Gloinson wrote:

remy wrote:

"Over 800 sets of the limited edition The Lord of the Rings have sold in just a few hours. The final copies from the limitation of 1,000 are being bound in Italy and will be available for despatch from mid-May. Order now to secure yours."

Looks like they didn't expect it to sell so quick either. Last copies for delivery in Mid May.

"We still didn't price it high enough!"

Indeed.
Mind-boggling, beggars belief.

Gloinson wrote:

"We still didn't price it high enough!"

You jest, but you're not wrong. That's exactly how FS will (and should) be looking at this!

Despite supply chain issues, inflation, and stagnant wages, folks are spending more heavily than ever. Corporations are responding by raising prices because the market keeps reinforcing the lesson that they absolutely can.

The more folks fall over themselves to FOMO-buy flashy baubles, the more aggressively companies will leverage sentiment (say, the love of an author) as a tool for wealth extraction.

I don't mean to cast judgement on anyone who has purchased this set–I hope you will enjoy it thoroughly and see it appreciate heavily in value.

But it is what it nakedly is.

remy wrote:

With the success of this edition, it is hard not to see further "high priced" limited editions been produced in the near future. And probably in numbers higher than 1000 to fully capitalise on the current interest.

Maybe Easton Press may also be encouraged to publish some limited editions (though I don't know what rights they have to publish).

And maybe Harpercollins themselves may decide to give the Super Deluxe's another go.

Indeed ... there's clearly a market out there for very high-priced books (as we all know from our experience at looking at ebay etc.). I'm not part of that market (nor would I like to be, honestly, I would rather spend $1500 on traveling).

Knowing that I will take flak for this statement, as I always have, I will nonetheless point out that no one is being forced to buy this edition (it's a hard pass for me, for sure). Nothing has an inherent value. A thing is worth precisely what (un-coerced) people are willing to pay for it. I.e., what the (free) market will bear.

(Personally, if I have $1500+ to spend on a Tolkien item, I'd much rather do so on, say, a signed book from his library that has at least some annotations by him in it. But that's me. I have nothing at all to say either against or for whatever other people freely choose to spend that amount on.)

Aelfwine wrote:

Knowing that I will take flak for this statement, as I always have, I will nonetheless point out that no one is being forced to buy this edition (it's a hard pass for me, for sure). Nothing has an inherent value. A thing is worth precisely what (un-coerced) people are willing to pay for it. I.e., what the (free) market will bear.

(Personally, if I have $1500+ to spend on a Tolkien item, I'd much rather do so on, say, a signed book from his library that has at least some annotations by him in it. But that's me. I have nothing at all to say either against or for whatever other people freely choose to spend that amount on.)

If you can find a signed, annotated book from Tolkien's collection in today's market for $1,500, please let us know!

Only after I buy it!

Aelfwine wrote:

Knowing that I will take flak for this statement, as I always have, I will nonetheless point out that no one is being forced to buy this edition (it's a hard pass for me, for sure). Nothing has an inherent value. A thing is worth precisely what (un-coerced) people are willing to pay for it. I.e., what the (free) market will bear.

An astute observation as usual. And it’s always good to have a reminder. Here I was thinking that things had inherent value. But I see now that I was mistaken. For in fact nothing has inherent value, and a thing is worth precisely what un-coerced people are willing pay for it in the free market—which, as everyone knows, is the #1 greatest kind of market (I mean, it has “free” right in the name) and should never ever be questioned, scrutinized, or even discussed on a discussion forum under any circumstances. If such discussion does occur, then that must mean that people have fallen into the erroneous belief that things have inherent value, and should be promptly reminded that they, in fact, do not.

The main problem with this is that it is yet another clear signal of massive inflation on the way. Anyone in their 40s or over should be worried at the moment unless they have massive retirement investments. For me, this book represents a worrying situation which has nothing to do with Tolkien or collector books (which matter not at all).

In terms of this set of books, I suppose I could buy them as a store of value, but I just don't personally like them (very happy for those that do), and books have never been an investment for me (prefer not to mix a hobby and money).

I think we will see a glut of high priced limited editions. Folio probably made half a million pounds profit on this. Hopefully HC produces something nice.

Philomythos wrote:

Aelfwine wrote:

Knowing that I will take flak for this statement, as I always have, I will nonetheless point out that no one is being forced to buy this edition (it's a hard pass for me, for sure). Nothing has an inherent value. A thing is worth precisely what (un-coerced) people are willing to pay for it. I.e., what the (free) market will bear.

An astute observation as usual. And it’s always good to have a reminder. Here I was thinking that things had inherent value. But I see now that I was mistaken. For in fact nothing has inherent value, and a thing is worth precisely what un-coerced people are willing pay for it in the free market—which, as everyone knows, is the #1 greatest kind of market (I mean, it has “free” right in the name) and should never ever be questioned, scrutinized, or even discussed on a discussion forum under any circumstances. If such discussion does occur, then that must mean that people have fallen into the erroneous belief that things have inherent value, and should be promptly reminded that they, in fact, do not.

:)

remy wrote:

huan68 wrote:

I’ve never been in the position to buy a brand new limited collectors edition of the LotR. When people have shown pictures of them, they clearly don’t show or mention the original cost. With saying that, this is my question.
Is this the most costly brand new set that has been produced by some considerable way?

Yes. I think so. Can't think of any other set near this price (though some Tolkien related academic books have been priced over £1000). Most expensive that I can recall was the £350 for the COH & Sigurd Super Deluxe's.

Adjusting for inflation the 1992 3 Vol LOTR Deluxe would probably be more than £350 (think it listed at £250?)

And then the German 1 Vol was around 900 Euro.

Just checked the Inflation Adjusted price (UK) of the 1992 3 VOL LOTR Deluxe - The original £250 would be £572.50 in todays money (approx).