Urulókë wrote:

Book Depository is owned by Amazon, and Amazon seems to respect release dates before they ship.

I had quite a lengthy talk with Amazon recently and was going to pass it along to you all so I may as well leave it here.

I asked about their delayed shipping times because I have been receiving books, movies etc much later than release for quite some time. They explained that since Covid and rises in shipping they are relying more on their fulfilment centers rather than shipping direct to customers. So previously they would get everything sent out from source but now they are jumping through hoops with parcels passing down the chain yo the local fulfilment centers and thus making delivery times longer.

Urulókë How does the quality of the leather seem? Obviously it is going to be nothing special, but does it give the satisfactory illusion of being decent?

For my part, I managed to negotiate with the bookstore where I usually buy my books so that they decide to import a few copies of these special editions
It's kind of a test and if they can sell these books well, they should order more easily in the future. I am delighted because it would provide an excellent alternative for the French (and mainlanders?) who could thus avoid the big resellers (Amazon & co) or the British sellers with whom it is increasingly difficult to order since the Brexit. In addition, the price is decent (lower than the price of Amazon.fr currently).
In short, if there are people interested in French territory, do not hesitate to ask for more info. I can also inquire about shipping to other EU countries if there are any interested in neighboring countries.

Last time I show the spreadsheet before the official launch of the books.

If you are interested in buying in Europe in Euros then take a look at https://www.buecher.de/ as they seem pretty competitive on prices.

It looks like some sellers are having problems sourcing the Trade edition at the moment, may be a backlog on getting them. Once again no price from Amazon on the Deluxe edition at the moment.

My copies have been shipped, looking forward to seeing them as I am impressed so far with what I have seen of these printings.

Side discussion, but publication is still the offering of books, for sale, to the public. Publication can be controlled by publishers but it is not defined by publishers. Sure, shipping & transit cloud the matter a bit. But if the book was available to buy to the public & money was paid, then the book is published. You could debate the when & where (e.g. individual countries), but this book has already been published. Official date is now irrelevant.

Khamûl wrote:

Side discussion, but publication is still the offering of books, for sale, to the public. Publication can be controlled by publishers but it is not defined by publishers. Sure, shipping & transit cloud the matter a bit. But if the book was available to buy to the public & money was paid, then the book is published. You could debate the when & where (e.g. individual countries), but this book has already been published. Official date is now irrelevant.

No disagreement here.

Starting to pull together some errata for the deluxe edition here.

• The List of Illustrations (pp. xi-xii)
  
• Map of The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age is stated as "front end sheet" but is actually a laid in insert for the deluxe
  
• Map of Rohan, Gondor and Mordor is stated as "rear end sheet" but is actually a laid in insert for the deluxe
  
• omits Tolkien's cover designs for the three volumes (pp. 18, 410, 744)

A closer scan shows that I received one of the “blurry pages” copies. I suggest opening and checking your copy when you receive it, as there are numerous reports of defects that might warrant requesting a refund/exchange.