a 7-part Lord of the Rings why not a 5-part Silmarillion?? :P (I wouldn't actually want it, just stating the principle)

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Urulókë

9 Jul, 2020
2020-7-9 1:13:44 AM UTC

The three volumes are available individually, because they sell really well individually. That's about the extent of it.

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Trotter

9 Jul, 2020
2020-7-9 5:16:30 AM UTC

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onthetrail
Home away from home

9 Jul, 2020
2020-7-9 9:53:54 AM UTC

I honestly don't care what people call it. A trilogy, a novel, a volume, a 6 book tome of epic adventure. I just don't care because whatever they call it, it is still the same thing under the bonnet. I understand why Tolkien was against it but I am glad it was released as it was because the publisher knew what they were talking about and if it had been released and been priced at the higher end it may not have done so well and the passage of time could have been crueler and the impact may have been less.

My father read The Fellowship of the Ring upon release and continued with the next two volumes after that, he then found The Hobbit and became a life long reader and read The Hobbit to me in the late 80s when I was 7. The point, he called it a trilogy and was not a fan of big books. He liked quick reads and consumed a dozen books a month at least. I don't believe he would have picked up The Lord of the Rings had it been released in one volume.

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