thomas spoke wrote:

I stand corrected. Cheers.

Paper is a super interesting topic as you find out when you try and buy it for (good quality) home printing. Total minefield!

NoUse If you have accurate scales, I'd be interested in what the two books weigh?

thomas spoke wrote:

I see.

May I ask: Was your disappointment with the box set due to damage? If something to do with the design, would you mind elaborating on the shortcomings? I have been mulling over this set for some time but have read brief comments mentioning quality issues and would dearly like to understand those issues better.

Sorry for the late reply.

I guess it was a combination of both. The box was slightly broken at the top (presumably from shipping) and almost all dust jackets had some scratches/marks on the back (they kind of looked a little worn, although they were new, probably from the production process). I might have still kept the set if I'd been happy with the rest. But then I didn't particularly fancy the thin book pages either and the box also didn't make a particularly stable impression on me. I found e.g. the 2020 illustrated boxed set to be of better overall quality, but that could just be my impression. I otherwise really like the look of the set (with Tolkien's own dust jacket designs).

Stu wrote:

@NoUse If you have accurate scales, I'd be interested in what the two books weigh?

The boxed set was already on its way back when I wrote the post. Sorry, Stu. Moreover, my scale seems to be broken (I haven't used it in a while). So I can't even weigh the other copy at the moment. (Maybe someone else can jump in?) At least I now know that I need to buy a new scale.

Appreciate your response. Thank you.

NoUse wrote:

Stu wrote:

@NoUse If you have accurate scales, I'd be interested in what the two books weigh?

The boxed set was already on its way back when I wrote the post. Sorry, Stu. Moreover, my scale seems to be broken (I haven't used it in a while). So I can't even weigh the other copy at the moment. (Maybe someone else can jump in?) At least I now know that I need to buy a new scale.

No dramas - I was just mildly curious as to whether it seemed like the paper was actually heavier or just thicker.

OP here, just to say thank you all for your responses, they've been very informative, and I've decided to return the books and hold out for finding the 50th anniversary on eBay...

As an aside, I've just bought the 60th anniversary reader's companion separately as it was my one of my main reasons for buying this set, and I managed to find it second-hand for less than a tenner

Hello to everyone that will read this so late. I'd like to tell you, as i ordered the 60th boxset last week, that they came in 18-17-17-9 but all printed and bound in Italy by Lego. I don't know when they started reprinting in Europe again!!!??‍♂️

00aigw00 wrote:

Hello to everyone that will read this so late. I'd like to tell you, as i ordered the 60th boxset last week, that they came in 18-17-17-9 but all printed and bound in Italy by Lego. I don't know when they started reprinting in Europe again!!!??‍♂️

Where did you order from? Amazon, Blackwells, Book Depository? Somewhere else?

I ordered from Amazon uk for 45£, the lowest I've ever found it!