Meletaure wrote:

Thank again. Spoke with Amazon UK, they cannot offer an exchange, because they have no more stock, and have no clue when they are getting more in stock. But they gave me a 25% refund reimbursement.

Another question, is there a definitive way to tell what the real 1st printing on this edition is, by looking at the copyright page?

Not sure I'd have accepted that with only 25% off. I'd have waited for a reprint or looked elsewhere. That said, you can do a fairly easy repair that will be OK (though a repaired book won't be worth anything monetarily, I don't think) if you get some paper similar to the existing end papers. The copyright page features a "1" for first impressions, will have a "2" next time around, and so on.

Confirming what Stu said, HarperCollins are usually pretty good at changing the impression number but they have not done this for some deluxe editions, so this can't be guaranteed. You can see the number that should change highlighted in the picture.

Mariner Books Trailer for the Lord of the Rings which is released today.

Hello. I'm new here, but I thought I would chime in to say that I also received a defective copy today. The first several pages were cut improperly and were folded and fused together. Amazon couldn't offer me a replacement since they were out of stock, but they gave me a gift card. The next step is contact Harper Collins I suppose.

By the way, I've really enjoyed reading many of these threads. Very informative. Thanks.

tercio wrote:

Hello. I'm new here, but I thought I would chime in to say that I also received a defective copy today. The first several pages were cut improperly and were folded and fused together. Amazon couldn't offer me a replacement since they were out of stock, but they gave me a gift card. The next step is contact Harper Collins I suppose.

By the way, I've really enjoyed reading many of these threads. Very informative. Thanks.

I'd fix that with an Exacto/Stanley knife, a thin supporting board and a steel rule. You won't totally eliminate the creases, but it will be pretty good, and bit of one page lacking the red edge won't be noticeable, given the thin paper.

Thanks Stu. That's the plan I think. Though I did notice that Blackwell's has two versions of this book available at slightly different prices (but each is $20 more than what I paid). One dated October 14 and another dated November 2. I don't know why there's a difference in both dates and price. From watching some unboxing videos I expected this to come in a blue box with the door to Moria on the outside. Mine did not. Perhaps that is only for the UK version? I am admittedly confused.

Stu wrote:

I'd fix that with an Exacto/Stanley knife, a thin supporting board and a steel rule. You won't totally eliminate the creases, but it will be pretty good, and bit of one page lacking the red edge won't be noticeable, given the thin paper.

tercio wrote:

Thanks Stu. That's the plan I think. Though I did notice that Blackwell's has two versions of this book available at slightly different prices (but each is $20 more than what I paid). One dated October 14 and another dated November 2. I don't know why there's a difference in both dates and price. From watching some unboxing videos I expected this to come in a blue box with the door to Moria on the outside. Mine did not. Perhaps that is only for the UK version? I am admittedly confused.

The October 14th Link is for the UK Trade from HarperCollins
The November 2nd link is for the US Trade from Mariner/HMH

From your pictures of the copyright page, it looks like you have the Mariner edition of the book and not the UK HarperCollins edition.

Did anyone else who has the US edition get it in the blue Doors of Moria box or is that just the UK edition?

Only the UK/HarperCollins trade edition comes in the blue shipping box with the Doors of Durin on it. The US/HMH edition just comes shrinkwrapped with no shipping carton.

You should contact HarperCollins and report on the issue. I am sure they owe you a replacement copy, because according to the UK law publisher is responsible for a quality of the books (as a physical object) during several years after publication. I don't remember exactly, but I remember I was really impressed by the number of years of that guarantee (2-3 or even 5 since publication). Especially in that situation where the seller (Amazon in your case) do not own a copy to issue a replacement for you. By the way HC is aware of the significant amount of book copies with different types of printer errors. Both, standard and De Luxe edition are impacted by them.