Haven't bought...yet, still on the fence, but slowly moving in that direction after some thought. The size is a big factor for me. 12" by 7 3/4" has to be one of the biggest volume's of LOTR ever produced.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Haven't bought...yet, still on the fence, but slowly moving in that direction after some thought. The size is a big factor for me. 12" by 7 3/4" has to be one of the biggest Tolkien volumes ever produced.

Is that really a good thing? The large HC editions are a pain. The image quality should hopefully be decent, mind - given the illustrations are all tipped in (so presumably the paper and printing is up to par).

Stu wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Haven't bought...yet, still on the fence, but slowly moving in that direction after some thought. The size is a big factor for me. 12" by 7 3/4" has to be one of the biggest Tolkien volumes ever produced.

Is that really a good thing? The large HC editions are a pain. The image quality should hopefully be decent, mind - given the illustrations are all tipped in (so presumably the paper and printing is up to par).

Yup, that's the thing that's giving me pause. Trying to get a sense of the image quality and printing from the youtube video is not easy. So, I like the size (not a pain for me) but don't want to sacrifice other aspects...esp at this price point.

Khamûl wrote:

Maybe some of you would consider throwing £1000 at an actual bookbinder & see what kind of product you get?

A super duper limited release!

If I had that kind of money, I would certainly prefer to have my own personalized copy. But congrats to all who liked it and bought this new edition!

Alan Lee on Illustrating J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

In the new edition of The Lord of the Rings published by The Folio Society, I’ve been able to provide extra borders for the plates, creating more of the framing that J. R. R. Tolkien felt was essential to good book illustration; in his “On Fairy-stories” he lamented the abandonment of margins and elaborate borders for illustrations, describing this trend as “a folly and an abuse.” I wouldn’t go that far, but I do enjoy the opportunity to add in decorative elements that reflect different aspects of the narrative, and to create the feeling of a gateway into another world. I have also taken advantage of the opportunity to replace and finesse some of the illustrations that I had completed in too much of a rush as the centenary deadline approached, as well as add some new ones.

Excerpt from the preface to The Folio Society’s edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Used with permission of the publisher. Copyright © 2022 by Alan Lee.

https://lithub.com/alan-lee-on-illustr ... ns-the-lord-of-the-rings/

The Folio Society website now states that “Over Two-Thirds Sold.”

Will probably be selling for £2000 on ebay by next week.

Gloinson wrote:

The Folio Society website now states that “Over Two-Thirds Sold.”

Terribile news. Next time they'll ask 2000£.

Max wrote:

Gloinson wrote:

The Folio Society website now states that “Over Two-Thirds Sold.”

Terribile news. Next time they'll ask 2000£.

It really is. FS will look and be absolutely over the moon but if a £1,000 book can get close to selling out in days then it goes to show how crazy the Tolkien craze is becoming again and that will be bad for 'proper' collectors going forward (at least for a time).

People are buying them to try and make money off them, I suspect. Time will tell how well that works. All bubbles implode in the end, though they can inflate for a long time. I suspect this one has a long way to run.